Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 23, 1995 TAG: 9510230072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The mention of threatened species, pesticides and overfishing are also taboo in material that goes out to the public, past and present state employees say.
They were told that "any of the sensitive issues of the administration should be avoided," says Virginia Shepherd, former editor of a wildlife magazine published by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "Things have been altered to downplay man's effect on species."
Shepherd says her work was increasingly being micro-managed by higher-ups, including Becky Norton Dunlop, the Secretary of Natural Resources under Republican Gov. George Allen. Three other current or former employees said their work had been censored to some degree. Several advocacy groups said they'd also heard similar complaints from state environmental workers.
Shepherd says she had to get approval before publishing articles. Other staffers in various agencies under Dunlop, including the Museum of Natural History in Martinsville, also must submit news releases, letters and other documents to Dunlop's office for review, employees say.
An article about bald eagles that was sent to Virginia's public schools was edited to eliminate references to the role of DDT in the raptor's decline, Shepherd said. Pictures of Virginia's threatened and endangered species were dropped from this year's Game and Inland Fisheries calendar, and one issue of the wildlife magazine that focused on rare species in Southwest Virginia was pulled, Shepherd said.
"This review process of educational materials, everything, it's totally unprecedented," said Shepherd, one of more than 5,500 state workers who took the administration's buyout offer this past summer.
Dunlop says she does not censor her employees. "I do not have any policy that would tell any employee or any individual not to use any particular words."
A onetime personnel adviser to former President Reagan, Dunlop said she would expect some employees, as well as some environmental activists, to disagree with changes in the way things are done in the agencies she oversees.
"It's a new way of thinking," Dunlop said. "I think that our administration is working to really change the paradigm, and it's not an easy change."
Unshackling business from excessive environmental rules, trimming budget and staff for optimum efficiency, and turning to the private sector and citizen volunteers to assume personal stewardship of natural resources are essential to the new order. So is the belief that economic growth will stimulate environmental protection efforts, Dunlop said.
Critics say, however, that the Allen administration is going too far. Changes taking place today will inflict damage on the state's water, air, land and wildlife that may not show up for years, they say.
"Sooner or later, these things have an impact," said one of those critics, Sen. Joe Gartlan, D-Fairfax County. "This administration is a real negative influence on the quality of life, and it's going to get a lot worse before [Allen] leaves office."
`Regulations have to be reasonable'
During his 1993 campaign, George Allen focused on creating jobs and getting government out of the way of business so the state economy could flourish. He boasted that Virginia's natural resources were a draw for industrial prospects and tourism, but he seldom talked about protecting those resources.
He emerged as one of the GOP's earliest advocates for regulatory reform, a movement that has targeted environmental rules as among the most onerous. Once in office, Allen ordered a review of all state regulations to weed out excessive, burdensome rules not required by the federal government and not essential to safeguarding public health and welfare.
"I do think that regulations have to be reasonable and take into account the impact not only on woodpeckers, but also the impact on people," he said.
Allen and Dunlop have faith in the free market: If government backs off, they believe, the private sector and individuals will develop innovative, cost-effective pollution controls.
Virginians are more supportive of governmental environmental protection programs than the governor and the secretary. Four polls this summer - one commissioned by The Roanoke Times and the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, one by Media General, and two by environmental groups - indicated strong support for such programs and a willingness to maintain them.
Environmentalists also take issue with the administration's approach and believe the regulatory pendulum has swung too far away from governmental oversight and responsibility. They cite examples that, they say, show how Dunlop's office acts more like an economic development office than a champion of natural resources:
Without public notice, the Department of Environmental Quality changed a 1987 requirement that limited the discharge from shipyards of TBT, a highly toxic pesticide used in boat paint to keep the hulls free of barnacles.
Joe Maroon, Virginia director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, says the agency "quietly pulled" those limits in a permit renewal for Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp. "This seems to be a disregard for anything that took place before this administration came in," Maroon said. The federal Environmental Protection Agency objected to the change and is requiring a comprehensive study of TBT's impact on the bay.
