Craig Varn named to environmental board that hasn’t met this year

Gov. Rick Scott has tapped his former top environmental lawyer for a spot on the state’s Environmental Regulation Commission.

But Craig Varn might not have a lot to do as a member: The commission has cancelled every one of its monthly meetings so far this year.

Scott named him to the commission on Tuesday.

Varn, 47, was general counsel at the Department of Environmental Protection.

He also was chief policy adviser to then-Senate President Jeff Atwater, now the state’s Chief Financial Officer, “on all environmental, growth management, agriculture and utility issues,” according to a bio.

The commission is a “non-salaried, seven-member board selected by the Governor, who represent agriculture, the development industry, local government, the environmental community, citizens, and members of the scientific and technical community,” its website says.

“The Commission sets standards and rules that protect Floridians and the environment based on sound scientific and technical validity, economic impacts, and risks and benefits to the public and Florida’s natural resources,” it says. “Most issues that go before the ERC relate to air pollution, water quality and waste management.”

That is, when the body gets together, which hasn’t done at all this year.

All of its monthly meetings from January to June have been cancelled, its website shows. There’s no meeting scheduled for July. The August meeting is set as “TBD,” or “to be decided.”

Varn is now a name partner at Tampa’s Manson Bolves Donaldson Varn law firm in its Tallahassee office. He got his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and his master’s and law degree from Florida State University.

His “degree in civil engineering allows him to understand the complexities of technical evidence like hydrogeology and engineering, as well as modeling and the other disciplines needed in these matters,” his law firm bio says. “Before becoming a lawyer, Varn worked as an engineer designing stormwater management facilities, drainage systems and support structures.”

He will fill a vacant seat and his term runs May 2016 to March 2019. His appointment must be confirmed by the Florida Senate.

Jim Rosica ([email protected]) covers the Florida Legislature, state agencies and courts from Tallahassee.