ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602120013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
THE BILL THAT would eliminate the post of secretary of natural resources until the incumbent's term is over likely will die today.
Fans and foes of Secretary of Natural Resources Becky Norton Dunlop finally got their say Friday on a bill to eliminate her job.
The 90-minute hearing echoed the long-running debate over the state Cabinet member: environmentalists and state employees saying she is damaging efforts to protect the environment; seafood industry officials and her deputies saying she is doing a fine job.
But the measure likely will die for the year today at the request of Del. George Grayson, D-Williamsburg, who sponsored it. He asked that it be carried over to next year, and a House General Laws subcommittee made that recommendation to the full committee, which meets today.
Dunlop didn't attend Friday's impromptu subcommittee hearing. But just about everyone else with a stake - people who work for the state or who work on the Chesapeake Bay - crammed into a Capitol hearing room.
Art H. Buehler III, one of 10 anti-Dunlop speakers, said that as a former Department of Environmental Quality employee, he could attest to the accuracy of a state watchdog agency's survey, released late last year, that found morale problems at DEQ.
"A lot of people at DEQ are scared to death" of retribution if they speak out, Buehler said. He criticized what he views as political decisions favoring business over scientifically based decision-making. "The commonwealth already has a Department of Economic Development. We don't need two."
But Ernest Bowden, president of the Eastern Shore Watermen's Association, said his group would be "the first to rally" if its members thought there was any truth to allegations that Dunlop is destroying the Chesapeake Bay. He and 14 other pro-Dunlop speakers praised her fairness and hard work.
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Dunlop. color. KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB