William P. Yellowtail

Biography
[EPA Region 8 press release - October 18, 1993]

President Clinton has named Montana State Senator William P. Yellowtail as Regional Administrator for EPA's Region 8 office, headquartered in Denver. EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner announced the section at an October 16 meeting in Butte, Montana.

Yellowtail, 45, a Crow Indian, is the first Native American and first non-Coloradan to hold the post. A legislator since 1984, the Wyola, Montana rancher has served on Natural Resources, Fish and Game, Judiciary and Education Committees. He has also served on the Montana Environmental Quality Council.

The appointee is a 1971 graduate of Dartmouth College where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in geography and environmental studies. He is now an associate in a Bozeman, Montana consulting firm as well as an outdoor guide and outfitter.

Yellowtail will direct the operations of more than 600 employees who carry out federal environmental programs dealing with air, water and land in Montana, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. He is the seventh person to hold the top Denver position since the Agency's creation in 1970. Five others have held it in an "acting" capacity.

In fiscal 1993, the Region had an operating budget of about $60 million, split almost evenly between salaries/expenses and grants to states for their pollution control work. Another $79 million went for study and cleanup of Superfund hazardous waste sites and $69 million to communities to help build sewage treatment plants.

Yellowtail and spouse Margaretta Carlson have one daughter, Kimberly Dawn Yellowtail, 23.

Jack W. McGraw, a career civil servant and the Deputy Regional Administrator, has been acting in the top regional job since former Colorado lawmaker Jim Scherer stepped down last January.

William P. Yellowtail

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