The DEQ stopped cleanup at about 2,000 sites in Virginia where leaking underground storage tanks had polluted the soil or ground water. Under a new procedure, the DEQ only enforces cleanup at sites that pose an immediate risk. The move saves the tank owners millions of dollars in cleanup costs, but environmentalists say the pollution at closed sites could come back to haunt future or nearby property owners.
Dunlop is exploring ways to contract with private vendors to provide services such as camping, restaurants and horseback riding at state parks, running fish hatcheries, and advising farmers on controlling agricultural runoff. Those services have traditionally been provided by government; critics say the services could be compromised by profit-seeking private business.
The DEQ is proposing a change in regulations that would give the agency more discretion whether to require water pollution dischargers to monitor for toxic substances. Critics say the change could mean some companies would get preferential treatment.
The DEQ has also delayed designation of five Western Virginia streams as "pristine," out of concern it would stifle economic growth in the communities where they're located. The stream classification, part of the federal Clean Water Act, would mean that no more pollution could be discharged into the streams.
The administration pushed for an "environmental audit" bill that would grant immunity from criminal and civil prosecution to businesses that find environmental violations and confess them to the government. The bill passed into law this year despite environmentalists' objections that it would create a cloak under which polluters could hide problems because the information they gave the government would be considered legally privileged.
Dunlop bristles at suggestions that she is gutting environmental regulations. "... I haven't said that environmental laws and regulations should go away."
Instead, she counters that the regulatory pendulum had swung too far in the other direction and was cutting economic growth. The administration wants to weed out conflicting and outdated rules, make permitting easier and base enforcement on sound science and flexibility, she said.
Then, Dunlop says, the regulated community will have more money to spend on environmental projects. The wealthier a local government is, for instance, the more it can upgrade sewage treatment plants to discharge cleaner water into streams.
Sandra Bowen, a senior vice president with the state Chamber of Commerce, says her association believes DEQ is "moving ahead at a very acceptable pace" to streamline the permitting process. "Generally, the regulated community is happy with the way it is working so far."
Edward C. Minor, chairman of the environmental committee of the Virginia Manufacturers Association, says environmental groups want regulations that are easily measured and enforced, like the amount of pollution coming out of a smokestack or discharge pipe. Environmental groups seem suspicious of the administration's preference for more flexible solutions to solving problems, he said.
"They don't have someone like a traffic cop that can give someone a ticket when they're speeding," says Minor, a lawyer for Union Camp, a paper company in Isle of Wight County. There is "more focus on serving customers, and by customers I mean the regulated community, and ultimately the environmental advocacy groups because issues are being resolved quicker."
The fight over `standing'
Environmentalists admit they are suspicious of the administration and its policies. They say they used to have a seat at the table to discuss issues, but now feel locked out.
"It's to the point I can't even get a letter answered," says Ed Clark, director of the Wildlife Center of Virginia and longtime state environmentalist. Clark said he was blackballed from several state functions after he publicly criticized Dunlop's positions at a conference last year.
In February, the DEQ came under fire when director Peter Schmidt convened three panels to streamline waste, water and air permits. The panelists included DEQ staff, consultants, lawyers, and representatives of the regulated community, but no one from the environmental community. In a memo, Schmidt indicated the panels' recommendations would remain internal policy and not subject to public comments and hearings.
Further, the administration has liberally construed the "governor's working papers" exemption of the state's Freedom of Information Act, environmentalists complain. They cried foul when the state refused to release a state report that led to the demise of Disney's proposed theme park in Northern Virginia, and again when Allen's hand-picked Blue Ribbon Strike Force on government reform withheld certain documents.
More recently, the DEQ has kept confidential its review of 25 regulations, done to meet Allen's executive order. Nor will Dunlop release details of an "exercise" in which the DEQ listed programs that could be privatized, eliminated or shifted to other agencies.
