Another questionable state environmental hire, plus more news, this week in CIB:

Executive Watch: New Stewardship Director’s Experience Questioned

Gov. Pat McCrory is under fire for his most recent major environmental hire: marketing and public relations professional Bryan Gossage as director of the new Office of Land and Water Stewardship, which oversees the revamped Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF).

The position which oversees that fund is required by state law to have “training and experience in conservation, protection and management of surface water resources.” Gossage has no direct professional experience of that kind.

According to a spokesperson for the state Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Gossage is qualified for the post because during his tenure as an Apex Town Council member, he provided “oversight of town water management and conservation efforts” during a 2007 drought. The Raleigh News & Observer reported, however, that the Apex Town Council’s efforts during that time largely consisted of adopting restrictions that limited residents to three days of watering a week on an alternating schedule, a standard response used by other towns. Apex’s town water system is managed by the city of Cary under a joint agreement. (Raleigh News & Observer, 11-20-13).

A number of observers consider this “qualification” to be a pretty thin reed for the director overseeing what have been some of North Carolina’s most significant state natural resource conservation programs. One called it a “stretch”, while N.C. Sierra Club Director Molly Diggins told N.C. Pollicy Watch, “It’s hard to see how someone with no experience in natural resources… can effectively guide the state’s premier land and water programs.”

To be fair, no one is saying that Gossage is a bad guy, just that–shouldn’t the manager of key state natural resources programs and professionals himself be trained in natural resources management? And perhaps even more importantly, is this another signal of how lightly this Administration takes the importance of natural resource conservation overall?

[Editor’s Note: Last week’s CIB erred in its description of the new CWMTF board appointment process. Of the nine members of the new CWMTF, only three are appointed by the Governor. Of the remaining six, three are named by the Senate President Pro Tem, and three by the House Speaker. Of the nine members of the new CWMTF, several have previously served on the either the old CWMTF board or the old Natural Heritage Trust Fund board, which was merged into the new, smaller CWMTF board by recent legislation.]

Campaign Watch: Ads Praise Hagan on Mercury Limits

“One child going to the ER because of dirty air is one too many. Senator Hagan deserves a lot of credit for standing up to polluters, and the general assembly should follow her lead,” said Carrie Clark, Executive Director of NCLCV.

NCLCV and its national partner group, League of Conservation Voters (LCV), have jointly sponsored ads which began running last week that thank U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) for supporting EPA rules requiring cuts to mercury air pollution. The ad is one of five produced for LCV in support of five U.S. senators who backed these critical pollution controls and who are now taking political heat for doing the right thing for public health.

Mercury pollution has been linked to birth defects, asthma attacks, and heart attacks. EPA estimates that the rules requiring reduction in this pollution will “avert up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, and 130,000 asthma attacks” in the United States annually, including up to 480 premature deaths a year in North Carolina alone.

To read more and see the full ad, go here.

Education & Resources: New Data on Fracking and Jobs

According to a new report released last week by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative, drilling in the six states spanning the largest Eastern shale formations has produced far fewer new jobs than claimed by fracking supporters. The press release and the full report can be found here.

Conservationists: NCLCV Names New Board Members

NCLCV has announced the appointment of five new members to its board of directors. Those appointed bring extensive experience in state and local government, law, science, and education.

They are:

• Courtney Crowder, former legislative director and senior advisor to Gov. Bev Perdue.
• Mac Montgomery, former mayor of Kure Beach and healthcare management consultant.
• Marion Sullivan, director of governmental relations with WellPoint, member of the board of trustees of UNC-Charlotte, and former national security fellow at the Army War College.
• Dr. Amy Tiemann, author, educator, and media producer with a doctorate in neuroscience.
• John Wallace, attorney, who will serve as NCLCV General Counsel.

Additional information can be found here.

That’s our report for this week.