Oregon's tough land use laws, coupled with a state agency that depends heavily on voluntary compliance with environmental regulations, requires in leaders the ability to see things from a distance and up close.

Richard Whitman, a lawyer by training but a veteran of Oregon land use and environmental battles, is such a person. His appointment this week to lead the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is smart and shows promise as the state struggles to balance population and economic growth with myriad protections against water pollution and air emissions. That's to say nothing of the need for any DEQ chief to manage a productive relationship with the governor's office and Legislature, feats Whitman already has shown he can do.

The DEQ has for years been derided as a toothless tiger, issuing low fines for big environmental abuses. Last year, the agency came under fire for failing to protect Portland neighborhoods against toxic air emissions from nearby glass-makers - a sustained saga that prodded the retirement of DEQ's longtime director, Dick Pedersen.

Whitman's biggest achievement, however, has little to do with swinging a regulatory bat. He was the unseen force who helped guide ranchers, tribes and politicians through difficult water-brokering agreements in the arid Klamath Basin. If he can succeed at that, and he did, he has a shot at lifting DEQ to higher ground.

-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board

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