With the assistance of student loans and work-study jobs, Owens earned his undergraduate degree at Brown University and then returned to Tennessee to study law at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

It was during his first semester at Vanderbilt in fall 1978 that Owens met Gore, who was then a first-term House member. The two became fast friends, and, in addition to hours spent playing basketball, drinking beer and eating pizza, talked endlessly about the range of "obscure" yet "deadly serious" issues that Gore wanted to bring to the public's attention while in office.

Al Gore's Influence

The formative time spent at Gore's side launched Owens to the forefront of the environmental movement at a critical juncture. With Ronald Reagan-EPA Administrator Ann Gorsuch scaling back the scope of the EPA, environmental activists believed that legal recourse was more important than ever. But, as Owens said, he was entering uncharted waters. At the time, "we didn't have environmental law...that was one of the challenges."

Despite the lack of any substantial legal precedent for environmental work, Owens jumped headfirst into a critical effort to articulate a basis for legislation dealing with issues from hazardous waste to robotics

After Owens finished at Vanderbilt, Gore asked him to come aboard as counsel for the House Science and Technology Investigations and Oversight subcommittee, for which he was chair. The experience was instrumental in shaping Owens' environmental consciousness. While preparing for hearings, or just as part of his daily work, he had the opportunity to learn from prominent scientists in a range of fields.

"They were always very eager to spend time with those of us on the congressional staff, especially those working for Gore because of things he was doing back then," said Owens.

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

After 14 years working in private practice at Phoenix-based law firm Brown & Bain, Owens re-entered the realm of public service in 2003 as director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Appointed by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), he said his main objective was to restore order to an agency that had developed a reputation for doing the bidding of special interests rather than protecting the environment.

In addition to re-instituting the traditional responsibilities of the department, Owens began to tackle a broad range of issues, targeting toxins wherever they were hiding: lead in drinking water, mercury in school equipment, asbestos in historic buildings.

Among his new initiatives was the establishment of the Office of Children's Environmental Health. Owens said including children's health in the dialogue about environmental issues was important to him on a personal level. When his oldest son John developed severe asthma as a child, Owens and his wife realized the problem was widespread.

"The incidence of childhood asthma and other respiratory disease have skyrocketed in this country," Owens said, adding that until recently, "not enough attention was paid to these issues from the environmental perspective."

Environmental Protection Agency

Owens was unanimously confirmed in July 2009 by the Senate as assistant administrator for the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.

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