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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 1, 1995                   TAG: 9503010089
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER RESIGNS TO PROTEST PERMITS

Instead of defending three water pollution discharge permits at a hearing Tuesday, a senior engineer for the state Department of Environmental Quality resigned in protest and denounced agency practices.

``I refuse to defend policies that are illegal or a lie,'' David Sligh testified at a public hearing.

Sligh said he's one of about 24 department employees who have since late 1993 secretly complained to a whistleblowers' group about issuing permits that they claim violate laws, ignore scientific principles and endanger aquatic environments.

Using information from Sligh and other workers, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C., has objected to a dozen water-discharge permits in Virginia. They include the three considered at the public hearing in Bedford - a proposed business complex in Blue Ridge, a campground in Campbell County and an apartment complex just outside of Lynchburg.

At the hearing, department engineer Karen Stevens testified that regulations were followed properly and the agency policies were supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A decision on the three projects will be made March 28 at a state Water Control Board meeting.

Department spokeswoman Michele Riedel did not return telephone messages left at her office Tuesday. But in January, when the watchdog group advanced the complaints publicly, she said the department's policies adequately protect the environment.

Sligh said less-stringent limits on pollution discharges slowly degrades the health of streams and the diversity of aquatic life.

``You don't necessarily see fish rolling up and dying,'' Sligh said in an interview. ``Some people say, `What's the big deal?' But we are not supposed to wait until fish start dying or until a stream deteriorates. We're supposed to be there to prevent that.''

Sligh said he now will be a spokesman for the network of watchdog-group members in Virginia. ``Without a voice, the frustration level is getting higher and higher in DEQ,'' he said. ``Hopefully, we can get some attention from state legislators whose laws are not being carried out.''

by CNB