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EPA Region 10 administrator tells Alaskans to support DEC The alternative, says John Iani, is the 800-pound gorilla from Seattle — wearing a blue blazer Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
Support your local environmental regulator, John Iani told the Resource Development Council Feb. 7, because if you don’t the EPA will have to come in to enforce statutes.
“And you don’t want a guy with a blue blazer from Seattle telling you how to run your businesses. And so I’m here to preach for a strong DEC,” said Iani, who began work Oct. 10 as administrator of EPA’s Region 10 covering Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
“I’m happy to report that I don’t have a prepared speech from Washington, D.C.,” Iani said. There have been no “10 new commandments for Region 10” from EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. “And I don’t think that’s coming,” Iani said.
Whitman, a former two-term governor of New Jersey, “understands that problems need to be solved at the local level,” and that means, he said, at the state level. No blue blazers Iani said he thinks it is good news for Alaska “that Gov. Whitman is trying to push delegation to the state. … You want — you should want — the state to take the lead on regulating the industry here.”
That means the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
“I’ll take the maybe unpopular position with some of you by saying it’s short sighted to think about cutting out DEC or reducing DEC… don’t forget that those statutes require the federal government to come in and if you don’t have DEC on the ground sort of making sure that environmental compliance is happening, EPA’s going to come in.”
The state needs a strong “environmental compliance body up to speed and running and you can’t do that if you dramatically cut a budget for them,” he said.
Iani said he thought some understood that, but “I think a lot think well, we’ll just get rid of that roadblock.”
“But, you know,” he said: “Seattle’s an 800-pound gorilla and you don’t want to have to run into that roadblock because projects simply don’t get done. And that’s not a good result.” DEC, EPA cooperation Iani said he believes in “a strong partnership with the states.” EPA has expertise in a lot of areas that the state doesn’t, he said, and the state has expertise in areas the EPA doesn’t. DEC and EPA “have a pretty good partnership,” he said: the agencies just spent two days planning and “prioritizing things between EPA and DEC.”
One of the top priorities for EPA Region 10 is Alaska oil and gas, Iani said. And when Region 10 took their three priorities back to a national EPA meeting, they got a lot of support. Efficient permitting is a directive from the Bush administration, Iani said, and Region 10 will focus on trying to solve problems at the state level and streamline permitting for energy projects.
Iani also asked for priorities from Alaska industries: “The real priorities — don’t give us a shopping list that has 40 or 50 items on it.”
Iani, born and raised in Kodiak, worked as a legislative aide for Sen. Frank Murkowski and Congressman Don Young, practiced law, was president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association and most recently was vice president for corporate affairs and general counsel for seafood producer UniSea Inc.
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