Various news sources are reporting that Christine Gregoire is going to be named head of the EPA after she leaves office. The good news in this is that Gregoire has been a strong advocate for the environment here in Washington State. She also will bring the inevitable funding for State needs that an EPA head is able to direct. Her ability to relate to the projects that are requesting funds is a natural fit. A good win for Ecotopia, ah…I mean the Pacific Northwest (G). Will help backfill the loss of Norm Dicks seniority in doling out funds for our projects. While we have had our criticisms of the Governor, as all politicians deal in tradeoffs and as such will never satisfy everyone (which is why blogs and the Press are important to remain politically neutral in order to offer constructive criticism), the overall positive side of this equation far outweighs the negatives. Ironically, one of the last acts Gregoire did as Governor, in her proposed budget for 2013-15, was to ask to slash headcount to the Department of Ecology, and cut back on grants to local watershed planning (read WIRA?), as well as calling for expanded logging.
Filed under: Around the Sound, Government | Tagged: Christine Gregoire, epa, Norm Dicks | Comments Off on Gregoire to head the EPA?
