The following is Oregonian columnist Steve Duin's continuation of the article about DEQ hydrogeologist Marcy Kirk's attempts to do her job in the face opposition from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality; click here to read my first post and Duin's 4 October 2007 column.
This column was published on 7 October 2007. The link is here; I have pasted the column below since the link will expire. [Disclosure notice: Marcy and her husband Steve Kirk are friends whom I have known for almost 25 years. Steve was my Master's student at the University of Nevada-Reno].
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The Dirty Little Secrets at Oregon DEQ
by Steve Duin, Oregonian, 7 October 2007
W hat I've learned -- and shared -- in the past six weeks is that the Department of Environmental Quality is one of the dirty little secrets of Oregon politics, a particularly brutal irony given the state's unreasonable pride in its environmental credentials.
Almost two-thirds of DEQ's funding comes from the industries it regulates, almost guaranteeing the agency's meek compliance when political -- or pollution -- conflicts arise. That timidity is just dandy with the Legislature, Republicans and Democrats alike, who willfully underfund the agency so that it is often powerless to enforce the law.
The governor, as usual, is no help.
If the calls I've received in recent weeks are any indication, most DEQ employees are incensed by the agency's impotence. "Almost everyone," hydrogeologist Marcy Kirk said, "is afraid to speak up."
Kirk, fortunately, is not.
As I reported Thursday, Kirk was twice removed from the DEQ team monitoring the hazardous waste landfills at Arlington, a site managed by Chemical Waste Management. While lobbying DEQ Director Stephanie Hallock to remove Kirk for a second time, Chem Waste said it had "communication" and "trust" issues with the whistle-blower.
Kirk understands why: "I enforced the regulations, most of which were federal. My decisions were too stringent. It would have cost them (Chem Waste) a lot of money."
Through an agency spokeswoman, Hallock refused further comment on DEQ's handling of a case. That's probably a wise move, given her testimony in the unfair labor practices' complaint that Kirk and her union filed against the agency.
Furious that there'd been a "meltdown" between her staff and a company that pumps almost $2 million annually into the DEQ budget, Hallock ordered her deputies to fix the problem. She never spoke to Kirk for her side of the story. Pressed nine months later by union lawyers, she could not name a single issue in the dispute between her field workers and Chem Waste's consultants.
Asked if the crucial work of monitoring the hazardous waste dump continued after Kirk and her team were removed, Hallock said, "As far as I know. I don't know. I mean, I really wasn't involved."
Ignorance is bliss. Once Chem Waste was mollified, apparently, the issue ceased to matter to the director of DEQ.
Kirk wasn't quite so fortunate. Oregon's Environmental Quality Commission, remember, had approved a new permit for the site when Chem Waste officials lobbied Hallock to end Kirk and her team's interference in their operation.
"DEQ plays to special interests, and Chem Waste is a special interest," Kirk said. "She (Hallock) doesn't have much respect for staff. Sacrificing a few staff is no big deal to her. They sacrificed not only staff members but the science that went into the decision."
In 232 pages of depositions over DEQ's dealings with Kirk, the precious science of environmental quality -- the groundwater readings, the leaks in the landfill liners, the safety of the Columbia aquifers -- barely rates a mention.
Is it any wonder, then, that 125 DEQ technicians have signed a union petition that argues "when Management actions suggest that the Agency values the good will of a regulated corporation more than the professional fulfillment of its employees or environmental protection, we are all harmed."
Oregon's Employment Relations Board, by the way, found in Kirk's favor last month, arguing the agency did not follow its guidelines in removing Kirk at Chem West's behest.
Oregon's Department of Justice is appealing that decision.
Steve Duin: 503-221-8597; 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 steveduin@news.oregonian.com http://blog.oregonlive.com/steveduin
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Note added on 17 October 2007: Stephanie Hallock, DEQ Director, announced yesterday that she will be retiring on 1 January 2008 instead of 1 May 2008. I guess she "wants to spend more time with her family" - actually, her husband and her dog.
"The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it." -- Laurence J. Peter
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