Gov. David A. Paterson is replacing a Pete with a Peter. On Thursday he announced that his deputy secretary for the environment, Peter M. Iwanowicz, was taking over as acting commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation after the dismissal of Alexander B. Grannis, better known as Pete, according to the New York Times.
Mr. Iwanowicz, 43, will remain in his current post and hold both positions.
He first joined state government in 2007, when Mr. Grannis named him director of the state Climate Change Office.
Last week, Governor Paterson fired Mr. Grannis after the leaking of a memo warning of dire consequences from the administration’s budget cuts to the department. Mr. Grannis denied he had anything to do with the release of the memo and complained that he was dismissed by Lawrence Schwartz, the governor’s secretary, without ever getting a chance to talk to the governor.
As the governor’s deputy secretary for the environment, a position he assumed in March, Mr. Iwanowicz is responsible for environmental policy matters.
As the first director of the New York State Office of Climate Change, he oversaw the state’s participation in the cap-and-trade program among Northeastern states known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, pronounced “Reggie.”)
Before joining state government, Mr. Iwanowicz was vice president of the American Lung Association of New York State and also worked for the Albany-based Environmental Advocates of New York.
Alexander B. Grannis in his Albany office in April. He was fired on Thursday October 21, after a memo about cuts in his staff was leaked. (Photo:Mike Groll/Associated Press)
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