N.J. DEP chief shaking things up

TRENTON - When Bob Martin took over as New Jersey's top environmental regulator in early 2010, he was taking on a task that was entirely new to him.

Or so it seemed.

Martin came to the Department of Environmental Protection from the world of private consulting, with a brief detour into New Jersey elective politics, and had never worked in government before.

He had been a senior partner at Accenture, the global advisory firm, and his clients had been mainly utility companies.

But it turned out there was a parallel between his private-sector work and his new role in government. The utilities he had advised, many of them in Great Britain, where he worked for Accenture from 1991 through 1995, were essentially monopolies. They were slow to change, and because they had captive markets, they didn't have to be all that sensitive to customers.

There was a similar mindset at the DEP, where, Martin says, customer service wasn't part of the daily conversation.

"There was a good dose of truth in that," Martin said, commenting on the similarities between government and regulated utilities. "In a lot of cases, it was inaction rather than taking action on things. A lot of time, people [DEP officials] didn't want to say no." One of their ways of saying no was to send another letter asking for more information."

Just as Martin had advised utility clients to greatly improve their information systems and capacity to respond to customer request updates on outages and other issues, he says he has been pushing the DEP to streamline its interactions with regulated businesses.

He says the goal now is to tell applicants up front what their chances are for approval; if the answer is likely to be no, Martin says, they are told at the outset.

"It's just a matter of, let's get people in the door, let's look at the file quickly and decide whether we can approve it, and if we can't, let's talk about it," he said during an interview at DEP headquarters in Trenton.

Martin's approach has won praise from the state's leading business lobbying organization, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association. One tech upgrade they now have at their disposal: businesses can track the progress of their permit applications from laptops or iPhones.

But some environmentalists claim the department has not been tough enough on enforcing environmental rules. Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, sharply criticized the department for a drop-off in enforcement actions since Gov. Christie took office.

"I think Bob Martin is a very nice man, but I think he would be better at the [state Board of Public Utilities]," Tittel said.

Lawrence Ragonese, Martin's spokesman, dismissed Tittel's remarks, arguing that although it was true enforcement actions overall were down, the quality had improved greatly because regulators were focusing more on the most serious cases. As a consequence, he contended, air and water quality have improved.

When Christie took office in 2010, the number of staff at the DEP had declined to about 3,000 from a high of around 4,000 in the early 1990s, and the department had lost some 200 additional staff since. The slimming down of the department is in keeping with Christie's goal of making government smaller with an eye toward reducing taxes.

Martin says when he took over, one of his goals was to make the department more nimble by giving staff opportunities to move from one position to another, a career development option be believes can create new enthusiasm and sharpen skills.

That approach turned out to be fortuitous.

The department has taken over a major share of responsibility for the cleanup from Hurricane Sandy and more than one out every 10 DEP workers now is involved in the effort. Encouraging staffers to switch assignments after he took over as DEP commissioner made it easier for the entire department to pivot to storm recovery, Martin said.

Martin, 56, of Hopewell Township, traveled a well-established path to the senior ranks of state government, building his political contacts. After his lengthy career at Accenture, he ran for a state Senate seat in Mercer County in 2007.

He campaigned on a platform calling for property-tax reform and clean government. It was a losing effort, though, and he was soundly defeated by the incumbent, Shirley Turner, a Democrat.

Still, the run raised Martin's profile in Republican circles, and after the election, he sought Christie out to share his ideas on utility regulation and environmental issues. By the time the gubernatorial campaign was in full swing in 2009, Martin was one of a handful of Christie's closest advisers.

Christie likes to characterize himself as pro-business and focused on job development. Martin, who is paid $141,000 annually as DEP commissioner, says you can do that and also protect the environment.

"The regulatory climate has gotten much more responsive," he said of business conditions since Christie took office. "The key thing is we are going to protect the environment."