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MUDDYING    THE WATERS

The politics of scandal mongering as a substitute for debate over real issues is alive and well in Virginia. Here’s the “scandal”: An arm of the General Assembly issued a report critical of the Department of Environmental Quality, accusing the Allen administration of going easy on polluters. The press gave lavish attention to the charges, and the DEQ got panicky over the bad publicity.

Michael McKenna, DEQ’s flack, wrote a memo listing some lame ideas – launching probes for documents, threatening libel lawsuits, leaking these pseudo-stories to the press – to discredit the report. Although the memo was passed to higher-ups, no one acted on it.

Someone did leak the memo to the press, however. McKenna promptly resigned, and DEQ officials did a Three Stooges as they sorted out who had been tainted by the offending document. Swelling with righteous indignation, the administration’s enemies then characterized the trifling inconsistencies as a cover-up.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but a lot of important people are acting like this memo is the most incriminating document since “Mein Kampf.” Just exactly what was DEQ supposed to be covering up? It’s not as if McKenna were advocating anything illegal. If there were anything wrong with filing lawsuits, digging up political dirt and leaking stories, there would be a long line leading to the gallows, and both parties would be well-represented.

The memo flap is just a smoke screen. Here’s the real issue: Two opposing philosophies are engaged in mortal combat over how to protect the environment. The environmentalist lobby favors tough laws and strict enforcement that includes fines, lawsuits and jail time. Another view, espoused by Allen’s secretary of natural resources, Becky Norton Dunlop, assumes that most people make honest efforts to achieve pollution standards. Rather than punishing those who fall short, the DEQ prefers trying cooperation before confrontation. Working with manufacturers to find technical solutions. Educating farmers and small businesses about best-management practices. Providing financial help and training to poor municipalities operating their own treatment plants. Cracking down as a last resort.

Dunlop’s philosophy is unpopular with the command-and-control crowd in the General Assembly and the authors of the December report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. JLARC is often termed a “watchdog” agency for the legislature; in this case “attack dog” might be more suitable. Taking issue with Dunlop’s stated mission of promoting “a proper balance between environmental improvement and economic vitality,” the report found that DEQ placed a low priority on enforcing clean-water standards. The evidence? A low level of fines and a paucity of civil lawsuits. The report never mentioned the fact that DEQ had helped prosecute a record number of criminal cases and that since 1994, it had negotiated “consent orders” requiring industry to spend between $500 million and $1 billion on environmental improvements.

Also, JLARC studiously ignored important DEQ initiatives, such as a far-reaching “pollution prevention” program and its innovative use of information technology. Virginia has built what is arguably the best system in the United States for monitoring water quality. In 1996, the state was maintaining 1,114 monitoring stations covering 29,200 miles of rivers and streams – more mileage than any other state. Water, sediment and fish-tissue samples are analyzed for heavy metals, organic chemicals, solids and biological activity, then those test results are housed in one of the largest water-quality databases anywhere. DEQ draws on this information to do a better job of spotting problems and steering inspectors where they’re needed.

We can judge DEQ by the number of fines it assesses and lawsuits it files, or we can judge it by the progress it makes in cleaning up state waters. Personally, I’m more interested in getting results than punishing transgressors. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to track the progress of water quality. DEQ devised its monitoring system to spot problems, not to gauge broad statewide changes over time. But Virginia Tech is working on ways to cut through the tricky scientific and statistical issues, and a preliminary assessment should be available later this year.

Ideally, DEQ’s critics would applaud an objective study. But I’m wondering what the reaction would be if – just for the sake of argument – the report showed water quality improving during the Allen administration. Call me a cynic, but I’d guess such a finding would not be embraced by those who regard Dunlop as the monster from the toxic lagoon. Horrors! People might conclude that DEQ policies were working. Democrats might lose a campaign issue. Environmentalists might find it harder to raise funds.

Hmm. I wonder if DEQ’s enemies might circulate a memo with ideas of how to discredit such a report. An orchestrated campaign of environmentalist alarms, legislative probes, leaks to the press.

Nah, they wouldn’t be so dumb. They’d never put it in writing.

James A. Bacon
Publisher & Editor in Chief