Cahill: DEC Commissioner Grannis Fired for Telling the Truth

November 3, 2010

“Commissioner Pete Grannis was fired for sounding the alarm and because the truth came out about the Department of Environmental Conservation. Budget cuts and staff attrition have pushed the agency to the brink. Instead of rising to the challenge and working to address these serious issues, the Governor's reaction was to fire the one person holding it all together.

“This wrong-headed move will cost New Yorkers dearly. A functional DEC is essential for the protection of our air and water quality. The drastic cuts the agency has been forced to endure under the Paterson Administration have left it a skeleton of what it once was. Retirements of critical senior staff and the failure to replace that lost institutional expertise have left the DEC struggling to meet its responsibilities. We are seeing it locally with a permitting bottleneck further delaying responsible developments. Looking ahead, even if hydrofracking was safe, the DEC does not even come remotely close to having the resources to enforce drilling regulations.”

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