It only took Governor Snyder 6 months to come up with his appointee Heidi Grether to run the DEQ in Michigan ... unbelievable, the longer he is in office, when he finally gets around to making a decision, he does something like this. An Oil and Gas Lobbyist, who worked for BP. Could you have found a more controversial person if you had spent another 6 months on this, Governor Snyder?
Heidi Grether of Williamston will become Department of Environmental Quality director, effective Aug. 1, barring any unlikely objection from the Republican-controlled Senate. She has been the deputy director of the Michigan Agency for Energy for more than a year.
She previously worked at BP for about 20 years, mostly as state government affairs director, before managing external affairs in the Gulf after the oil spill. She formerly was a legislative aide in the Michigan Legislature.
The Republican governor's selection was criticized by environmental groups, a liberal advocacy organization, the state Democratic Party and a group of Flint activists, who have accused the administration of bending to business or other interests at the expense of protecting public health.
"The director of the DEQ should have a track record of protecting our environment, not lobbying for big oil to pollute our air, land and water," said Mike Berkowitz, legislative and political director for the Sierra Club's Michigan chapter.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said Grether "faces a steep climb in restoring trust that the MDEQ will have a culture of putting the public's health first.
Follow David Eggert at http://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert
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