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

DATE: SUNDAY, July 24, 1994                   TAG: 9407250071
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

DEQ SAYS CUTTING TOP JOBS WON'T AFFECT ENVIRONMENT

The elimination of top posts at the state Department of Environmental Quality concerns environmentalists who hope the changes won't undermine protection of Virginia's natural resources.

Department Director Peter Schmidt said Friday that the changes will improve efficiency.

``We want the agency to move ahead, not backward,'' he said.

Being phased out are the positions held by James Adams, director of the waste division; Robert Burnley, director of the water division; and Pamela Faggert, director of the air division.

``I'm concerned this is a dismantling of the agency that is supposed to be protecting the environment,'' said Kay Slaughter, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville.

Roy Hoagland, Virginia's assistant director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said, ``We risk sacrificing what many people consider the minimal environmental protections we have right now.''

Schmidt and DEQ spokeswoman Michele Riedel said the changes will not lessen protection of the environment. Schmidt announced the changes to the DEQ staff Thursday in a memo.

The agency's deputy directors - positions that once stood between the division heads and Schmidt - were eliminated last month.

But while the deputy directors lost their jobs, Schmidt said he hoped Adams, Burnley and Faggert would take other positions as the reorganization evolves.

``These job eliminations are not a reflection on their performances,'' said Schmidt, a Chesapeake businessman whom Gov. George Allen appointed last month to run DEQ.

The reorganization also will result in the elimination of the DEQ's office of permit assistance, created last year to provide information to businesses seeking environmental permits. Schmidt said regional offices will provide that service.

The shake-up also will phase out the department's office of emergency response and remediation, designed to respond to incidents such as oil spills. Schmidt said the regional offices, plus the state Department of Emergency Services, can carry out that function.

The DEQ was formed in April 1993 by combining into one agency the departments regulating waste, air and water pollution. Despite the consolidation, the agency still has numerous regional offices.

Schmidt said he plans soon to put the air, waste and water staff under one roof in each of the regional offices, with one regional director in each.

by CNB