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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 12, 1994                   TAG: 9407130063
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EX-ENVIRONMENTAL CHIEF TAKES JOB AT WESTVACO

The New York-based forest products and chemicals company said Monday that Richard Burton, former director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, will begin working Sept.1 at its corporate headquarters.

"We sought him out," said William Fuller III, spokesman for the giant paper-making company. "Obviously, we knew he might be available."

Burton, 45, was among the state employees who lost their jobs in recent months in the wake of Republican Gov. George Allen's purge of Democratic appointees from previous administrations.

Burton will be a registered lobbyist in Washington, representing Westvaco's stance on federal environmental policies, Fuller said. He also will be in contact with state regulators and legislators on state matters in Virginia and elsewhere, Fuller said.

Burton has worked for more than 20 years in Virginia state government, first as a planner and later as executive director of the former State Water Control Board for 10 years.

That agency last year joined with three others - the Air Pollution Control Board, the Department of Waste Management and the Council on the Environment - to form the Department of Environmental Quality, with Burton at the helm.

Burton could not be reached for comment. But Fuller said Burton's switch from state government to private industry presents no conflict- of-interest problems. The issue was reviewed by Westvaco's lawyers, and "Burton was asked to give some thought to that; so the answer is no," Fuller said.

Westvaco created Burton's new job to help the company deal with multiplying, increasingly complex state and federal environmental laws, John A. Luke Jr., president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "He was demanding, but fair," Luke said.

In the press release, Burton said Westvaco's commitment to finding solutions to difficult environmental issues and to improving its environmental performance, impressed him.

Westvaco employs 3,000 Virginians, including about 1,800 at its bleached board papermill in Covington. In May it announced plans to move about 110 corporate workers to a new complex of offices in Chesterfield County.