Lynch nominates LCHIP chairman for Enviro Commissioner

[KBCraig]

I don't like the looks of this. LCHIP is instrumental in driving up the price of land and housing, by limiting available acreage. Not to mention, he's already show himself willing to play favorites.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Lynch+nominates+Burack+environmental+commissioner&articleId=7af267e7-2c5e-40d2-95ea-25a465299a78

Lynch nominates Burack environmental commissioner

By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief

Concord ? Gov. John Lynch will nominate an environmental lawyer who chairs the state?s largest land and historic preservation program to be the next commissioner of Environmental Services.

Lynch will put the name of Thomas Burack, an attorney from Hopkinton, before the Executive Council when it meets next Wednesday in Manchester, Lynch?s office said yesterday. The council has to approve the nomination before it can become official, a process that usually takes several weeks.

Burack has solid credentials among the state Republican Party and in the environmental community.

Currently, a partner at Sheehan Phinney Bass and Green in Manchester, Burack is a former legal counsel for the New Hampshire Republican State Committee and worked as a legislative assistant for environmental matters for former U.S. Sen. Gordon Humphrey. He also worked as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice David Souter during Souter?s time on the New Hampshire high court.

He is chairman of the Land and Conservation Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), has chaired the Business and Industry Association?s WasteCap Program for 16 years and helped draft the state?s Brownsfield Program, which helps promote the cleanup and reuse of polluted property.

He worked for four years as vice chair of the state Superfund Task Force that former Congressman Bill Zeliff established, and is an honorary member of the board at the Audubon Society of New Hampshire.

Lynch met with current DES Commissioner Michael Nolin, whose term expired last Friday, earlier this week and thanked him for his service.

?Tom Burack, with his broad experience in both business and environmental issues, will be an Environmental Services Commissioner who can act to protect New Hampshire?s environment and to help build New Hampshire?s economy. Tom Burack understands that New Hampshire?s beautiful environment and natural resources are among our state?s most important economic assets, and that economic development and environmental protection must go hand-in-hand,? Gov. Lynch said in a statement.

Burack, who was raised in Jackson, said he shares Lynch?s view that ?by bringing people together, we can develop smart environmental policies that will contribute to our state?s continued economic growth.?

Nolin, appointed by former Gov. Craig Benson, ran into controversy almost as soon as he took office. Five months after his appointment, DES granted Bio Energy in Hopkinton a controversial permit to burn construction and demolition debris in an incinerator that had been originally permitted to burn only virgin wood.

He later transferred Wetlands Supervisor Dori Wiggin from her Seacoast office to Concord after she cited Benson twice for excavating sand at his beachfront without a permit.

Under Nolin?s supervision, DES also granted an operating permit to the USA Springs proposal in 2004. The permit allowed the company to take large volumes of groundwater for a water bottling business in Nottingham, worrying well-owners there and in neighboring Northwood and Barrington.

Nolin has enjoyed strong backing from two of five executive councilors, Republicans Raymond Wiezcorek of Manchester and Raymond Burton of Bath. Executive Councilor Peter Spaulding, R-Hopkinton, has been generally supportive of Nolin.

[Fluff and Stuff]

So, Lynch is putting a Republican in office.

[KBCraig]

So, Lynch is putting a Republican in office.

A Republican who likes putting big chunks of property off-limits to development, and jumps at the chance to ruin someone who had the temerity to cite GOP/LP Gov. Benson for illegal dredging.

He reeks of "political animal". I'm wary.

Kevin

[FrankChodorov]

A Republican who...jumps at the chance to ruin someone who had the temerity to cite GOP/LP Gov. Benson for illegal dredging.

I think you've got this one wrong...

Burack's nomination by Lynch is to replace Nolin - it was Nolin (not Burack), appointed by Benson, who tried to "ruin someone" (Dori Wiggin) for citing Benson for illegal dredging on the beach without a permit...


excerpt:
"Nolin, appointed by former Gov. Craig Benson, ran into controversy almost as soon as he took office. Five months after his appointment, DES granted Bio Energy in Hopkinton a controversial permit to burn construction and demolition debris in an incinerator that had been originally permitted to burn only virgin wood.

He [Nolin] later transferred Wetlands Supervisor Dori Wiggin from her Seacoast office to Concord after she cited Benson twice for excavating sand at his beachfront without a permit.

Under Nolin?s supervision, DES also granted an operating permit to the USA Springs proposal in 2004. The permit allowed the company to take large volumes of groundwater for a water bottling business in Nottingham, worrying well-owners there and in neighboring Northwood and Barrington."

[Caleb]

The New Hampshire Independence Party would leave the position unfilled. 

[Dreepa]

There is a whole bunch of stuff behind the scenes.

Where does Lynch live?
Where does Burack live?
Where was the BioEnergy fiasco?


Hmmmmm

[Fluff and Stuff]

So, Lynch is putting a Republican in office.

A Republican who likes putting big chunks of property off-limits to development, and jumps at the chance to ruin someone who had the temerity to cite GOP/LP Gov. Benson for illegal dredging.

He reeks of "political animal". I'm wary.

Kevin

That's how he GOP powers tend to roll where I live.

[FrankChodorov]

So, Lynch is putting a Republican in office.

A Republican who likes putting big chunks of property off-limits to development, and jumps at the chance to ruin someone who had the temerity to cite GOP/LP Gov. Benson for illegal dredging.

He reeks of "political animal". I'm wary.

Kevin

That's how he GOP powers tend to roll where I live.

except as I pointed out Kevin got the facts wrong...