Mar 4 - DTSC Director to Resign

With the failure to reappoint Gary Petersen and Maureen Gorsen leaving, are the environmental champions leaving?

Department of Toxic Substances Control Director Maureen F. Gorsen will resign this month after serving for more than three years, according to a letter she wrote to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday.

Gorsen, an environmental law attorney, wrote that "it is time for me to return to private law practice."

Gorsen is an environmental champion with her work on the Green Chemistry Initiative, which was signed into law by Schwarzenegger last year. Her departure comes as the toxic substances department prepares to establish a science-based process for identifying problem chemicals in consumer products by January 2011 through the Initiative.

According to Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Rachel Cameron,

As a committed public servant, Maureen has been instrumental in moving California's environmental goals forward and we thank her for her dedicated service to our state. She played a key role in developing California's first-in-the-nation green chemistry initiative and streamlining the department's permitting process.

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