WASHINGTON â€" Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are now neighbors, more or less.
On Wednesday, Mr. Clinton and various officials past and present gathered for the renaming of the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in the former president’s honor, the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building. The building, a 79-year-old neoclassical landmark, is across a pedestrian mall from the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, which is also neoclassical in style. But the Reagan building, finished in 1998, lacks the heroic-style murals, bas-relief sculptures and other Depression-era touches of the E.P.A. building. Its centerpiece is a seven-story spiral staircase made of marble, surrounding a chandelier with lights at every floor.
The ceremony was something of a reunion, and a pep rally for Gina McCarthy, whom President Obama has nominated to lead the E.P.A., but whose confirmation has been held up in the Senate.
Carol Browner, who was Mr. Clinton’s E.P.A. administrator, pointed to several milestones during that era, including the first legal analysis to conclude that existing law gave the administration the ability to regulate carbon dioxide, an authority the Obama administration is seeking to exercise.
The Clinton administration also created an office within the E.P.A. to focus on children’s health, vastly sped the cleanup of Superfund sites and decreased soot and smog in the air. Mr. Clinton is also popular for having greatly expanded national parks and other protected areas. And he raised the agency to the status of a cabinet department.
None of the advances were easy, Ms. Browner said in a speech. “During your tenure, we faced an intransigent Congress, a fierce, well-funded and active opposition,†she said. “Glad to see so much has changed in Washington.â€
When it was Mr. Clinton’s turn to speak, he first said he did not have his notes, then said that was O.K. because as a former president, “you can say whatever the heck you want.†Then he said he had found his notes but that, as a former president, “If you can’t read your own handwriting, you’re really in trouble. “
He spoke animatedly for more than 20 minutes, mostly without looking at his notes.
Among the points he made, “You can have a growing economy with more jobs and rising incomes, and a sustainable environmental policy.’’
“You can protect our precious natural resources, and you can promote the public health, and you can fight climate change,†he said. “In fact, from now on that’s going to be the only way to have a sustainable economy.â€
Besides, he said, “The old economic model is not too hot anywhere.’’
The building, at 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, was completed in 1934 and was occupied by the Post Office until that became the Postal Service in 1971. In 1985 it was named for Ariel Rios, an undercover agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who was killed in the line of duty in 1982. Congress voted last December to rename the building in honor of Mr. Clinton. The change technically took effect in May.
Senator Barbara Boxer of California, the Senate sponsor of the bill that renamed the building, said, “This is a very strong building, and Bill Clinton was a very strong president.â€
In the midst of a traditional Washington summer â€" temperatures in the 90s and a heat index over 100 degrees â€" the dedication ceremony was held in a conference room named for Rachel Carson, an early marine biologist and environmental pioneer.
A choir, with middle school, high school and college students, performed a jazz/gospel rendition of “America the Beautiful.â€
Outside, the air was “code orange,†unhealthy for sensitive groups.
