Jay Manning is a master at seeking the middle ground.

As an environmental attorney, he has been in legal fights with virtually every side: government, industry, even environmentalists. Yet he has earned a reputation for finding compromise on some of Washington's thorniest cases.

Now he will bring those skills to a new job that frequently draws fire from all sides: head of Washington's main environmental regulator, the state Department of Ecology. The post, combined with his close relationship to Gov. Christine Gregoire, positions him to play a major role in shaping the state's environmental policy.

Manning's reputation is that of a pragmatist with a green streak, though some Eastern Washington Republicans worry that he's too close to environmentalists. A former Department of Ecology lawyer and past president of the Washington Environmental Council, he has also been a private-practice attorney, representing businesses ranging from the Port of Seattle to an aluminum company.

"I've seen a lot of presidents of the Washington Environmental Council come and go. I've seen some who were problem solvers and some who aren't," said Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business, who negotiated with Manning to craft a deal governing shoreline development statewide. "Jay was definitely someone who was a problem solver."

The Ecology department faces its share of problems.

At a time of growing anxiety about water supply, the agency oversees who gets water and how best to clean up polluted streams and lakes. It's the state enforcer of cleanup at the polluted Hanford federal nuclear facility. Its ability to prevent and clean up oil spills has come under fire. There is growing pressure to regulate a slew of prolific toxic chemicals. And the agency is working with a staff roughly 200 people below its 1993 high of 1,631 employees.

Like Gregoire, herself a former Ecology director, Manning's priorities seem to offer something for everyone. He said the department needs streamlined regulations and a helpful attitude toward regulated industries — a mantra of the business community. But he also vows to get tough with the companies that willfully break environmental laws.

In the short term, the drought and his department's own budget take top billing. Drought preparations are just beginning, and it's still unclear how severe it might be.

While Eastern Washington lawmakers have complimented Manning's role in declaring a statewide drought last month, his past work has triggered some criticism.

Six Eastern Washington lawmakers sent a letter to Gregoire charging that Manning's alliance with environmentalists "clearly shows that he is not from the 'middle.' "

They are particularly concerned about whether irrigators will be second-guessed by the state in how they run their water systems. The Washington Environmental Council has sparred with Eastern Washington irrigation districts, demanding further water-conservation measures.

"His record is way off on the environmental side, way to the extreme of the environment side," said Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Water, Energy and Environment, who signed the letter.

Manning attributed the senator's concerns partly to unfamiliarity with him. "None of them know me as a person," he said.

Manning's appointment hasn't been confirmed by the state Senate, but none have predicted he will be rejected.

A number of environmental groups have lauded Manning's appointment, pleased to see one of their own taking over an agency many felt was neglected during Gov. Gary Locke's tenure.

But even on the environmental side, support isn't universal. The Sierra Club's Cascade Chapter lobbied Gregoire to appoint David Mears, the current top lawyer for Ecology. It threw its support to Manning when Mears wasn't a finalist for the job.

Manning's work representing the Port of Seattle in its bid to build a third runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, despite objections from the Sierra Club and some other environmental groups, dampened enthusiasm for him, said Craig Engelking, the chapter's legislative director.

In the environmental arena, Manning has shown the instincts of a tightrope walker, finding the point where competing forces converge. From nuclear waste to shoreline development, he's helped broker deals between sides locked in fierce political struggles.

A number of people described him as a straight-shooter who won't mislead people. He's personally charming, a boyish-looking 47-year-old athlete with a gracious manner.

"I think a lot of it is just being likable," Manning said of his negotiating skills. "If people hate you, they aren't going to go out of the way to help you."

He traced his interest in environmental issues back to a childhood spent roaming the forests of the Olympic Peninsula, near his hometown of Port Orchard.

He earned his legal wings as an attorney for the agency he now heads, much of it under the tutelage of Gregoire. She hired him straight out of University of Oregon law school in 1983.

In their first major achievement together, the two helped craft the 1989 deal with the federal government to clean up Hanford, a project that Ecology continues to monitor.

In 1998, Manning left a job as top lawyer for Ecology to practice environmental law at a private firm. There he frequently represented companies and governments trying to navigate environmental regulations.

His negotiating skills remained in demand. He became the lead representative for environmentalists in shoreline-development talks, crafting a deal embraced by both environmentalists and business leaders as strict enough to protect habitat but flexible enough to allow development.

"Chris [Gregoire] obviously is not going to appoint somebody who's going to trash the environment," said attorney Rod Brown, who was a partner with Manning in the law firm Brown Reavis & Manning. "The real message I see with Jay is he's somebody who meets those standards and also knows how to deal with businesses."

Under Manning, the Ecology Department is likely to enjoy easy access to Gregoire as a trusted adviser. In 1992, Gregoire, then in her first term as state attorney general, made Manning the Attorney General's Office's division chief for Ecology.

During Gregoire's campaign for governor, Manning was part of a circle of people advising her on environmental issues.

Now, Gregoire said she plans to turn to Manning even for input on environmental issues outside his department's control.

Recently she met with advisers to discuss a host of bills in the state Legislature concerning the state Growth Management Act. The act controls much of the development regulations in the state, but Ecology has little involvement in implementing it.

"I immediately told folks I didn't want to address it until I had a meeting with Jay," Gregoire said.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com