Some
of Maine’s environmental activists hope the recent resignation of
beleaguered Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Dawn
Gallagher will mean the DEP will stand up more to industry polluters
(see "Don’t Expect Protection," by Alex Irvine, July 16, 2004). But a
former department manager says the alleged negotiations with industry
interests that prompted Gallagher’s resignation are in fact privately
encouraged by the governor.
"The
commissioner fell on her sword for the governor, but all of these
activities are coming out of the governor’s office," says David Van
Wie, director of the DEP’s Bureau of Land and Water Quality from
1999-2003 under former Governor Angus King and Baldacci.
"Immediately
upon Baldacci taking office it became a much more political,
lobbiest-driven management style," says Van Wie. "Once Baldacci came in
and the paper industry lobbyists got into the governor’s office,
suddenly we [at the DEP] were being told what to do when the governor’s
office had no idea what the [researchers at] the DEP had done."
Crystal
Canney, director of communications for the governor, notes that Van Wie
was a political appointee under King who resigned within a few months
of Baldacci taking office, implying a bias on Van Wie's part.
"Governor
Baldacci has always been and will always be a strong supported of
protecting the environment to ensure that the air the children breathe
and the water that they drink is clean and safe," she says in response
to Van Wie’s allegations.
Gubernatorial pressure or no, local
environmental activists hope a change-up at the DEP will make the
department more responsive to their interests.
"I
think the real issue isn’t who’s at the head of this agency, it’s what
this administration’s policies are," says Naomi Schalit, executive
director of Maine Rivers. "What we need to see is that the governor has
committed to not only having this agency run with integrity and
transparency but also that he is committed to the environment on all
levels."
Gallagher
resigned December 22 amid allegations she offered to ignore polluting
perpetrated by International Paper if a state representative who works
as a manager at the company would support legislation to clean up the
Androscoggin River. A report released by the Attorney General’s Office
on December 30 found that the DEP, under Gallagher, had also
inadvertently disregarded the state's Freedom of Access Act by giving
Rumford Paper Co. exclusive possession of notes taken during a meeting
in 2005 about Gulf Island Pond water quality regulations. The report
states that the department "attempted to put documents that had become
public records beyond the reach of a request for those records."
The
Attorney General wrote that the staff did not "fully understand" the
state's law and encouraged more training. The governor released a
statement later that day calling for "wider training" on FOAA requests.
A
current DEP employee who has worked in the department for more than 20
years says morale at the DEP is "generally not good," both because of
Gallagher’s erratic leadership and the slimming of the department’s
budget.
"Hopefully,
we can get beyond whatever problems, for lack of a better word, that
we’ve had," says the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"When
your name gets dragged through the mud as much as the DEP’s has been,
in the past several months anyway, it has an effect on how the public
looks at the agency, let alone how we look at ourselves."
Matt Davis, advocate for Environment Maine, says a new commissioner at the DEP can mean good news for environmentalists.
"It
does run deeper than just [former] Commissioner Gallagher but I think
that who’s in charge can make a big difference in terms of the kind of
leadership offered," he says. "I really think that in the cabinet,
there can be and should be push back from the agency head because they
know their agency best. I don’t think that kind of push-back happened
with Commissioner Gallagher."
According
Canney, the governor may appoint a new commissioner as early as this
week. Deputy Commissioner David Littell is currently serving as interim
commissioner. Canney says Littell is being considered for the permanent
position.
