Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 24, 1995                   TAG: 9506260139
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

DEQ ENFORCERS MOVING TO FIELD

According to Allen administration officials, most of the 28 employees will be moved so they will be closer to the problems.

``This is not a retrenchment or a down-sizing of enforcement. ... We will do a better job,'' DEQ director Peter Schmidt said Thursday.

Enforcement workers in the DEQ crack down on factories, sewage plants, landfills and other operations that violate rules governing air pollution, water pollution and solid waste.

Enforcement often involves getting violators to sign legally binding pledges to clean up and pay fines. If such agreements can't be reached, cases can be sent to the attorney general's office for civil litigation. Some cases are sent to prosecutors for criminal action.

Schmidt said the change will mainly affect enforcement of water and waste rules. Enforcement of air pollution rules has been handled largely by regional offices for years.

Once in regional offices, some of the enforcement workers will take on duties inspecting landfills and other sites, Schmidt said. That on-site experience and the elimination of bureaucratic oversight in Richmond will spur efficiency, Schmidt said.

Some environmentalists attacked the plan, saying it would weaken enforcement.

Patricia Jackson, director of the James River Association, said moving the enforcement officers into the field would subject them to added pressures.

``It's hard when you work with someone [in industry] on a daily or weekly basis to turn around and issue an enforcement notice,'' she said.

Julie Overy, a spokeswoman for Natural Resources Secretary Becky Norton Dunlop, said, ``To suggest that people are going to be compromised in some way by being part of a local community is unbelievably cynical.''

The current system is so cumbersome that it has created a backlog of 350 pending enforcement cases, Schmidt said.

The six regional offices are in Richmond, Abingdon, Bridgewater, Roanoke, Virginia Beach and Woodbridge.

Some critics say the DEQ is being weakened to accommodate business interests. Allen officials say they can protect the environment while making the agency more efficient.

The DEQ is responsible for keeping track of more than 5,000 factories, landfills and other potential polluters.