http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/former_denr_employee_leaves_her_job_with_a_blazing_dear_john_email

A long-time regulator at the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources left her job at the regional office in Asheville on Friday. Before she left, Susan Wilson wrote a "Dear John" letter to DENR secretary John Skvarla.

It was not a cheery good-bye note. Wilson does not agree with the state's new outlook on environmental regulation. She added a "take this job and shove it" YouTube link to her email.

A DENR spokesman said Skvarla will be responding.

Update: Wilson said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon that she retired after about 24 1/2 years, "a little sooner than I wanted to."

She said she gave a lot of thought to what she wrote. "You don't do that lightly. I lit the fuse and burned the bridges."

Here's the email, obtained as the result of a public information request.

Subject: RE: Labor Day

Dear John,

Thanks so much for the note regarding Labor Day - you have always been timely with these, unlike some of your predecessors.

You and I are going to part ways today. I had a great "gig" here in the regional office - I had a great boss, great co-workers, I was still learning a good bit, and the good days were always outweighing the bad days. I was pretty certain (after my first 5 years) that I could outlast any administration the governor could appoint. I had no problem with the Martin administration - he was a man of science and no extremist.

Between your inappropriate mission statement, the dismantling of the Division of Water Quality, and HB74 (along with a few other gems from this session's NCGA), I see no reason to continue here - because my own mission - to assist all citizens and protect those that don't have a voice, would be compromised.

I was a good regulator - I had a bit of distrust for both sides of the aisle - which made me regulate evenly and with common sense and fair judgement. Over the past 24 years I've had the privilege to have worked with some of the most intelligent, articulate, and respected environmental scientists and engineers - I'd put them up against my friends in the private sector any day of the week. But the disdain for them (and me) by this administration is too much to bear.

When you pushed our reasonable, right-leaning WQ Director out, I knew we were in trouble. When you guys (and they are mostly guys...) pushed out a very thoughtful and judicial Environmental Management Commission chair, I knew we were moving into a sand pit that we weren't going to dig out of easily. When you, along with your "great Tom Reeder", decided to cleave off the stormwater programs and move it to Land Resources, who have never been trained for such..nor do they much care about WQ, I knew it was time to leave. I'm sure the 401 Water Quality program is next (especially since you said we should be more like TX and SC).

I'm all about customer service (as the majority of employees in DWQ are, and have always been), but that just seems to be a smokescreen for a very extremist republican agenda.

Likely there will be some uptick in the business environment in the next few years (mainly because the economy has started to recover from the disaster your friends on Wall Street created). But when the hot summers and the drought years come back, and we get fish kills again, and maybe there's fracking going on in the sandhills - it will be the fine folks at DENR who will get blamed for the chaos. The politicians and their appointees, that did the dismantling and created the chaos, will be long gone. We know the drill.

For my brothers and sisters in the Division of WATER QUALITY (the so called "seat warmers") who don't have the option to be able to move on, due to various obligations and a destroyed economy, let me leave you with a video I pilfered from the internet 'cause I didn't have the tools to make my own.

You can view this while I gather up my toothbrush and grab my loincloth to start heading out the door.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=av2iaABI_ws&list=PL390AC06217E1E06A

9/4/2013 9:51:00 AM

I get where she's coming from, but the YouTube link was a little much. Seems like grandstanding to a degree

9/4/2013 9:58:41 AM

better choice below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyxoLqbFDkI

9/4/2013 11:12:49 AM

Or she could have been professional.

[Edited on September 4, 2013 at 12:20 PM. Reason : ]

9/4/2013 12:20:02 PM

what's your problem with it?

9/4/2013 12:25:58 PM

My problem with her email is that she threw away her credibility about very real grievances and issues by posting the youtube link.

9/4/2013 12:53:07 PM

i think the youtube link adds a little bit of panache

9/4/2013 2:57:42 PM

No matter how you feel about the lady's style, this is still concerning. I like to think I've been watching this somewhat closely, but she obviously knows more than I do. Some of the changes over at DENR I was pretty "meh" toward, others actually made a degree is sense. Skvarla is obviously an idiot, but I was actually in wait and see mode (waiting on the firings in DWQ and the new stormwater/erosion group in DEMLR). The whole "customer service" Schtick I thought could just be general republican blather. This lady either decided to be preemptive or got some under the radar "culture change" bullshit and decided to get out ASAP. Hopefully we can get some more juicy gossip

9/4/2013 10:20:03 PM

the only difference I've noticed for things I've sent to DENR now is that it takes longer than before (because of turnover and confusion), its the same amount of customer friendly as before.

9/5/2013 7:50:24 AM

i agree that the video (and some of the snarkiness, like the reference to his friends on Wall St.) could have been left out

9/5/2013 9:24:28 AM

http://www.wral.com/outgoing-regulator-blasts-environmental-agency-leader/12849679/

comments section

9/5/2013 9:56:43 AM

Two weeks later, Skvarla posts his reply:

http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/environmental_secretary_responds_to_fiery_retirement_letter

Quote :

"Ms. Wilson: If you truly believe that distrusting our fellow citizens made you a good regulator, I think it quite appropriate we part ways. I find that most people want to do the right thing if given the time and resources to do so. That goes for the regulated community and our employees. When I started at DENR I wondered how hard building a culture of customer service would be. The more I met our employees and learned about their expertise and passion for their work, the more I realized that most want to be helpful but weren't being recognized, rewarded, or in many instances allowed to be consumer centric. We have made great progress in a short amount of time because the vast majority of DENR employees have embraced the customer service attitude that is crucial to our success. We have seen the signs of progress by the many comments from customers and from your former co-workers taking the time to show interest in what customers are doing and respecting their experience and expertise. Rest assured that treating our customers with respect - respecting their time, their passions, the resources that have put into their projects - is no smokescreen. It is the grease that turns the twin gears of protecting the environment and growing the economy. It is the right way to run any organization and the right way to live one's life. But this philosophy and approach is not for everyone. I wish you luck in your retirement - or you new endeavors. "

was definitely hoping for something better than that.

9/17/2013 8:00:13 PM

they should have either not responded, or responded a lot better than that

9/17/2013 8:43:50 PM

Could someone tell me what exactly "customer service oriented" means in the context of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is? (seriously asking not trolling. I'm ignorant on the matter)

9/21/2013 4:49:12 AM

I think the "customers" are the companies that are regulated by environmental rules (developers, mining companies, coal plants, etc...), and being more "customer friendly" means relaxing the environmental rules and letting them get away with more activities that harm the environment, i think.

I don't think "customer" means regular citizens who are concerned about the environment, or the environment itself.

9/21/2013 10:52:08 AM

it just means that they are supposed to be more receptive and open to customers, a lot of environmental things are risk based where an alternate is proposed to DENR that doesn't meet the exact letter of the regulation because X,Y,Z etc.. DENR then evaluates the proposal as a risk based alternate.

but as someone who has to deal with DENR and EPA Region 4 often, DENR was already pretty "customer friendly" and if anything all of the confusion and reorganization has made getting anything through DENR an absolute schedule killing clusterfuck right now

9/21/2013 11:02:36 AM