EP&W Committee Approve Peter Silva & Stephen Owens

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Peter Silva as EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water and Stephen Owens to be the agency's Assistant Administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. They now face confirmation by the full Senate.

Silva, left, was appointed to the California Water Resources Control Board in 2000. Prior to joining the Board, he served as general manager of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico since 1997. Silva was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Board of Directors of the Commission in 1994. The Commission was created under NAFTA to assist border communities in developing and constructing environmental infrastructure projects. Silva was deputy director of the Public Water Utility of the San Diego Water Department from 1992 to 1997, and assistant deputy director for the San Diego Clean Water Program from 1987 to 1992. Previously, he was the resident engineer for the International Boundary and Water Commission from 1983 to 1987. He is a registered civil engineer and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Water Works Association. Silva, 51, is a resident of San Diego. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic University, Pomona. [Ofc of the Governor, California]

Mr. Owens, right, was appointed director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality by Governor Janet Napolitano in January 2003. Before joining ADEQ, Mr. Owens was a practicing environmental attorney in Phoenix for 14 years. Mr. Owens graduated with honors from Brown University in 1978 and received his law degree in 1981 from Vanderbilt Law School, where he was editor in chief of the Vanderbilt Law Review. From 1982-84 Mr. Owens served as counsel to the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology. From 1985-88, he was chief counsel and later state director for then U.S. Senator Al Gore. Mr. Owens has served on numerous environmental panels, including the EPA's Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, the Phoenix Environmental Quality Commission and the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation, which reviews environmental matters arising under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mr. Owens also has written and lectured on Arizona environmental law. [See also Water & Wastewater]