Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Missouri's new DNR director worked in Pence Administration in Indiana

(From Gov. Eric Greitens)

Today, Governor Eric Greitens announced the newest member of his cabinet via Facebook and Twitter. Greitens announced that Carol Comer will head Missouri's Department of Natural Resources, which is responsible for ensuring clean air, water, and natural spaces for the people of Missouri.

In his video announcement, Governor Greitens said she would be "a champion both for our environment and our economy." Watch that video here.

Carol Comer served as the Commissioner of Indiana's Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) under Vice President-elect Mike Pence. In that role, she led an agency with 850 employees, five functional offices (air, land, water, program support and legal counsel) and five locational offices (lab, northwest, north, southwest and south).

Comer took the lead in making the IDEM work constructively with the business community. Under her leadership, IDEM significantly reduced the time between an application for a permit and its approval. IDEM became the best in the nation in its Title V air permitting and NPDES permitting times. A process that used to take 225% of the required time, went all the way down to 51% of the required time.This was a significant step for economic development in the state of Indiana.

On her watch, Indiana was able to make sure that over 93% of the state's residents live in areas that meet all air quality standards. Using federal grants and settlements with responsible parties, IDEM and its partners invested $200 million in restoring the Grand Calumet River and its ecosystem. The work done over the last two decades has led to fish and nesting birds returning to the area.

Carol is passionate about the relationship between the environment and the economy and finding ways to protect health and safety while making sure the business community has what it needs to grow jobs.​ She is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Business, with graduate degrees from the Indiana University School of Law and Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She has served on the Board of Directors of God's Bounty Food Pantry and The Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looks like MoArk will be dumping chicken litter all over southwest Missouri again.