
DATE: Tuesday, July 15, 1997                TAG: 9707150101

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   87 lines

VIRGINIA ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY FACES EPA SCRUTINY OVER PROPOSED LAYOFFS

Already under fire from environmental and business groups, the head of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality faced a new round of sharp questions Monday about plans to reorganize the agency.

Among other concerns, state lawmakers questioned DEQ Director Thomas L. Hopkins about a letter sent Friday to Hopkins by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking him to explain, in writing, why he wants to lay off 30 senior managers.

The letter suggests that concerns over the reorganization might lead the EPA to take over Virginia's programs for safeguarding clean air, water and soil.

While Hopkins insisted no such move would occur, lawmakers nonetheless wondered how such a power shift might affect thousands of Virginia businesses that would have to answer to the federal government regarding permits and pollution emissions.

A federal takeover of environmental authority also would be unprecedented in the nation, damaging Virginia's already sullied reputation for enforcing conservation laws.

``It's a real threat that EPA will withdraw the right of Virginia to administer these programs,'' said Del. W. Tayloe Murphy Jr., D-Warsaw, chairman of a watchdog commission that quizzed Hopkins for more than an hour Monday about his reorganization.

Disclosed June 2, the plan would remove some of the most senior regulators inside DEQ and give them new jobs elsewhere at agency headquarters in Richmond.

Billed as a way to cut costs and decentralize the department, the restructuring has angered a wide spectrum of interest groups, from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce to the Sierra Club.

They argue that the plan, drawn principally by Hopkins and several top lieutenants, would cause a ``brain drain'' of skilled technicians, hampering fair, effective and timely environmental protection.

``What this reconfirms is that this agency's leadership, for whatever reason, is more interested in internal politics than in protecting the environment,'' said Joseph Maroon, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Virginia.

The proposed changes came in response to criticism leveled by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, or JLARC, that the department was mismanaged, ineffective and top-heavy with white-collar bureaucrats, some of whom were political appointees.

On Monday, Hopkins staunchly defended his strategy. Growing red-faced angry at times, but also offering anecdotes about growing up in a dirty West Virginia coal field, Hopkins said he approaches his job as the state's top environmental officer as ``a sacred trust.''

``All I can tell you is that I'm trying to do what I think is best,'' he told JLARC members. ``I think you'll see a more effective and efficient organization.''

Hopkins got little support from most commission members. Del. Kenneth R. Plum, D-Reston, asked why the department hired a consultant for $100,000 but didn't follow its recommendations regarding the reorganization.

Hopkins said DEQ has stopped making payments to the consultant, a Charlottesville-based firm whose president helped run Gov. George F. Allen's election campaign.

One typical response came from Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach. Croshaw said that in his 11 years in public office, the reorganization has drawn together business and environmental groups like no other issue.

He told Hopkins that if the plan suffers only from bad publicity, as the director alleges, ``then we need to end it, because it's not good for business and it's not good for the environment.''

While saying he still has reservations about the plan, Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr., R-McLean, cautioned his colleagues about pursuing ``a witch hunt'' inside the DEQ. Callahan compared the recent scrutiny and chastisement of Hopkins and his staff to that of the anti-communist McCarthy hearings of the 1950s.

Afterward, Stephanie Branche, the EPA's liaison to Virginia, said she was not reassured by Hopkins' comments before the commission. EPA will wait to hear in writing from Hopkins before making any decisions about federal intervention.

DEQ has until July 25 to reply, Branche said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Color photo

THE SITUATION

What happened: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked

DEQ Director Thomas L. Hopkins, left, to answer questions in writing

on why he wants to lay off 30 senior managers as part of a

department reorganization.

What it means: Some state lawmakers worry that the EPA might take

over Virginia's regulatory programs if the reorganization plan is

adopted.