ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602090079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
SOME LEGISLATORS and environmentalists hope to force Becky Norton Dunlop from the state Cabinet for her positions on nature and the economy, and how she controls her personnel.
Two years ago, environmental leaders quietly groaned when Becky Norton Dunlop was brought in to oversee Virginia's air and water quality, parks, wildlife and other natural resources.
To them, it was as if Gov. George Allen had appointed the matriarch of the anti-green movement, a former Reagan aide who championed loosened environmental regulations to spur economic growth.
Her political mantras - ``sound science,'' ``regulatory reform'' and private-property rights - were appalling to traditional environmentalists.
Now, midway through her tenure as Virginia's secretary of natural resources, critics from the environmental community, and some from within the agencies under her direction, are speaking out.
The latest charge came last month in the General Assembly, when Del. George Grayson, D-Williamsburg, blasted Dunlop as an anti-conservation extremist.
``No one since Gen. Ulysses S. Grant has posed a greater threat to our resources and our people,'' Grayson said in a speech to colleagues. He has introduced a bill that would abolish the secretariat for two years - not coincidentally, the remainder of Dunlop's term.
The bill has little chance of passing. If it does, Allen has said, he would veto it. But the bill should send a message to the administration, said Del. Clifton ``Chip'' Woodrum of Roanoke, one of 11 co-sponsors, all Democrats.
``We're not very pleased with the performance of the Department of Environmental Quality or with the secretary of natural resources,'' he said.
Grayson has accused Dunlop of squelching dissent within DEQ and stacking management positions with political allies.
But Del. Andy Guest, R-Front Royal, dismissed Grayson's speech as a personal attack better suited for a ``press conference or a snowball fight.'' Guest commended Dunlop for tackling the ``delicate'' job of pursuing environmental protection in an economical, efficient and practical way.
``The advocacy groups, like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and `Tree Huggers United' or what have you - they're upset by any change," Guest said.
Dunlop declined to be interviewed for this story.
Grayson's bill is scheduled to be heard before a House subcommittee today in what promises to be a lively debate. Administration officials probably will be there. And Grayson's staff is trying to line up dozens of supporters who have offered to testify.
``I think the future of the environment is at stake,'' he said.
Dunlop was waging a war of ideals with mainstream environmental groups even before her appointment to Allen's Cabinet.
The daughter of a Baptist minister in Ohio, she studied political science and was active in the Young Republicans. Her first Washington, D.C., job was as a clerk with the American Conservative Union, where she rose to political director after eight years.
While there, she came to know George Dunlop, a close friend and employee of Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. When she and Dunlop married, Helms gave the bride away. ``I feel like Becky is our daughter,'' Helms once said.
It was through Helms that Becky Norton Dunlop gained a position in the Reagan White House, rising to deputy undersecretary in the Department of the Interior. Her mentors there were Secretary of the Interior James Watt and his successor, Donald Hodel - both vilified by the environmental community.
In 1989, Congress forced her resignation. Democrats and Republicans accused her of trying to politicize the civil service by hiring conservatives, and of censoring her staff's contact with members of Congress.
Dunlop went on to help found the National Wilderness Institute, and continues to serve on its board of directors. The group says it aims to be a ``voice of reason on the environment'' by promoting economic incentives to further environmental protection - a philosophy she brought to Virginia.
Dunlop befuddled environmentalists and scientists soon after taking office when she told state leaders that growth and development would save the Chesapeake Bay by creating revenue for cleanup projects. Growth has long been targeted as the main cause for the bay's decline.
Dunlop also caught flak early on for referring to environmentalists as ``fear mongers'' who should ``claim victory and go home.'' Dunlop has since said she was quoted out of context.
The complaints haven't let up. Environmentalists say they no longer have a seat at the table to shape environmental policies. Worse, they say, the public is being shut out of the process. For example, documents and studies are routinely stamped as ``governor's working papers,'' a designation that shields them from public viewing.
Even the rank and file of her agencies are critical. In December, a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report said 89 percent of her department's employees disagree that ``morale is good.'' Of 127 employees surveyed, 57 percent said they feared reprisal if they made a decision consistent with law but upsetting to a polluter.
the Audit and Review Commission, a bipartisan watchdog agency, also reported that some job applicants - even for mid-level positions such as science adviser - were asked to recite Dunlop's five guiding principles of environmental management.
In almost all her public appearances, Dunlop restates these principles as the foundation of her environmental management policy:
People are Virginia's most important natural resource.
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Dunlop. KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB