By ERIK SCHELZIG
Associated Press
NASHVILLE (AP) -
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration has fired two top officials
at the Department of Environment and Conservation, while a third has
announced his retirement.
The department said in a
statement Friday that the changes are "designed to streamline our
structure and build management efficiencies."
Changes are to include the
creation of a single water resources division encompassing the
department's pollution control, water supply and groundwater management
programs, according to the statement.
The fired officials are Mike
Apple, head of the department's solid waste management division, and
Paul E. Davis, who was in charge of water pollution control. Meanwhile,
Mike Carlton is retiring as director of Tennessee state parks.
The Tennessean first
reported the TDEC shakeup on its website Friday afternoon. Apple told
the paper he had been called in to the office of deputy commissioner
Shari Meghreblian earlier this week, and that he was given no
explanation for the firing other than that "they wanted to make a
change."
The governor's office deferred questions about the changes back to the department.
John McFadden, executive
director of the Tennessee Environmental Council, said he is taking a
wait & see approach to how the department proceeds.
"My biggest concern would be
that we continue to have these resources that this agency is responsible
for protecting and conserving and taking care of," he said. "We know
that we've got significant degradation that ties back into our quality
of life, our communities and human health."
TDEC was a frequent target
during the Republican gubernatorial nomination race in 2010, though
Haslam was the least aggressive in his criticism of the agency. But
complaints about environmental regulations have been a recurring theme
as the governor has met with business groups around the state, and
Haslam has promised changes to make the department more
business-friendly.
For example, the governor in
December pledged to speed up the time it takes for TDEC to process
animal waste permits for poultry farms, saying his goal is for the state
to strike the "right balance between our stewardship responsibilities
and making certain we're providing product and providing jobs."
The changes at TDEC follow a
similar changes at the Tennessee Department of Transportation last
summer, when the chief administrator and the top environmental officer
left the agency and the existing engineering chief was promoted. The
department has since replaced the two positions, but the new top
environmental officer is placed at a lower rank. TDOT also abandoned its
green logo for a new red one.
TDOT Commissioner John Schroer
in September denied that the changes signaled a retreat from an
emphasis on environmental and community concerns under former Democratic
Gov. Phil Bredesen.
Bredesen declared during the
2002 governor's race that TDOT was "out of control," and ran campaign
ads pledging to clean up the unpopular agency that had been the target
of outside lawsuits and frequent TDEC fines.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
