[EPA press release - January 31, 1975]

Environmental Protection Agency Russell E. Train announced today the reorganization of EPA's Office of Enforcement and General Counsel into two separate offices.

The Administrator said this action was prompted by expansion of the Agency's programs, and an increase in the already heavy demands on the Office of General Counsel.

Effective February 1, Train said, Robert V. Zener will serve as General Counsel for the Agency. The General Counsel position is filled by appointment by the Administrator. Richard A. Johnson will become Acting Assistant Administrator for Enforcement. The Assistant Administrator position will be filled by Presidential nomination, subject to Senate confirmation.

Zener joined EPA in March 1971 as Associate General Counsel for Water. He has served as Deputy General Counsel for the Agency since April 30, 1973. Prior to his EPA appointment, he served eight years in the Department of Justice, where he was Assistant Chief of the Appellate Section of the Civil Division. From 1958 to 1963, he was associated with the law firm of Cravath, Swaine, & Moore in New York City. He is an honors graduate of the University of Chicago and attended the London School of Economics and the University of Chicago Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.

Johnson, a graduate of Princeton university and Harvard Law School, came to EPA in June of 1972 as Assistant Regional Counsel for Region I. In October of that year he assumed the post of Enforcement Division Director for Region I. In September, 1973 he was named Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water Enforcement, Office of Enforcement and General Counsel. Before joining EPA, he was an associate in the law firm of Bingham, Dana and Gould in Boston, Massachusetts.