Series 2821: Field Services Directors’ Files. 1969-2002
Environmental Quality, Dept. of (RG 138).

Series 2821: Field Services Directors’ Files. 1969-2002
Environmental Quality, Dept. of (RG 138).

      The Field Services Directors’ files contain reports, studies, correspondence, memoranda, and VHS tapes related to the activities and work of the Field Services Division of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The Field Services Division is considered the scientific and technical arm of the Office of Pollution Control (OPC), which is the branch of the agency charged with enforcing federal and state laws to "conserve the air and water and to protect, maintain, and improve the quality thereof for public use." Originally called the Bureau of Pollution Control, the office was renamed to its current title in 1993. The OPC is divided into seven divisions: air, surface water, environmental permits, compliance and enforcement, field services, groundwater assessment and remediation, and emergency services.

      Phil Bass figures prominently in the collection, first as an aquatic biologist, then Field Services Director by 1993, and finally retiring as Head of the Office of Pollution Control in 2006. Other noteworthy individuals in the collection include Charles Chisholm, Director of MDEQ, and Gloria Tatum, the Field Services Director once Bass moved to his final position as Office Head of OPC.