DEQ weakens its ability to enforce NC environmental rules

The problem with the word “quality” is that it doesn’t stand alone. It needs an adjective to be clear. Something can be high quality or low quality.

That, too, is the problem with North Carolina’s environmental agency, recently re-named the Department of Environmental Quality. Is that high quality or low? Judging by an abrupt shift in the department’s legal staff, the answer, apparently, is low.

DEQ has cut four lawyers and five support staff from the state Department of Justice who represent it in legal matters related to enforcement of regulations and collection of environmental fines.

DEQ, under the conservative and doctrinaire leadership of Secretary Donald van der Vaart, has decided to take its legal work in-house where it can better manage what its lawyers do – and don’t do.

A DEQ spokeswoman said the move was necessary because Attorney General Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate for governor, is making “political decisions” about what cases he will defend. Therefore, the spokeswoman added, DEQ cannot rely on lawyers based in Cooper’s department, but paid out of DEQ’s budget, to “zealously represent the interests of the environment we are responsible for protecting.

Cutting off DEQ’s legal firepower and depriving it of the expertise of lawyers well-versed in state policies and regulations are odd ways to “zealously” protect the environment. But it fits with a pattern under Republican Gov. Pat McCrory of having DEQ bend to suit regulated industries. And it’s consistent with a department that has sued the Environmental Protection Agency to block federal rules that promote cleaner air and water, but are opposed by polluters.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 7:22 PM with the headline "DEQ weakens its ability to enforce NC environmental rules."