DEQ Prepares to Merge with DNR

This Sunday, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental quality will merge.

They’ll co-exist under one roof as the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Over the next few months, the state will hire management to overlook the merger of the 2 agencies.

The management team will determine which current workers will find themselves in new positions or new locations.

Steve Casey is the district supervisor of the DEQ’s U.P. office, which is at K.I. Sawyer.

He says the total number of divisions and offices from both departments will drop from 22 to 14, which means less administration will be needed.

The overall goal of the merger process is to make the new department more efficient than either the DNR or DEQ were on their own.

Tomorrow night on UGN News, we’ll get the DNR’s take on the upcoming merger.