Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 11, 1993 TAG: 9308110070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And at least one member of the environmental group's state executive committee wants Bill Tanger kicked out of the club.
"He has just done an incredible amount of damage to the Sierra Club's credibility," Shireen Parsons, chairwoman of the New River group, said Tuesday. "I hope they take his membership. This has been going on for over two years."
Tanger, an advertising and public relations executive in Roanoke, sits on the club's executive committee and has been a Sierra Club member for about eight years.
In early 1991, Apco hired him as a consultant and spokesman for the proposed power line that would stretch 115 miles from Oceana, W.Va., to Cloverdale. The project has sparked a heated controversy that spans two states and may last several more years.
Last month, Tanger was quoted in a West Virginia newspaper as saying the Sierra Club supports the project.
"No, I didn't say that, that's silly," Tanger said. "I would never say that."
He did not want to talk about the flap with the Sierra Club, which he said should be handled internally according to the group's bylaws.
The July 18 article was written a few days after Apco held a media workshop in Bluefield. Tanger said he checked with other reporters and watched Apco's videotape of the workshop to confirm that he did not make the comment.
The newspaper printed a retraction of the statement last week and sent a letter of explanation and apology to Tanger and the Sierra Club.
Nonetheless, on Aug. 7, the Virginia chapter's executive committee strengthened its original policy and stated in no uncertain terms its opposition to the 765,000-volt line. Eleven committee members voted by phone to adopt the policy, said William Grant, energy chairman of the state chapter. Nine other committee members could not be reached.
But aside from the newspaper article, the matter of Tanger is not resolved, Grant said.
"What bothers us is he's using his environmental credentials, including Sierra Club membership, to support the line," he said. "It's disturbing, and we're still not sure how to deal with it."
The state chapter does not have the authority to kick out Tanger, said Gene Coan, Sierra Club's director of volunteer development in San Francisco. Only the national board of directors can revoke a person's membership, and it's been done only once or twice in the club's history, Coan said.
But the state chapter can censure members, and has done so on two occasions, Grant said. He plans to discuss Tanger's situation at the committee's next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 11.
In the meantime, Grant wrote in an Aug. 1 letter to Tanger: "I will have to insist that you . . . refrain from representing the Sierra Club in any manner when speaking about the proposed power line or any other energy matter."
Tanger maintains that he does not represent the Sierra Club, or its policy positions, in his role as Apco's consultant, nor does he have a conflict of interest.
"Lots of Sierra Club members are Apco employees," he said. "I would think the environmentalists would want one working on the power line. . . . They're the ones that give a damn."
Apco spokesman Don Johnson said Apco is sticking by Tanger, although he acknowledged that the flap with one of the state's more powerful environmental groups isn't the best publicity for the project.
"He is very credible as an environmentalist," Johnson said. "Bill serves a valuable function in getting the company to look at these environmental issues."
For instance, Tanger has maintained that a portion of the New River in West Virginia that would be crossed by the power line should receive national scenic river designation. Johnson said Apco never has opposed the designation, which is still under study.
Apco hired Tanger after he had successfully fought the utility on other issues, Johnson said. "He earned the respect of people in Apco. They thought he was a guy with principles."
Tanger first made headlines as a leader of Friends of the Roanoke River, which opposed Roanoke County's Spring Hollow Reservoir and has closely monitored the city's Roanoke River flood reduction project.
by CNB