Shelton Miles may be the chairman of the State Water Control Board—but he got there by challenging it. “I began dealing with environmental protection as a citizen who organized a riparian property owners’ group along our local waterway, the Staunton River,” Miles says.

 

In this situation, which occurred in the late 1980s, Miles worked with a number of governmental entities—and he ended up suing the water board over a dispute concerning permits. Ultimately, the suit was withdrawn as the board addressed his concerns.

“Later on, I served as a member with the drought technical advisory committee and also with the water supply planning technical advisory committee. That led to my appointment to the board. That’s the way my interaction with the board and DEQ developed over the years. I often joke that I’m probably the only member of the board that prior to joining the board sued the board, at least in a personal capacity.”

 

Miles has been a member of the board since 2004, and has served as chairman of the board since 2006. In his 20-plus years of contact with the board and DEQ, he notes many positive changes. “Everyone is more results-focused. Results are defined increasingly. It used to be that everybody was focused on rules and regulations, permits—now they are able to step back and see what the real results are or what they could be, by asking, ‘are permits getting the intended result?’ ”

 

Miles is philosophical about the amount of time it takes to achieve results in environmental efforts. “The Chesapeake Bay, for example —we have made painstakingly slow progress. We haven’t met deadlines. We get action in place that begins to happen, but the wheels of government, wheels of bureaucracy, the wheels of change, everywhere there are those resistant to change —they all grind slowly. Somewhere there is probably somebody who complains that we move too fast. But generally we move with extraordinary deliberation, and sometimes the process is quite slow.”

 

“In the past, there wasn’t always a willingness to consider public comment, and I think that’s changed dramatically. The public’s input is invaluable. Sometimes we see far greater collaboration than we saw in the past, in a problem-solving mode. There is more awareness among business interests now; they realize now that environmental awareness and compliance are good business. More people are ‘getting it.’ We need to think about sustainability and impacts to the larger environment. I think there has been a big change in attitudes about environmental protection. We aren’t where we need to be, but we’re far ahead of where we used to be.”