DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara will leave the Markell administration in July to take the top post at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).
“When he moves on in July, he will leave a strong and capable team prepared to build on a legacy of remarkable improvements to the quality of life in our state, including huge reductions in air pollution and impressive upgrades in our ability to deal with major storms,” said Gov. Jack Markell. ” Collin’s leadership has helped make Delaware a nationally recognized leader in energy and climate change policies. While we will be sad to see him leave the administration, the National Wildlife Federation has made a great choice for its next leader.”
O’Mara will be around as legislators consider a proposal that would add a $50 charge to property taxes to help clean up waterways that rank among the dirtiest in the nation, due to decades of industrial and other types of pollution.
O’Mara was appointed as the nation’s youngest cabinet secretary by Markell in 2009. Markell is in his final term, a period when cabinet secretaries often seek other posts. He brought a youthful energy to the post that has tended to be populated by technical professionals and veteran regulators. He rarely missed opportunities to promote the state park system and helped to bring the state’s first zip line attraction to Lums Pond.
The state also ended up being a hotbed for solar energy, ranking in the top 10 despite its East Coast location.
”For the past five years I have fallen in love with the remarkable natural resources across our state,” said O’Mara. “I’m proud of the work of our team at DNREC has done under the Governor’s leadership to clean up our air, water and soils, conserve and restore critical habitat, expand recreational opportunities and prepare our state for storms and other climate threats. I’m looking forward to promoting the common-sense solutions that we’ve advanced in Delaware across the nation to protect wildlife and fishery habitat, expand environmental education, and address climate change.”
NWF, which is America’s largest conservation organization with 48 state affiliates and more than 4.5 million members and supporters, recruited O’Mara to lead the non-profit following the retirement of Larry Schweiger earlier this year.
O’Mara, like most environmental secretaries, had his detractors on both sides of the political spectrum, with those on the left criticizing his work on coming up with an environmental standards package that led to the reopening of the Delaware City Refinery, a move that saved upwards of 1,000 employee and contractor jobs. More recently environmental and public safety officials have been working on the issue of tanker trains coming to the refinery as concerns build over fiery derailments in other states.
At the same time, he was taken to task by climate change skeptics for his support of “cap and trade” environmental standards and for helping Bloom Energy come to Delaware. Bloom opened a manufacturing site in Delaware. Legislators later agreed to a deal that brought a Bloom manufacturing site to Delaware, with the company’s fuel cells adding power the Delaware grid.
Of late, he has been taken to task for the water proposal, which has gained little visible support among legislators. Republicans are opposed to the added tax, while those on the left say corporations should pay for the charges.
Prior to coming to Delaware O’Mara was a city official in San Jose, Calif. a city near operations of the Silicon Valley-based Bloom.
The added cost of the power from the fuel cells has been widely criticized. At the same time, costs of the fuel cells are running at or below forecasts that were offered when legislators approved the Bloom legislation.
Mr. O’Mara issued a coastal zone act permit to Bloom that is bogus and bordering on the insane. He is taking this wildlife job to get away from his role in the CZA permit he approved FRAUDULENTLY. This clown has done more to undo the landmark Delaware CZA legislation than you can imagine. The BLOOMDOGGLE and his role is being peeled apart like a gangrene onion. Solid sulfur waste is hidden and Mr. O’Mara knew this and abetted this. He helped hide the hazardous waste for his friends at Bloom. They and their operatives in the nation’s capital helped him land this new job. They need him to hide out in Yellowstone for a while, the yellow solid waste that contains sulfur can be hidden there. He is a disgrace. Period.