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DEQ and Chemical Companies Are ThisClose

How close is the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to the industries it is charged by law to oversee? So close that DEQ Director Russell Harding used whole para- graphs drafted by the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) for an article he wrote for the Detroit News last May. Mr. Harding's article attacked new federal "environmental justice" rules to protect minorities from bearing the brunt of industrial pollution in their neighborhoods. Of the 18 paragraphs in the article, 12 were taken almost word for word from a CMA report. Mr. Harding defended his action by saying, "It's pretty

common for us to get stuff from all kinds of groups and then use them in our writing." Critics of the DEQ's leadership, however, viewed the incident as further evidence of a mission to promote industries at the expense of environmental protection. "The DEQ's responsibility is to protect the environment and all Michigan citizens," said Donele Wilkins, executive director of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. "That is not what happened in this instance." In the past, Mr. Harding has publicly attacked clean air rules as an attempt to "outlaw the backyard barbecue," and has criticized work to strengthen land use policy as "an effort to institutionalize centralized planning." These phrases are identical to sound bites from industrial trade associations that oppose environmental rules. A Similar Situation Another clear example of an industry influencing an environmental agency's public communications occurred in1982. That was when the Reagan Administration's Environmental Protection Agency was caught allowing Dow Chemical Co. to write official government press releases that defended the company's pesticides. That discovery prompted a Congressional investigation of industry favoritism at the EPA, and the dismissal of Administrator Anne Gorsuch Burford.G Leaders from a Different Era Return to Advocacy

Convinced that politics have replaced sound stewardship as the guiding force behind managing Michigan's natural resources, a group of retired environmental officials has formed the Michigan Resource Stewards, a nonprofit advocacy group. "The quality of tending to natural resources for this and future generations has deteriorated so badly during this decade," said Virginia B. Pierce, former district supervisor with the Waste Management Division of the Department of Environmental Quality, president of the group, and a member of the Institute's board. "It has become a four-year issue, not a generational issue." "The people who have joined the Resource Stewards feel strongly that tending to Michigan's natural resources cannot be left to people who consider only the effect that a decision will have on political contributions," she added.

Don Inman and Virginia Pierce have joined with other former state environmental officials to form the Michigan Resource Stewards. "The quality of tending to natural resources for this and future generations has deteriorated so badly during this decade," said Ms. Pierce. Michigan Resource Stewards, 248 Hawthorne Ranch Rd., Prudenville, MI 48651. Tel. 517-366-6019.

Among the top priorities of the Michigan Resource Stewards, which now counts 80 members: •Improve land use planning by helping communities recognize environmental dangers before a crisis develops. •Protect natural resources from runaway oil and gas development by establishing land use plans that encompass watersheds. •Establish a public oversight board for the Department of Environmental Quality that enables citizens to understand, advise, and influence the agency's decisions. Michigan Resource Stewards is affiliated with the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, which has provided organizational support. Ned Caveney, a respected DNR forester, is vice president, and Don Inman, former deputy director of the DNR, is secretary. Members of the board include Howard A. Tanner, DNR Director under Gov. William Milliken; Joe Kutkuhn, a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official, and Pete Petoskey, who led the DNR Wildlife Division during the late 1970s.G