The exercise is simply to get employees thinking about all the options for streamlining government, Dunlop said. As for the 25 regulations, Dunlop must first review them, then make recommendations to the governor by Jan. 1. Any changes will be subject to public review, she said.
"We're not trying to do something in secret," Dunlop said. "The process is not moving along ... under the cover of darkness."
Perhaps the most contentious of the battles over public access involves citizen "standing" - the right to sue the state over environmental permits it issues. Virginia has the most restrictive laws in the country: Only a discharger seeking a water pollution permit can sue the state. For air permits, people must prove an immediate, financial interest to gain standing.
"Why shouldn't the citizens have equal standing with industry? It seems to me so clearly biased," said Peter Kostmayer, a former EPA regional director who clashed with Allen over standing and other issues. He calls Allen "the best friend Virginia polluters ever had."
Citizens' lack of standing is the main reason the EPA rejected the state's plan to comply with the Clean Air Act.
Allen, in an interview with The Roanoke Times during his 1993 campaign, cited concerns of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce that loosening the law would open a floodgate of frivolous lawsuits and create long delays in the already lengthy permitting process. He added, however, that the standing law might have to be changed if the federal government threatened to take over Virginia's air program.
In a twist that environmentalists like to note, however, Allen sued the federal government instead of reviewing the law. The administration claims the federal government has no right to punish states into complying with federal law.
The governor apparently is not listening to advice from his top DEQ officials, says David Sligh, coordinator for the Virginia chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, a national group. In a July memo obtained by the group, John Daniel, head of the DEQ's air division, recommended the standing law be changed "to meet Clean Air Act and Constitutional requirements."
Daniel said he neglected to add a caveat to the recommendation that the law should be changed only if Virginia loses its lawsuit against the ERA.
"We wouldn't touch the provision on standing unless the court tells us we have to," he said.
`Morale is a disaster'
Sligh worked for 10 years in the DEQ's Roanoke office, writing water discharge permits. Like Virginia Shepherd, the former magazine editor, Sligh said he felt more top-down political pressure under Allen than in previous administrations. In Sligh's case, he said he felt pressure to overlook legal and technical problems in order to issue permits in a timely, friendly manner.
"That makes me mad as a taxpayer, and a career government employee," Sligh said earlier this year. Since then, he's quit the agency and become the state coordinator of PEER.
Others have left as well. A combination of buyouts, layoffs and resignations has left DEQ with about 640 employees, down 20 percent from 1993, and far below the 1,000 positions authorized by the General Assembly when it created the agency.
At least one employee was fired. Don Shepherd, who is not related to Virginia Shepherd, had worked 15 years heading the Roanoke regional air office. He was regarded, both inside and outside government, as a middle-of-the-roader, someone who worked well with industry and who took the protection of Virginia's air quality and public concerns seriously.
Schmidt fired Shepherd last fall for revealing an internal disagreement over an air permit for a Radford industry. Staffers throughout the agency's six regions were stunned, and took the incident as a warning.
With the loss of some of the most experienced staffers, critics say, the DEQ and other environmental agencies are suffering a bureaucratic brain drain. People are taking on additional tasks or being reassigned to jobs for which they have little training or experience.
Morale has sunk to an all-time low, according to employees who spoke only if they would not be identified. They have to log calls or visits from the press and must refer all reporters to the public relations office, which has been cut in half.
"They're scared to death to talk to me," said Joe Gartlan, the Democratic senator from Fairfax County. "Morale is a disaster. Workloads are impossible. They simply can't perform."
Dunlop defends the professionalism at DEQ. She has accompanied staffers to meetings with EPA officials to "fight and be a champion" for their scientific findings.
"I recognize certainly that when you are in a climate of right-sizing government, which oftentimes means downsizing, when you are rigorously reviewing the roles of different agencies, that it is tough on the employees," she said. "But it's not causing a lot of people to not do their jobs."
