Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``We have a constitutional responsibility for the natural resources of the commonwealth,'' Dunlop said. ``It is uppermost in our minds every day we come to work.''
Dunlop was responding to charges from a group of employees in the Department of Environmental Quality who say they are forced to issue inconsistent, and sometimes illegal, permits.
The employees, who have organized under a national whistle-blower protection group in Washington, D.C., voiced their concerns in stories that appeared Sunday and Monday in the Roanoke Times & World-News. Attempts to obtain comments from Dunlop before publication of those stories were unsuccessful.
Several staff workers, who asked not to be identified, said that morale at the agency has slumped since Dunlop, appointed by Gov. George Allen, took over. Their concerns that Allen's push for job growth has led to rushed permits, lax enforcement and a too-cozy relationship with industry were echoed by some environmental groups in Virginia.
But Dunlop, in a phone interview Tuesday, accused the employees of ``fear-mongering'' by going to the media and the federal Environmental Protection Agency to review their allegations.
Dunlop maintained that the department, which she oversees, issues comprehensive permits and stands tough on enforcement.
``We are carrying out the law, we are carrying out the science ... and we have good managers in all the regions,'' Dunlop said.
She said she had not heard about the employees' concerns, or from the national Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which has made several presentations at public meetings on behalf of the workers.
However, it's not surprising, she added, that the dramatic change in administration and the ongoing restructuring of the department have left some disgruntled employees. ``They're not unhappy with Allen, they're just unhappy.''
The department's policy, begun in the Wilder administration, is to streamline the agency, be more responsive to industries and local governments, and issue permits in a timely manner.
As for the employees' and environmentalists' claim that DEQ is rushing the job, Dunlop said that if any industry or municipality is satisfied with the permit process, ``I'd like to be told.''
Charles L. Williams Jr., an environmental lawyer with Gentry, Locke, Rakes and Moore in Roanoke, said the permit process has not improved much in the past year.
``My clients have not seen an emancipation at the hands of Governor Allen,'' he said.
By the same token, the agency has made a distinct effort to be more reasonable on tough technical questions, with the result that pollution gets cleaned up better, more efficiently and more quickly, Williams said.
David Griffiths, an environmental consultant with Olver Inc. in Blacksburg, agrees that the agency is more responsive, although not necessarily more lenient.
``The time had come for the pendulum to swing back to the middle ground ... from overzealous regulators,'' Griffiths said.
Last year, one of his clients was willing to clean up a spill, but was told to wait until the department wrote up an order to do so. ``It's been a year,'' Griffiths said, and the spill is still ``on and in the ground.''
Dunlop said she would look into the specific charges of the whistle-blowers, which involve the discharge of organic compounds into Virginia streams and rivers in several parts of the state.
by CNB