Re: LAND USE: HAUNTING QUESTIONS

[Sam.Goodhope@OAG.STATE.TX.US]

From: Sam Goodhope <Sam.Goodhope@OAG.STATE.TX.US>

Lenny, another response.

I agree with the thrust of Michael gill's message, we all must continue to
participate in the regulatory/enforcement process. I guess what I was
trying to convey, however, is that we (communities, regulators, and
federal agencies) have reached impasse on several critical issues and it
may be time to acknowledge that we will not resolve the liability and
responsibility issues to the satisfaction of each interest. Thus, we must
put to the side those issues to be resolved later--perhaps by the
courts--and find the common ground to ensure as much cleanup and
reuse (if applicable) progress as possible. 
The danger that I see, however, is that we may have inadvertently
jerry-rigged an enforcement system (i.e., the DoD/state DSMOA program
and the DoD/EPA borrowed FTE program (whatever it is called)) during
the last five years that teeters on the line between cooperation and
cooption. It is as if DoD has fully adopted the hoary, old political adage
(to paraphrase) "Keep your friends close, but keep your regulators
closer." And if you don't like one set of "regulator"/overseers (such as
the attorneys general or the state program or technical folks, find another
(the political, putative heads of state regulatory agencies). 

Sam Goodhope, Office of the Attorney General, State of Texas.