History Continued - Page 34 The Commission, having no staff of its own, is unable to assert its powers over a broader range of issues; Staff, which tends to be anti-business, dominates the Commission; Because the Governor alone appoints the members of the Commission; the State Legislature cannot exercise oversight over the Commission; The Commission, which is not subject to the usual checks and balances of representative government, lacks political responsibility;

The Commission has too much power for a body that has no formal responsibility to the Legislature or to public opinion; Members of the Commission enjoy the honor but not the responsibility or the work; Because Commission members are busy with their own jobs and lives, it is often difficult to raise a quorum for Commission meetings and for the three person panels that conduct much of the Commission's business; Given the importance of environmental concerns, a part-time Commission is insufficient for the job at hand;

The Commission is not a sufficiently "high powered" body to manage the state's environmental problems; and its lack of public recognition fails to make it a rallying point for public opinion and concern about the environment; The Commission is "reactive rather than proactive;" The lack of environmental consciousness in a state with a frontier outlook infects the Commission, making it insensitive to urban interests and less activist than its mandate calls for; The Commission has failed to move aggressively on air quality standards, on the dumping of solid and hazardous waste, and on the growing water shortage crisis; Next Page