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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994                   TAG: 9406060167
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

ALLEN PICKS EXECUTIVE TO HEAD DEQ

Peter W. Schmidt, the chairman of Allied Concrete Co., will replace Richard Burton, a career environmental administrator.

``I think it will make it more of a consumer-oriented agency, rather than one run by bureaucrats who just let things sit on desks until someone pokes them,'' Allen said.

The Schmidt appointment came as part of an Allen purge of 15 agency heads appointed by his predecessor, Democrat Douglas Wilder.

The DEQ appointment has been anticipated for weeks by environmentalists, who fear that Allen will make good on his promise to cut state regulations not mandated by the federal government.

John W. Daniel, who served as secretary of natural resources under Gov. Gerald Baliles, cautioned against reading too much into the Schmidt appointment.

Schmidt's company has sought innovative uses for fly ash produced by electric power generation plants. Agglite, an affiliate of Allied Concrete, uses some of the fly ash produced at Virginia Power's coal-fired plant in Chesapeake to manufacture concrete blocks.

``Those who know Schmidt say he has an environmental conscience,'' Daniel said. ``I can't pass judgment. He's a businessman first and an environmentalist second.

``That is consistent with Allen's philosophy. It's going to be a four-year period of business first, environment second.''

In another move, Allen reappointed William A. Pruitt of Gloucester County to head the Department of Marine Resources, which manages marine fisheries and preserves marine habitat through project reviews.