ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 11, 1996 TAG: 9612110023
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SURPRISING? NO. But a scathing assessment, issued this week, of Virginia's water-quality enforcement efforts is no less worrisome for having been expected.
Gov. George Allen and his secretary of natural resources, Becky Norton Dunlop, have made no secret of their shared view that, as far as environmental protection goes, it is the state's business to see that businesses get the environmental permits they need quickly and with a minimum of hassle.
Which would be fine, even commendable, so long as the public could be sure that, in streamlining the regulatory process, the state would not compromise enforcement of the regulations themselves. Unfortunately, Virginians have no such assurance.
If anything, budget cuts and reorganization of Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality have ensured fewer inspections and lax enforcement of the standards that industries and municipalities are supposed to meet to protect water quality.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report released Monday criticizes the state's drop to last among the 10 Southeastern states for the amount of fines collected and number of polluters taken to court for water-pollution violations. A paltry $4,000 in penalties were assessed this year and one case was referred to the state attorney general's office.
JLARC discounted administration assertions that the drop since 1994, when Allen took office, reflects a corresponding drop in water pollution. Rather, said the legislative watchdog agency, many rivers are not being monitored often enough for anyone to know if they are clean or not. And a 1996 DEQ report showed that 5 percent of the waters that were monitored were polluted, up from 3 percent in 1994.
No more a surprise than the findings is the administration's response: The JLARC staff is hired by the General Assembly, where the Democratic Party holds sway. A report critical of Allen's Republican administration must be political, and is not to be taken too seriously.
But JLARC has a long history as a tough-minded but fair watchdog group, and its findings have been, and should continue to be, taken seriously. JLARC never hesitated to issue reports rebuking practices of previous Democratic administrations.
And this report is not uniformly critical of Virginia's environmental quality. The air continues to improve, a long-term trend that has not been reversed, despite the governor's high-profile battles with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Inspections of factories and power plants have fallen off 30 percent since 1992, but larger forces than state compliance inspections apparently are at work.
Not so along Virginia's streams and rivers. The state must do a better job monitoring waterways and enforcing standards. A good start would be to clean up a politicized DEQ.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB