On the "Doug Wright Show," he said that he considered the Great Lakes area as one of the greatest environmental concerns in America right now, because 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water comes from the lakes. A lot is being done to preserve them, with eight states, two nations and hundreds of municipalities are working on environmental plans for the area.

He is also working on projects that deal with cleaning the air and foreign policies that impact the air. The challenge internationally, however, is that nothing promotes pollution as does poverty and that, in turn, affects economic prosperity in many countries.

"For 30 years, we as a generation have developed a new environmental maturity level," he said. "We are competing with nations that do not have that economic maturity that we have."

Callers to the show tried to open up some of the old wounds Leavitt faced as governor, specifically the nuclear waste site in western Utah, uranium tailings and dredging the Utah Lake. But a lot of the responsibility for water cleanliness and quality, he said, lies with the states, and the EPA only steps in when things aren't working on the state level.

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com; wleonard@desnews.com