“More. Better. Faster. Newer” was his mantra, Leavitt said in his first address to EPA staff.

Assuming he is confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Leavitt will leave the EPA after a short stint with many of his goals unfulfilled and with the Clear Skies legislation - the cornerstone of the Bush administration's clean air plan - in limbo.

Bush said Monday that during his tenure Leavitt has “enforced high standards and a spirit of cooperation and with good common sense. . . . He has managed the EPA with skill and with a focus on results."

Leavitt met with the president Friday, but Leavitt wasn't offered the job until Bush called him Sunday night. Hours later, he was praising the commitment and service of his staffers, who a week earlier had been putting together goals for the agency's next 500 days.

"As you've heard me say many times, environmental progress is a relay," Leavitt said in a recorded farewell to staff Monday. "We've picked up the baton and I feel great about the progress we're making in running our lap and it will be handed off to another generation of leadership."

Under Leavitt's supervision, the EPA drafted rules to limit power plant emissions, but they have been put on hold until March as Bush and Republicans in Congress seek passage of Clear Skies, a broader legislative package.

“Mike Leavitt has nothing to be ashamed of,” said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, a coalition of power companies. “He has put in place the building blocks during his short tenure for the first clean air legislation since 1990.”

Similarly, a proposed rule aimed at reducing mercury emissions is due out in the spring, but may be moot if Congress acts on Clear Skies.

Leavitt enacted new ground-level ozone standards, which all or parts of 474 counties failed to meet and signed an off-road diesel rule governing lawn mowers and tractors. Both had been in the works before Leavitt arrived at the agency.

The agency will report Friday on counties' attainment of EPA's recently enacted standards on fine particulate pollution.

Leavitt began implementation of a White House push to protect the Great Lakes and worked on the Bush administration's policy to prevent loss of wetlands.

He was also involved in an international partnership to predict impending global environmental threats.

Angela Ledford, director of the environmental group Clear The Air, said she believed Leavitt "honestly fought hard" to improve Clean Air rules, but was steamrolled by industry-friendly forces in the White House.

"I hope they let him do a better job of protecting public health at HHS than they let him do at EPA," she said.

Frank O'Donnell of Clean Air Watch called Leavitt's nomination to HHS a reward for being a loyal team player.

"Leavitt was willing to take the bullet for unpopular decisions, for example, EPA's terrible proposal on mercury, that really were made by the White House," said O'Donnell. "He never flinched, and was never seen to sweat."

Bob Musil, CEO of Physicians for Social Responsibility, had a harsher assessment.

"From his record, he appears to be more interested in protecting the health of the chemical and energy industries' bottom lines," he said. Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords, who is the ranking minority party member on the committee that oversees EPA, said he worked well with Leavitt and wishes him the best at HHS.

"It is my hope that his replacement will be able to move forward to protect human health and the environment," Jeffords said, "rather than repeat the poor record of the Bush administration over the past four years."

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Tribune reporter Christopher Smith contributed to this report.