Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today appointed Carter H. Strickland, Jr. as Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. Commissioner Strickland has nearly two decades of experience in environmental policy and law in the New York metropolitan region, most recently serving as Deputy Commissioner for Sustainability at the Department of Environmental Protection and previously as Senior Policy Advisor for Air and Water in the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. In the Mayor’s Office and at the Department of Environmental Protection, Commissioner Strickland has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the water, air and natural resource initiatives in PlaNYC, Mayor Bloomberg’s comprehensive sustainability plan, and was a principal architect of the City’s Green Infrastructure Plan to capture more rain water to reduce combined sewer overflows and flooding through the installation  blue roofs and green roofs, permeable concrete, tree pits and other green infrastructure. He also has served as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Bureau where he prosecuted violations of Federal and State environmental statutes. Commissioner Strickland’s appointment is effective immediately. The Mayor announced the appointment at the Department of Environmental Protection headquarters in Lefrak City, Queens, where he was joined by Deputy Mayor for Operations and former Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway.

“Over the last two years, DEP has risen to new heights – cutting costs while becoming a more efficient and effective agency and helping to drive the Administration’s ambitious sustainability agenda,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Carter Strickland has been a key part of that success, and has been a highly effective leader in our efforts to create a greener, greater city since he joined our Administration four years ago. He has the right experience and qualities to be an extremely successful commissioner, with great vision and understanding of the challenges of delivering a vital public service to nine million New Yorkers every day, while protecting their environment and quality of life.”

“It is an honor to be selected to lead this talented and dedicated agency and to be able give back to our city,” said Commissioner Strickland. “The work that DEP does on a day to day basis is remarkable. Our often unheralded workforce of nearly 6,000 employees is part of the backbone of our city, supplying more than one billion gallons of the world’s best drinking water every day and ensuring the city’s surrounding water bodies like Jamaica Bay continue their resurgence. I want to thank Mayor Bloomberg for his confidence in my ability and for this tremendous opportunity. With PlaNYC and our strategic plan as a roadmap, and with continued partnerships with environmental and community groups and Federal and agencies, we can and will accomplish more great things.”

While serving as Deputy Commissioner for Sustainability at the Department of Environmental Protection, Commissioner Strickland helped lead the Administration’s efforts to eliminate the use of the dirtiest grade of heating oil. As a part of the Department’s leadership team, he was instrumental in implementing reforms over the last two years that have cut costs and reduced water rate increases. He also helped draft the Department’s new strategic plan, which aims to make the agency the safest, most efficient, cost-effective and transparent water utility in the nation.

Prior to joining the Bloomberg Administration in 2007, Commissioner Strickland served as Associate Clinical Professor and Acting Director of the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, where he advocated before Federal and State courts on behalf of dozens of national, state and local environmental and civic groups, while teaching environmental law and managing an environmental law clinic. He also has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School.

Throughout the course of his career, Commissioner Strickland has argued or litigated environmental cases in front of nearly every level of the judiciary, up to the U.S. Court of Appeals in three districts and a state Supreme Court. He has given lectures before dozens of professional, international, academic, and lay audiences on sustainability, environmental policy and environmental law and governance issues. He serves as the Board Director of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and is a member of the bar in three states. He is a former Board Member of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and was a member of the environmental transition team for then Mayor-elect Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey.

The Department of Environmental Protection’s nearly 6,000-person staff is responsible for the City’s air and water quality, for the safety and operation of a water supply system that serves more than nine million people daily, for collecting and processing wastewater, and for enforcing compliance in the handling and disposal of hazardous materials. The department’s operating budget is approximately $1 billion annually.

Commissioner Strickland graduated from Dartmouth College, cum laude, and earned his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, where he served as Executive Editor of the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law. He served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Joseph H. Young, U.S. District Judge in Baltimore, Maryland and he worked as an Associate at Latham & Watkins LLP and at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP. He lives in Brooklyn Heights with his wife, Nicole, and their two children.

The replacement search was led by Nathan Leventhal, Chairman of the Mayor’s Committee on Appointments, and Andrea Shapiro Davis, Special Advisor to the Mayor.