His Work Is Done . . . at DEC

On Wednesday, two days after the ban on fracking in New York State was enacted, it was reported that Joe Martens was stepping down as the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation. Martens, who before becoming DEC commissioner in 2011 was the president of Open Space Institute, will return to OSI as a consultant, focusing on national climate change policy. 

Photo: Dan McDonough, Legislative Gazette

Marc Gerstman, who is Martens' executive deputy at DEC, will serve as acting commissioner until Governor Cuomo appoints Martens' successor. It will be remembered by some that Gerstman served as the attorney for the Hudson Valley Preservation Coalition during the epic battle against St. Lawrence Cement and its plan to build the world's largest coal-fired cement plant just across the border in Greenport. The picture above shows Gerstman and Martens at an Assembly hearing on fracking in 2011.
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