The executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will retire in April after more than four years on the job.
The state agency did not say whether Richard Hyde would be replaced on an interim basis.
The commission is the state regulator for the Waste Control Specialists site in Andrews County, one of four facilities licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for disposal of low-level radioactive waste.
Hyde became TCEQ chief in January 2014 after rising through the ranks at the agency, including as director of its Air Permits Division, deputy director of two offices, and deputy executive director. In total, he spent 25 years in state government.
“It has been a privilege to work for the people of this great state, but now it’s time for myself and my family to begin the next chapter in our lives,” Hyde said in the release. “I’m thankful to have worked with so many dedicated employees at the TCEQ. TCEQ’s employees work hard every day to protect the environment using good science and common sense.”
Hyde will give up his leadership in March, but will stay on at the agency through April during the transition to a new executive director. The press statement said only that TCEQ “Commissioners will work expeditiously to identify a quality successor.”
Last fall, TCEQ began a rulemaking to reduce some radioactive waste disposal charges at Waste Control Specialists. The process, aimed at increasing business for the struggling company, is scheduled to last through much of 2018. Since the rulemaking began, holding company Valhi Inc. has sold Waste Control Specialists to private equity firm J.F. Lehman.
