WASHINGTON -- The following is a chronology of major events related to the controversy surrounding the Environmental Protection Agency:
-Dec. 16: The House votes 259-105 to cite Administrator Anne Gorsuch (who has since married and changed her name to Burford) for contempt of Congress for refusing -- on President Reagan's orders citing executive privilege -- to turn over toxic waste enforcement files to House Public Works subcommittee headed by Rep. Elliott Levitas, D-Ga. Justice Department files suit to block the action.
Rita Lavelle, the EPA's chief of toxic waste enforcement, tells a House subcommittee she did not order an investigation of EPA whistle-blower Hugh Kaufman, or want him fired. Subcommittee chairman James Scheuer, D-N.Y., produces statements from two EPA officials directly contradicting her.
-Feb. 3: U.S. District Judge John Lewis Smith throws out Justice Department lawsuit and urges the administration and congressional leaders to work out a deal for access to the confidential EPA documents. Administration says it will try to compromise with House leaders over access to the toxic waste files.
-Feb. 4: Mrs. Gorsuch asks Ms. Lavelle to resign; she refuses.
-Feb. 7: Reagan fires Ms. Lavelle, who says Mrs. Gorsuch was furious about her criticism of EPA general counsel Robert Perry's handling of toxic waste cases.
-Feb. 8: Justice Department vows it has no intention of prosecuting Mrs. Gorsuch for contempt of Congress.
-Feb. 9: Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., says he has evidence the administration manipulated the Superfund program for political purposes. Mrs. Gorsuch immediately denies the charge.
-Feb. 10: EPA officials acknowlege copies -- not originals -- of toxic waste enforcement documents under subpoena by the House were shredded.
-Feb. 11: A memo is disclosed stating Ms. Lavelle suggested her staff show an industry trade group the EPA's evidence in a case of asbestos contamination.
-Feb. 12: Ms. Lavelle emerges from seclusion to defend herself, saying she has 'absolutely no idea' why she was fired. She denies writing a memo calling the business community 'the primary constituents of this administration.'
-Feb. 14: EPA backs down and agrees to a negotiated settlement in its battle with Kaufman, averting a potentially embarrassing hearing on Kaufman's allegations that high-ranking EPA officials harassed and tried to fire him.
-Feb. 15: White House denies reports Mrs. Gorsuch may be forced out. She tells a Senate committee growing charges against her are 'political harassment.'
-Feb. 16: Kaufman gives Congress documents he says may show 'criminal' conduct on the part of EPA and administration officials; House members say they will introduce legislation to make the EPA an independent federal commission to remove the enforcement of environmental laws from the political arena.
Reagan says at a news conference the Justice Department is investigating possible wrongdoing at EPA and he would never invoke executive privilege claim if public thought there was a coverup of criminal conduct.
-Feb. 17: White House spokesman explains Reagan did not mean he will turn over disputed documents to Congress.
-March 1: Dingell writes Reagan saying he has evidence of wrongdoing and criminal conduct at EPA; says refusal to turn over documents would be interpreted by public as coverup.
-March 2: Reagan says Dingell's panel and four others may have same access to documents negotiated by Levitas' subcommittee, only after undergoing elaborate screening process.
-March 9: Mrs. Burford resigns, John Hernandez is appointed acting EPA administrator, and Reagan agrees to give all subpoenaed documents to House subcommittees without going through the screening process.
-March 10: Mrs. Burford, in farewell news conference, says she resigned because, 'It was getting to the point where I couldn't do my job anymore.' Speaking to EPA employees, Hernandez vows to 'get this agency back to work.'
-March 11: Reagan holds news conference at which he stoutly defends Mrs. Burford and blasts what he calls 'environmental extremists,' who he says won't be happy 'until the White House looks like a bird's nest.'
-March 15: Scheuer, D-N.Y., releases documents indicating Hernandez intervened to allow Dow Chemical Co. to change a report that had blamed the company for dioxin pollution of two Michigan rivers. Hernandez denies the allegations.
-March 18: Head of EPA's Chicago office tells House subcommittee he was strongly pressured by Hernandez to remove references in the dioxin report that blamed Dow Chemical.
March 21: Reagan names William Ruckelshaus, EPA administrator from 1970-73, to succeed Mrs. Burford. Environmentalists and lawmakers warn Ruckelshaus will only be 'window dressing' at the agency unless he can clean house at EPA.
Rep. Albert Gore, D-Tenn., releases documents indicating Ms. Lavelle met with White House aide James Medas in 1982 for detailed discussion of how the Superfund cleanup could be manipulated to help GOP candidates. Medas says Ms. Lavelle 'did most of the talking.'
-March 22: Ruckelshaus tells a wildly cheering crowd of 1,000 EPA employees that the agency must 'adhere to an iron integrity.'
-March 25: White House asks for and receives the resignation of Hernandez and other top agency officials. Lee Verstandig appointed acting administrator until Ruckelshaus is confirmed by Senate.
