After three weeks as the new Permanent Secretary of the Environment, Wayne Carey said he is enjoying having a greater role in influencing the Island?s environmental strategies.

Mr. Carey said he left the Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) to better protect the environment.

?I think I saw this position as a natural progression in my career,? he said. ?I have been in environment all of my professional life and before this position I was involved in the private sector mostly.?

Mr. Carey applied for the position of Permanent Secretary before the Throne Speech last October. He said he found out he got the job in the last six weeks, leaving his position as Director of Energy Supply at Belco. Brian Rowlinson stepped down from the post last November.

?I hope to be able to make a difference in terms of helping to protect and preserve the environment in its broader sense,? Mr. Carey said.

He began his career in the environmental field working in Canada for 13 years, he said.

But his strong interest in marine, fish and water ecology began much earlier, when he was a child growing up in Bermuda.

?I got into the environmental field growing up as a boy in Bermuda, surrounded by water, fish and swimming and that certainly piqued my interest and I pursued it as a career,? he said.

And while employed in Canada, he said he always kept his eye out for environmental jobs in Bermuda.

But in the early years environmental jobs were few and far between, he said, and those in the positions were not going anywhere.

However, in 1993, Belco was preparing for the enforcement of the clean air regulations.

?When the regulations were brought into force, Belco decided it needed to have a consolidated environmental programme,? he said. ?I was hired in May, 1994 as an environmental officer.?

In his 11 years at Belco, he helped to build the company?s environment department.

?Belco has sought to be in compliance with the clean air regulations. They are in compliance by and large, but there are still issues,? he said.

?Neighbours still do complain of undesirable odours.?

?Belco realises society is moving forward and wants to be a good corporate citizen,? he said. ?Government stands ready and is prepared to assist them.?

Mr. Carey said he will work with Belco regarding alternative energy sources such as wind farming.

He also said the Island needed a National Energy Plan.

?I would want to go beyond Belco and talk about energy efficiency either at Belco, or the oil companies to energy efficiencies in houses and in commercial buildings,? he said.

?We are doing some of that currently, but in my view we are not doing enough to put us on a much more sustainable path.?

He said he spent almost as much time at Belco as he had as a member of the Bermuda National Trust, where he once chaired the Marine Environment Committee.

But in the past few weeks, Mr. Carey said he stepped down from his roles at the Trust because he could not work simultaneously for a non-Governmental organisation and Government.

?I thoroughly enjoyed my years at the Trust and think in particular, those years helped to further shape my views on where we should be going with the environment in Bermuda.?

He said working at the Ministry of Environment was a balancing act between regulating and facilitating.

For example, the Department of Planning had a 20 percent increase in planning applications in 2004 over 2003.

?That is significant,? he said. ?And we expect we are going to remain at that level through 2005.?