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COMMENTARY: DEP -- Connecticut's Endangered Species

By Bill Collins

Nature suffers,

Discontent;

As we strain our,

Environment.

Former Gov Tom Meskill may not have been a tree-hugger himself, but he did

appoint some fine people to start up Connecticut's environmental agency. So

did Ella Grasso and Bill O'Neill. Our DEP became a national leader under both

political parties. It hired dedicated investigators and hard-nosed

bureaucrats. Often they were harsh, but they did their job.

Then came Lowell Weicker, admirable in many ways, but no ally of the

environment. Big Oil was his friend. As an enforcement agency, DEP began to

waver, aggravating some committed workers.

At last came John Rowland. Bad news. DEP then began to unravel altogether.

Many of Rowland's corporate supporters complained bitterly about their run-ins

with the agency. It seems that while DEP may have sweetened the environment

for people, it had soured the environment for business.

That was language the governor understood. He appointed Sidney Holbrook as

commissioner, with the obvious instruction to cool it. This Holbrook did with

abandon. Enforcement plummeted, and DEP's stock with business soared. One

agent of this change was Vincent Santarsiero, a Rowland political cohort.

Watchdog groups soon asserted that his role at the agency was to soften

enforcement actions toward campaign contributors.

It wasn't long before Holbrook and Santarsiero overplayed their hand.

Environmentalists, reporters, lawmakers, and department whistle-blowers began

to howl. Eventually Holbrook moved on to greener pastures. His replacement,

Art Rocque, moved in and reassigned Santarsiero to Siberia. Soon thereafter,

Santarsiero resigned too. Whew!

But the big question is, what now? On the face of it, all should be well. Art

Rocque is one of those long-time hard-nosed DEP bureaucrats, well-respected in

the field. The Senate confirmed him 30-1, despite the department's

dysfunction. He's been there 26 years, working his way up.

Unfortunately, though, it's not that simple. Rocque was chief enforcement

officer during the bad days, and is clearly no innocent in DEP's recent

misbehavior. He's also taken to giving generously to Rowland's campaign. Still

suspicious, the General Assembly has wisely begun an investigation of the

department.

And there's another sorry wrinkle too, on a grander ecological scale. The

federal Environmental Protection Agency, at the behest of automakers, has

created a new national pollution standard for cars. The makers have agreed to

improve their products a little, in order to be free from any further rule

changes for the next ten years. Governors are allowed to either join this

program or opt for the tougher "California" standards.

In January I called Rocque to see which way Connecticut was going to go. He

assured me that Rowland would hang tough with the California plan. Shortly

thereafter, Rowland did just the reverse, opting for the new weaker standards.

Perplexed, I spoke with Rocque again. He explained that at the last minute,

the staff had come up with a study showing that the lower standards were

better for us after all. He promised a copy.

Much time has now passed. Despite more phone calls, no copy. Only a growing

suspicion that Rowland simply sold out to the auto companies. Also a growing

suspicion that a once-model environmentalist may have temporarily leased out

part of his soul to become, and remain, commissioner.

(Bill Collins, a former mayor of Norwalk, is a syndicated columnist.)