Brent
Wahlquist is Director of the Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) – one of seven bureaus within
the Department of the Interior. Created in 1977 under the
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), OSM works in
partnership with State and Tribal Governments to regulate active
coal mining and reclamation and to reclaim abandoned mines.
After his
nomination by President Bush to become the 10th
Director of OSM, Wahlquist was unanimously confirmed by the U.S.
Senate on August 3, 2007 – the 30th anniversary of
SMCRA. He has actually been at the helm at OSM since December
20, 2005, when he was named Acting Director by former Interior
Secretary Gale Norton.
Director
Wahlquist has held various positions in State and Federal
government, consulting, land holding, and mining over the past
35 years. Raised in Idaho, he holds a PhD in biology from New
Mexico State University, as well as masters and bachelors
degrees in botany from Brigham Young University in Utah.
Wahlquist began
his career in 1971 as principal investigator and project manager
for environmental studies of electric generating stations,
transmission lines and coal mines at Westinghouse Electric in
Pennsylvania. In 1977, he joined Rocky Mountain Energy
Corporation in Colorado where he continued working on
environmental issues related to coal mining. The following
year, he went to work for Carbon Fuel Company in West Virginia
developing the company’s capability to meet the requirements of
the newly-enacted Federal Surface Mining law at its surface and
underground coal mines in West Virginia and Kentucky.
Director
Wahlquist has extensive experience managing the technical,
administrative, environmental, regulatory, energy and policy
issues affecting the coal industry, both surface and underground
mining. He began his government career in 1982 as Deputy
Director of the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources
where he was responsible for the Water Resources Division as it
assumed delegated authority under the Clean Water Act, as well
as the Reclamation Division as it assumed regulatory authority
(primacy) under the Surface Mining Act. In December 1983,
Wahlquist moved over to the Federal government becoming
Assistant Director of OSM responsible for developing national
regulatory and reclamation policy during the initial years of
State primacy.
Director
Wahlquist also has the unique distinction of having served as
Regional Director in each of OSM’s three Regions. In 1995, he
was named Regional Director for the newly formed Mid-Continent
Region outside of St. Louis. In addition to being tasked with
all of the start-up and organizational responsibilities that
accompany the creation of a new office, Wahlquist instituted the
capability to provide Federal oversight, grants, training, and
technical assistance to the eleven coal-producing states in the
new region.
In 1999,
Wahlquist moved to Denver taking over as Western Regional
Director where he turned his expertise to administering OSM’s
responsibilities in the large Western States where coal
production is growing rapidly. In Denver, he also was
responsible for direct regulation of coal mining on Indian
Lands.
Three years
later, in 2002, Wahlquist transferred to the Regional Director’s
post in Pittsburgh where he took over OSM’s role in the coal
States of Appalachia where coal mining has always posed the
greatest environmental and public safety challenges. In
addition to providing Federal oversight and technical assistance
in mountainous States like West Virginia that have been
producing coal for more than a century, his responsibilities
included direct regulation of mining in Tennessee, handling
emergency AML reclamation projects in Pennsylvania and Kentucky,
and managing OSM’s nationwide Applicant/Violator System designed
to prevent operators linked to outstanding violations from
receiving new permits to mine. Even while running OSM as Acting
Director for 18 months in 2006 and 2007, Wahlquist retained the
Appalachian Regional Director’s post. In 2005 he received a
Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive Service.
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