By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
This time next month, Doyle Childers, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for the past four years, will be looking for a job.
“I would definitely resign by the time Jay Nixon becomes governor. I would assume that Jan. 12 will be the date,’’ Childers said.
Saying Childers and governor-elect Nixon are not on the same page is an understatement. Their relationship over the past four years has been openly contentious.
Childers said last week he could not serve under someone he does not respect.
“He’s a good politician — an excellent politician — but I do not have a lot of respect for him as an individual,’’ Childers said.
Oren Shur, spokesman for Nixon, when asked to comment, declined to respond.
‘Shut out’
Childers’ departure has raised questions about who Nixon will choose to replace him. Shur said applicants are being reviewed, but that Nixon is not commenting.
Environmental groups and some Southwest Missouri residents say they want Nixon to appoint a director who will take a tougher stand against polluters, but so far they feel excluded from the process.
In an e-mail to Margaret Donnelly, a member of the Nixon transition team, Ken Midkiff, chairman of the Sierra Club’s Missouri Clean Water Campaign, wrote: “I have queried leaders of environmental organizations in this state and have learned that none of them has been contacted for input or advice on the selection for the DNR director.
“Industry, business and municipalities have been heavily involved with various natural resource commissions because they want to keep polluting and fouling our air and water. Environmental organizations ... have been routinely shunted to the side by the Blunt/Childers’ regime.
“We had hoped for better from the Nixon administration, but so far we feel shut out.’’
After the e-mail was sent, Midkiff said he was contacted by Charles Bersin, head of transition for Nixon.
“Bersin called me and wanted to know what the environmental group’s recommendations are. He said that he was planning on contacting us,’’ Midkiff said. “We gave Bersin three names. By the type of people we recommended, I think Bersin knows the direction in which we want the DNR to go.’’
Missouri Farm Bureau President Charles Kruse praised Childers, saying he “came into a very difficult job and worked hard to be fair.”
He also said the next director “must be someone who will address the issues based upon facts and sound science, not emotion.”
“Agriculture is Missouri’s largest industry and important to the economy of our state,” Kruse said. “Farmers want to do what’s right, are sensitive to being good stewards of the environment and should be given the fair opportunity to be profitable.”
Everett Forkner, a Nevada-area hog farmer and member of the Missouri Pork Association and the National Pork Board, praised Childers for what he called Childers’ “sit-down sessions.”
“There is nothing that takes the place of building relationships one-on-one,” he said.
Forkner said he hopes that Nixon’s DNR director will look at what the industry has done and is trying to do, and respect the fact that farmers are as interested in protecting the environment as anyone else.
“I think that individual needs to represent all the people,” Forkner said of the next DNR director. “Protecting the environment, we all want to do that. We also have to have an adequate supply at an adequate price. We got to have a balance.”
Christmas gift
Childers’ departure is being hailed as an opportunity for change by some residents who are campaigning for stricter regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
“Doyle Childers, resigning as director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, is a Christmas present to everyone who cares about our environment,’’ said Jim Riedel, a member of the Roaring River Parks Alliance, which wants to protect the river from further encroachment by chicken CAFOs.
“He (Childers) was appointed by Gov. Blunt to speed up the process of applications for CAFOs. The DNR has not turned down a permit since his appointment,’’ Riedel said. “The sad thing is, it will take many years and millions of our tax dollars to clean up the damage he caused by letting the large corporations control his department.’’
Childers said he would have been able to do more as the director of the DNR had he not been in continuous conflict with Nixon. He said his time at the department was consumed by fights with Nixon over a proposal to tear down the Katy Trail railroad bridge that crosses the Missouri River near Boonville and the cleanup of Johnson Shut-ins State Park after a dam holding back the Taum Sauk Reservoir burst in Southeast Missouri.
“It made for more complications,’’ Childers said. “The Boonville bridge, well, we beat him three times in court on that. It took up a lot of our time and effort. After that, Johnson Shut-Ins took a huge amount of time.’’
He said it’s “no secret’’ that he and Nixon had been at odds.
Before Childers took over, the department’s general operating funds had been reduced to $6.5 million from $26 million. By the time he left, general operating funds had increased to $16 million.
“We managed to fulfill our responsibilities, but the budget was not good when we started,’’ he said.
‘Partnerships’
Childers said he was most proud of “changing the culture of the agency with regard to compliance assistance. By working with people, rather than just using a 2-by-4 over their head to get their attention, we developed partnerships to solve the problems.
“If you force them to do something, they still will be resentful. You can do that or develop a partnership. You get a lot more productivity if you work with people,’’ he said. “I do not believe you can scare people into compliance. It’s better for the bottom line, the environment and people to all work together to take care of our responsibilities.’’
With regard to the CAFO issue, Childers said, “The law does not necessarily do what some folks would want us to do. Until the laws are changed, you have a problem.’’
Childers, age 64, said he wants to utilize his experience as the director of the department after he leaves the post next month.
Resume
Doyle Childers spent 22 years in the Missouri General Assembly as a representative and a senator before becoming director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. He was born in Ironton, Mo., and was a teacher, farmer and businessman. He also served in the Peace Corps in Central America.
