Winds of Change Newsletter, September 2005     See sidebar for table of contents

Pink Slip Time for Besieged DEP Chief?

Is it time for DEP chief Stephanie Timmermeyer to get a pink slip? Lets check the timeline

	OVEC Board Member Winnie Fox waves a pink slip as she calls on Gov. Manchin to ax the DEP chief at the July 30 rally. Photo by Jesse Mwaura

June 30 Despite citizen outcry, DEP approves Goals Coal second silo. DEP had allowed Massey to begin construction on the new silo two months before it got the permit! (See related article on page 12).

July 16 Charleston Gazette editorial Mistrust: DEP and DuPont: Anyone who wonders why people become exasperated with government why they lose their tempers in public meetings, why they quit bothering to participate in running their state and communities need only look to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

DEP had been planning to issue a press release warning Wood County residents that it looked increasingly likely that the toxic chemical C8 from a DuPont plant there was spreading into their air, water and soil. But the agency let DuPont soften the DEP press release. Though she wasnt in charge of DEP then (she headed up the air division), lawyer Timmermeyer had (before taking her state job) represented DuPont on C8 issues. She recuses herself from dealings on this issue now. So who is in charge?

July 26 Only because of citizen pressure and investigative reporting, DEP revoked the Goals Coal silo permit. By August 10, the legality of the revocation was questioned by Joe Lovett, lawyer for Marsh Fork residents. He says DEP should have cited the company for mining outside its permit boundary instead.

August 8 In DEP hasnt written required mining mitigation reports, the Charleston Gazette reports: For the last five years, state regulators have ignored a legislative mandate to produce an annual report on their mining mitigation deals with coal operators It was simply an oversight on our part, DEP stated.

Last month, the DEP announced an unusual mitigation deal that allowed a coal company to donate land to the state to offset wetlands that will be damaged by a new strip mine in Grant County

August 11 The Gazette sums up: But the DEP fumbled (the mitigation) deal too. The Army Corps of Engineers had not yet held its public comment period. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service questioned the permit, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency objected to it. All three federal agencies must approve such a deal.

Its high time we get a new DEP chief someone who really works to protect the environment, not the polluters.