If the 1960s and 1970s have become known as decades of growing concern about environmental causes, the 1980s will probably be remembered as a decade of stagnation and retreat on many environmental issues. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush held very different beliefs about many environmental problems than did their immediate predecessors, both Democrat and Republican. Reagan and Bush both argued that environmental concerns had resulted in costly overregulation that acted as a brake on economic development and contributed to the expansion of government bureaucracy.

One of the key offices through which these policies were implemented was the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 1985, President Reagan nominated Lee M. Thomas to be Administrator of that agency. Thomas had a long record of public service before his selection for this position. Little...