Lynn Buhl, EPA
Remember Lynn Buhl?
She was the former Chrysler lawyer and one-time Michigan regulator who came to Maryland at the beginning of Robert L. Ehrlich Jr',s term, with hopes of becoming Secretary of the Environment.
The Democrat-controlled General Assembly had other ideas. In 2003, it blocked her nomination, the first time ever the legislature blocked a governor's choice.
But Buhl didn't go back to Michigan after the bruising defeat. Instead, she stuck around, and eventually Ehrlich made her the Number Two at the Department of Natural Resources.
There she quietly remained until about two years ago, when she resigned to pursue other projects in Washington.
Now we know where she's landed. Here's an EPA honcho memo from today:
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Lynn Buhl to serve as Region 5 Administrator. An attorney and a public servant for over twenty years, Lynn brings both leadership and experience in environmental regulation and enforcement to this position. Lynn's appointment will become effective in mid-August.
Since September 2006, Lynn has served as Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, where she works with Assistant Administrator Granta Nakayama to advise the Administrator on a wide range of environmental enforcement issues.
For those of you trying to sort through the government-speak at home, here's a translation: She was working in DC as an assistant; now she moved to the Midwest to become the chief.
Question: Do the taxpayers foot the bill to relocate her to the Midwest, only to have her possibly out of a job (again) after November? Don't these appointees serve at the pleasure?
(OK, I know that was more than one question, but I have a bonus round...
Whatever happened to Ron Guns, who was up there with Buhl at DNR? You may recall his appointment to the assistant secretary position riled environmentalists, who remember him weakeneing or vetoing most laws he came across on the House Environmental Matters Committee.
And whatever happened to Pete Jensen, who rounded out the triumvirate serving under Ron Franks? He resigned, picked up a nice consulting contract, then lost it when it was revealed he was also consulting for Omega Protein, which was trying to take more menhaden out of the bay while DNR was trying to get them to take out less, in a nutshell.
And finally, there is Franks himself. I assmumed he was back at his fishing shop, maybe booking a couple of patients for dental work, but if anyone knows for sure, please tell....
I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.
Comments
This is ridiculous. Lynn Buhl is perfectly qualified for the position. Does the author of this blog know nothing about the workings of government?
First comes underling, then comes assistant, and if you have proved yourself, the "Chief". She has obviously proved herself previously.
Let's focus on editorials that are more important, like the upcoming election and where our environment will be headed with the new administration.
Posted by: Robert | July 21, 2008 7:58 PM
Yes, I DO remember Lynn Buhl. Before she ended up at DNR she spent a few months at the Department of Planning as well. I DO remember Lynn Buhl and I can say that she was highly qualified to be a Secretary of MDE or a regional administrator at EPA. Certainly she does not deserve to be the target of a mean spirited vindictive and mindless blog in the Sunpapers.
I worked for 30 years in State government. There were many issues in the environmental field that people of generally good will struggled over, often with differing opiniions, but they all tried. They tried as hard between 2003 and 2007 as they did in the earlier years or are trying now.
I suppose, based on this blog that we can all breath easier now and that the Bay is once again pristine and growth occurs only in orderly walkable communities now that the mistake of 2002 has been rectified.
Yes.... There are peoplle that remember.
Posted by: Jim Noonan | July 22, 2008 8:24 AM
Qualified is a relative term. My glimpse of her and her work led me to believe that she didn't have a very deep understanding of the natural world. She was pretty well versed in regulatory law.
Posted by: baylibrarian | July 22, 2008 3:20 PM
Hi-
Some of you seemed to think I was saying that Buhl was unqualified.
I was only saying that the General Assembly blocked her nom because THEY thought she was unqualfied. It was an unusual step, based on their understanding of her record.
I DO understand how it works in government, having covered different ones for a long time and being a child of two federal employees. I was only saying she was an assistant in HQ, and now she is chief in a field office. Seems to me that is the way it works.
My only criticism of the situation is the bit about taxpayers funding her move, if that's the case, only to have her out of her position possibly in a few months, no matter whether it's Obama or McCain who wins.
Blogs have a snarky tone, or they're supposed to anyway. I didn't mean to imply that I have a personal opinion of Lynn Buhl; I didn't cover the confirmation hearings, and I interviewed her a couple of times when she was at DNR, but not on anything particularly significant.
Posted by: Rona Kobell | July 22, 2008 3:32 PM
Rona - I disagree that blogs are "supposed to" "have a snarky tone." While a blog is meant to be more free-spirited with less editorial oversight than the printed paper, snarky-ness usally just comes out when the author is naturally that way.
That is why I was very surprised with your tone in this post. When I worked in press relations for the state, I always viewed you as a professional who reported on issues of importance without bias. I never thought you were snarky (unlike others at The Sun).
The tone of this post was rude to Ms. Buhl, a woman who got much more than her fair share of criticism based on absolutely nothing. Your post makes it sound like she was an administrative assistant. It does not give her the respect due to the Deputy Assistant Administrator, a leadership position of high ranking.
Ms. Buhl was rejected to send a message to Gov Ehrlich. She was shot down before her qualifications were even reviewed.
The funny thing is that within a few years, those enviros and legislators that opposed her, were admitting they made a mistake. If you ask around -- enviro groups, state employees (such as Mr. Noonan), legislators -- you will realize that the State missed out on not having Lynn Buhl leading to protect the Bay. Those people witnessed a woman swallow her pride and continue to fight for good legislation in the face of incessant snarkiness from The Sun and others.
I want to express my gratitude for this blog. Other than this post, I have found it a nice way to keep in touch with Maryland and the Bay. Thanks Rona - just don't let yourself become too "snarky."
Posted by: C Gates | July 24, 2008 4:45 PM
EPA Region 5 is lucky to get Lynn Buhl! She's awesome.
Posted by: Laura Gentile | July 25, 2008 2:27 PM
MR.. Lynn Buhl is really done good job and also used his post honestly so who criticize him exactly don't know him.
----------------------------------------------
joyesh
Delaware Treatment Centers
Posted by: joyesh | July 31, 2008 8:32 AM