DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 1997            TAG: 9708270005

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   50 lines

DEQ AND EPA MAKE NICE WELCOME DETENTE

Suddenly the state Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are on speaking terms, and that is good news for Virginians.

``I think we're seeing a change in attitude,'' said Stephanie Branche, EPA's liaison to Virginia. ``I mean, some people we dealt with before were just belligerent. They wanted nothing to do with us.''

How bad were relations between the state and federal environmental agencies?

Becky Norton Dunlop, the state secretary of natural resources, had suggested that the EPA was no longer necessary.

Late last year, the EPA withheld a $1.2 million grant from Virginia because the commonwealth was failing to submit pollution reports as required by law. The state said the problem was caused by computers but moved slowly to fix it.

In July, the EPA threatened to take over Virginia's environmental programs unless the state DEQ could satisfactorily justify a restructuring it was going through. Such a takeover would have meant long delays for businesses seeking environmental permits and presumably would have slowed the recruitment of new businesses. Virginia would have been known nationwide as the state that wouldn't or couldn't protect its environment.

But then last week, as Pilot staff writer Scott Harper reported, the EPA released the $1.2 million grant. Virginia reports are arriving at the EPA, and the EPA appears satisfied by the DEQ's explanation of its restructuring. For one thing, the DEQ scaled back restructuring plans and left experienced employees in some key positions.

``Virginia blinked,'' said Albert Pollard Jr., a Sierra Club lobbyist. He believes the state backed down because a) the business community was upset by the restructuring, b) elections are approaching and c) the state had gotten a public relations black eye.

Those are three good reasons to blink.

Also, Dunlop's environmental reign in Virginia has but a few months to go. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Donald S. Beyer Jr. tried to make Dunlop's combative stewardship an issue. But even the Republican candidate, James S. Gilmore III, has said he will not reappoint Dunlop. Perhaps the EPA will be less annoyed by her, knowing her days are numbered.

Governor Allen keeps saying that Virginia is open for business. But if the cold war between his DEQ and the EPA hadn't thawed, business might have suffered. Far worse than regulation, in the eyes of many businesses, is an unpredictable regulatory environment. And that's exactly what state conflict with EPA was threatening to create. Peace, or at least an armed truce, is preferable.

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