Dunlop inherited the DEQ shortly after its creation, and is in charge of turning four separate agencies into a single, smooth-running organization.
She says staffers have told her she's the first person in her post they have met, and they think the agency is moving in the right direction.
Dunlop is doing more than talking about giving government back to the people. She's doing it.
She recently endorsed a citizen-driven project to build an inexpensive wetland system to trap toxins leaking from the Kim-Stan landfill in Alleghany County. A traditional cleanup would cost $10 million, and no one has come forward with the money.
"Creative ideas, I love them. I love to promote them," Dunlop said.
The secretary has also spoken at four state parks, including Claytor Lake park in Pulaski County, urging citizens to organize volunteer groups to maintain trails, greet and guide visitors, help manage forests and assist in other tasks. The events were also fund-raisers for those parks.
And the administration's plan to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous levels in the Chesapeake Bay relies on volunteer efforts of local governments, farmers and other businesses within the watershed.
"It would be very nice if the world could work this way," said Barbara Wrenn, a consultant for the Virginia Municipal League. "It's unrealistic to think localities are going to put money" into the bay program, especially when they need to put teachers in the schools and cops on the street, Wrenn said.
Gerald McCarthy is all for citizen and corporate involvement, too. He heads the Virginia Environmental Endowment, which distributes grants to student groups, civic leagues and businesses that undertake sustainable development projects.
He gives Dunlop credit for visiting many of the local officials and people in the Potomac River watershed to get ideas. "Depending on them is another," he said. The state needs to be more than "just a cheerleader."
\ Environmental Agencies
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Issues an annual average of 350 air pollution permits, 4,000 water pollution permits, and 45 landfill permits; monitors water and air quality statewide; oversees cleanup of petroleum and other spills; reviews projects of other agencies, such as road construction, for compliance with state and federal environmental laws; conducts research and education efforts to improve natural resources.
Staff: mid-1993 800
mid-1995 638
Budget*: FY 93/94 $72.8 million
FY 95/96 $69.6 million
*does not include federal money for loans to localties for sewage treatment plants.
DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND RECREATION
Mission is to conserve, protect, enhance and advocate wise use of Virginia's unique, natural, recreational and scenic resources; includes soil and water conservation, natural heritage and state parks divisions.
Staff:* FY 93/94 344
FY 95/96 305
Budget: FY 93/94 $26.8 million
FY 95/96 $27.9 million
* As authorized by General Assembly, not necessarily actual number employed
DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND INLAND FISHERIES
Provides for management, conservation, restoration and public education of Virginia's fish and wildlife resources; oversees hunting, fishing and boating regulations and fees; also provides law enforcement of game and boating laws.
Staff: FY 93/94 384
October 1995 391
Budget:* FY 93/94 $25.6 million
FY 95/96 $27.5 million
* Revenue from hunting, fishing, boating license fees, non-game contributions, federal funding, and other sources. The General Assembly designatesd an additional $172,500 in FY93/94 and $862,000 in FY95/96 for specific programs.
Source: DEQ, DCR and DGIF
What's Important
A poll this summer indicated many voters thought environmental protection was more important than reducing state government; Support for environmental programs was even stronger in the Roanoke area.
Importance of protecting the environment
statewide roanoke area
critical 46 percent 52 percent
important but not critical 48 percent 43 percent
not too important 6 percent 5 percent
not important at all 1 percent 0 percent
Importance of reducing the size of state government
statewide roanoke area
critical 18 percent 19 percent
important but not critical 50 percent 47 percent
not too important 19 percent 21 percent
not important at all 4 percent 3 percent
don't know/no answer 9 percent 11 percent
SOURCE: The Virginia Commonwealth University Survey Research Laborartory, interviews with 1,024 adults July 11-30. Margin of error plus or minus 3 percentage points statewide and 6 percentage points in Roanoke area.
STAFF
by CNB