Though Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration initially was vague on whether it would continue to have an Office of Environmental Affairs during the nation’s largest oil disaster, the position has now been filled.

Charles Allen, formerly at Tulane University in the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, started running the office two weeks ago.

Allen is a Xavier University undergrad and received his master’s degree in public health from Tulane in 1998.

Allen helped form the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development post-Katrina, an organization dedicated to the rebuilding of the Lower 9th Ward.

Check back at The Lens soon for a developing question-and-answer session with Allen.

Karen Gadbois co-founded The Lens. She now covers New Orleans government issues and writes about land use. With television reporter Lee Zurik she exposed widespread misuse of city recovery funds and led...