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Former coal lobbyist tapped for key role at IDEM

May 10, 2009

Former coal lobbyist tapped for key role at IDEM

(Post-Tribune Article): Meet David Joest. In his 25-year career as an attorney, he has been a registered lobbyist for the world's largest coal company. He has made a career of fighting environmental agencies and worked to prevent stricter environmental rules in Indiana and Michigan. And on behalf of his former employer, Peabody Coal Co., he has fought legal battles over permits against the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and defended the company against enforcement from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Joest is IDEM's newly appointed assistant commissioner for the Office of Legal Counsel -- a job that puts him in charge of civil enforcement and criminal investigations of the state's biggest polluters. ...