<p>TALLAHASSEE - Environmentalists cheered Republican Gov.-elect Charlie Crist's choices Thursday for new leaders of the agencies responsible for protecting Florida's environment and overseeing growth management.</p>
<p>Michael W. Sole, 42, was named secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. Tom Pelham, 63, returns to a former job in charge of the Department of Community Affairs, which is the state's land planning agency.</p>
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<p>Linda Young, who heads the Clean Water Network and has been a vocal critic of the Bush administration's environmental record, applauded Pelham's selection as "an absolute dream choice" and was optimistic about Sole.</p>
<p>"I'm hopeful that Crist is going to continue the types of environmental positions we've seen him have over the last 10 or 15 years," Young said. "He has been very good on environmental issues."</p>
<p>Pelham, she said, was aggressive in holding local governments accountable for adhering to development rules when he headed the department under Gov. Bob Martinez in the late 1980s. Pelham has two degrees from Florida State University, including one in law, and has graduate degrees from Duke University and Harvard.</p>
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