Deq Department Environmental history

In the late 1930's, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (DW&F) inaugurated a Water Pollution Control Division and initially two people were assigned the task of monitoring water quality due to fisheries activities within Louisiana.

In the early 1950's, an Air Pollution Division was assigned a role within the Louisiana Department of Health and began functioning with a staff of two people.

With the passage of the National Environmental Protection Act in the late 1960's, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established, as was the President's Council on Environmental Quality.

However, the major agencies were the Department of Health and the DW&F. In the early 1970's, the DW&F had the Water Pollution Control Division answering to the Stream Control Commission.

In 1972, Governor Edwin Edwards decided that Louisiana's governmental structure needed to more closely track federal agency alignment and therefore ordered reorganization in state agencies.

In 1977, a meeting was held by all participating state agencies and a committee was organized to formulate a reorganization bill to be submitted to the Legislature.

January 1, 1980 saw the beginning of the DNR/OEA with B. Jim Porter as the Assistant Secretary.

In 1981 the Department created the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) hotline, (225) 219-3960 so citizens and the regulated community could report environmental concerns.

On February 1, 1984, under Governor Dave Treen, the Department of Environmental Quality became a reality and Winston Day became its first Secretary.

The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 defined the word “program” to make clear that discrimination is prohibited throughout an entire agency if any part of the agency receives federal financial assistance, rather than just the particular programs or activities that receive the funds.

In 1989 the Department saw major growth in its number of employees, growing from 360 to more than 800 employees.

The agency headquarters was located in the DNR building until 1991 when the agency moved to a consolidated building on Bluebonnet Boulevard.

With the exception of litter control, which moved to DEQ in 1993, all of these areas have, by definition, remained in other departments responsible for their particular management and control.

Montana Board of Environmental Review - The Legislature created the Board of Environmental Review in 1995 and assigned it specific duties under various environmental regulatory statutes.

Strong resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Waste Services in early 1998 to return to Shreveport city government and was replaced by Doctor James Brent.

In early 2002, Bliss Higgins resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Services and was replaced by Linda Levy.