The official website of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council

Mimi Drew, Florida Department of Environmental Protection

 

Mimi DrewOn September 14, 2010, Governor Charlie Crist appointed Mimi A. Drew Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.   The Department is the lead agency in Florida for environmental management and stewardship. The Department is divided into three primary areas: Regulatory Programs, Land and Recreation and Planning and Management. Florida's environmental priorities include restoring America's Everglades, improving air quality, restoring and protecting the water quality in our springs, lakes, rivers and coastal waters, conserving environmentally-sensitive lands and providing citizens and visitors with recreational opportunities, now and in the future.

Secretary Drew has more than 30 years of technical, supervisory, and administrative experience with Florida environmental issues.  She received a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master’s of Science in Environmental Engineering and Sciences from the University of Florida.  While in graduate school, Ms. Drew worked with Dr. H. T. Odum at the Center for Wetlands studying the use of cypress wetlands to treat wastewater.  In 1991, she was recognized by the University of Florida College of Engineering as an outstanding representative of the engineers who graduated in the 1970s.

Joining the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, now the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, in 1977, Ms. Drew served as Administrator of the original Clean Water Act Nonpoint Source Program, handled delegation of the Federal Construction Grants Program, and acted as Deputy Director for five years in the Division of Water Facilities, now Water Resource Management.  In 1989, she became Division Director of Technical Services, and then returned to the Division of Water Resource Management as Director in 1995. As director, Ms. Drew provided oversight to the following programs: Watershed Management, Domestic and Industrial Wastewater, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, Drinking Water, Water and Wastewater Facilities Funding, Mine Reclamation, Operator Certification, Underground Injection Control, Beaches and Wetland Resources, and Office of Water Policy. 

In 2007, Ms. Drew was appointed the Deputy Secretary of Regulatory Programs, where she planned and directed Florida’s environmental regulatory programs including the Division of Air Resources Management, Waste Management, Water Resource Management, and the six Regulatory District Management Offices throughout the State of Florida.  During this time, she routinely represented the department before the Florida Legislature, the Executive Office, federal, state and local governments, as well as public and private organizations.   As Deputy Secretary, Ms. Drew evaluated key environmental risks and formulated recommended policy changes to effectuate practical solutions to ensure the protection of Florida public health and natural resources.

Career highlights include supervising the development and adoption of Florida's first statewide stormwater rule, developing the first rule to address pollution from dairies in South Florida, planning and overseeing construction of a multi-million dollar analytical laboratory facility in Tallahassee, and working with the Florida Legislature to develop the nation’s most comprehensive state legislation to implement the Total Maximum Daily Load provisions of the federal Clean Water Act.

Ms. Drew is a native Floridian who enjoys the unique ecosystems in the state, as well as the challenges associated with managing and protecting Florida’s environmental resources.