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Mark Templeton, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, turned in his resignation on Monday and will gone by Wednesday.
We have to wonder if anyone will even notice. That’s how ineffective the Department of Natural Resources has become.
Templeton was appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon in the spring of 2009. We had high hopes for a new leader of the state department charged with keeping our environment clean and safe.
Those hopes were quickly eroded after we learned of DNR’s botched handling of E. coli bacteria tests from the Lake of the Ozarks last summer. Officials knew there were high E. coli levels in the lake, yet waited a month before releasing those test results. Nixon suspended Templeton for more than two weeks without pay following an investigation from a state Senate committee.
Templeton, in our view, failed to ever engage in the job. Admittedly, the DNR has become a weak player because it’s hamstrung by the lack of laws with any real teeth. It should be noted that Templeton’s predecessor Doyle Childers also failed in the job. He did make more of an effort to provide the DNR with some voice.
Templeton’s new role has him heading off into another sea of troubled waters. He will be responsible for ensuring that funds are available to address the claims of those affected by BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
His departure could and should be an opportunity for the state. Whoever becomes the state’s new DNR director must push legislators to strengthen state laws protecting our rivers and streams.
We need a loud voice in that office.
