Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 12, 1993 TAG: 9311120117
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But for three years, the Roanoke dentist has been inundated with every aspect of Virginia's water resources, including pollution control, fish kills, dioxin standards and sewage treatment.
Butler, 69, has served on the Virginia Water Control Board since 1991, appointed by friend and fraternity brother Gov. Douglas Wilder.
Last month, his six colleagues on the board elected him to serve as chairman for the next year.
"I think being a dentist conditions you to dealing with problems," Butler said this week in his one-chair dentist office in Northwest Roanoke.
And the water board faces its share of problems. It issues permits limiting industrial discharges into streams and rivers, which often can be controversial. It also regulates publicly owned sewage treatment plants, underground storage tanks, animal feeding lots, and withdrawals from surface and ground waters.
Looking upstream to issues that lie ahead for the board, Butler said the most important likely will be managing storm-water runoff. Rain that is not soaked into the ground runs off streets, roofs, driveways and parking lots, picking up contaminants before swirling down storm drains.
New federal and state regulations require large cities to clean up storm water before discharging it into local waters.
Another upcoming problem surfaced last week. Two environmental groups asked the EPA to take control of Virginia's water program, saying the state has violated many federal water laws, thereby impairing the quality of Virginia's water resources.
"First of all, I don't know whether they would want it," Butler said, noting that the EPA already reviews most major pollution permits.
Second, "We're getting just the opposite reports from the staff," Butler said. "They're telling us we're in good shape."
Butler said most of the board's attention is focused on eastern Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay. Few water-quality issues are unique to the Roanoke Valley, and as chairman, he said, he won't be pushing any particular agenda.
Board members get $50 per meeting, which last one or two days. So, he's not in it for the money. Rather, after a quarter-century of membership on a bevy of boards, the mild-mannered, affable dentist seems addicted to public service.
Born and schooled in Texas, Butler served in the Air Force and learned dentistry at Howard University. He is married and has four daughters.
In brief, Butler also has served on the city Redevelopment and Housing Authority, City Council, the Roanoke School Board, the Southern Regional Education Board and a task force to study Roanoke's election system. He was the first black resident to serve as chairman of the School Board.
"I like people. I feel comfortable around people," said Butler, who has earned a reputation for pulling a consensus out of conflicting viewpoints.
He's also been active in the local Democratic Party, and in Wilder's race for lieutenant governor and governor. He met Wilder years ago at a gathering of his fraternity brothers in Richmond.
"I let him know when he was running [for governor]; if he won, I would be available," Butler said. The call came in January 1991, to take an unfinished term. He was reappointed this year to a four-year term.
Butler said he had no burning interest in water pollution issues, save a passing concern from what he learned in the media, but he's learning more all the time.
Lisa Katz, Wilder's spokeswoman, said the governor made some appointments based partly on race, gender or geography in order to diversify representation on citizen-member boards.
by CNB