It all began with an old tire. Well, an old tire and a man passionate about cleaning up his hometown. Doug Scott was a fresh-faced law school grad when he took a job with the city attorney’s office in Rockford, Ill. Though he had been interested in the environment since childhood, it wasn’t until he began working with area residents that he really got his hands dirty, so to speak. There, he launched several initiatives that the town still employs today, including used tire pick-up and curbside recycling. What some might have seen as a risky move—introducing a cleanup campaign at a time when Rockford’s economy was on the downturn—paid off.

PHOTO CREDIT: BOB WIATROLIK

IEPA Director Doug Scott (left) visits the Environmental Jeopardy game booth at the Annual Environmental Stewardship Day at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on May 2,where IEPA staffers (left to right) Karen Hoffman, SherrieOtto, Kurt Neibergall, Joannie McMillan and Karen Nelsonprovided a fun learning experience for fourth grade students.

“With an older city like Rockford, there are a number of challenges all the time, but people accepted the program pretty quickly,” says Scott, now beginning his third year as director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Risk seems to be a recurring theme in both Scott’s personal and professional life. After high school, he packed up and moved 700 miles to attend college in a town where he had no friends or family.

“I didn’t know anyone,” Scott recalls. Four years later, he graduated from the University of Tulsa with a political science degree and lifelong pals. For law school, he decided to stick a little closer to home, receiving a J.D. with honors from Marquette University in 1985.

After 10 years in the city attorney’s office, Scott gave politics a try, winning his bid for state representative in 1995. There he became more involved with urban renewal and environmental concerns, chairing the Illinois House Urban Revitalization Committee and serving on the Energy and Environment Committee.

A few years later, with the blessing of friends, family and outgoing Mayor Charles Box, Scott tossed his hat into the mayoral campaign and won. Taking office in 2001, Scott took a new approach to community issues by appointing several task forces to study biotechnology, broadband technology and higher

education with an eye to expanding local business. He worked to return commercial airline service to the area, allowing the now-defunct Hooters Air to set up shop, much to the chagrin of a few city board members. And he tackled health and education issues by getting the community more involved.

“I liked representing the city as a mayor and legislator,” says Scott, who’s been married to his high school sweetheart, Tammy, for 22 years. “Rockford is a good town, and it’s always going to be home.”

When asked if he considers himself a risky person, Scott chuckles.

“No. Well, not in my personal life. In my professional life, maybe. We’re in these jobs to make a difference, and sometimes we have to try new things.”

So it’s only fitting that he is currently reading Presidential Courage, a Michael Beschloss hardback chronicling the bold moves of past presidents. “It’s about leaders doing the right thing instead of the popular thing,” Scott explains.

When Scott lost his reelection bid to independent candidate Larry Morrissey, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich called him with an offer he couldn’t refuse: a chance to run one of the leading state environmental agencies in the country.

With environmental issues pushing their way to the national forefront, Scott is taking great measures to keep them atop the state’s priority list, adapting stricter policies to keep Illinois clean and healthy. His office is working with Gov. Blagojevich to reduce mercury emissions from coal-driven power plants by 90 percent, a more stringent approach than national standards.

Recently, he made recommendations on the strategies that will go into the report.

“Soon, Illinois will be joining a number of other states looking to reduce greenhouse gases,” says Scott.

The IEPA recently negotiated an agreement with power producer Midwest Generation to shut down nearly 500 megawatts of coal-fired electricity production by the end of 2010, with the addition of 1,654 megawatts by 2018.

Scott believes that the mark of a successful organization is its ability to adjust to the issues that are important at the time and he feels the IEPA has been doing just that.

“We’ve done a lot of new things over the years, and we’re learning more all the time. I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of it.”