A key player in Utah's Legacy Highway controversy and other environmental issues has been transferred to a new federal job — either a promotion or demotion depending whom you ask.

In late July, the Army Corps of Engineers moved Brooks Carter, who has been the agency's top regional regulator in Utah for more than 14 years, into a new position as a regional policymaker created specifically for him.

"We needed someone to help write new policies for us," said Jason Fanselau, agency spokesman. "Brooks Carter is nationally known in terms of being a Clean Water Act expert. Brooks was the person we thought of when we created the new position."

Carter, seen as a nature lover who bikes to work, is described by a former member of Congress as a man who walks with a swagger stick. People around him called him "Colonel," said Jim Hansen, a longtime former U.S. congressman from Davis County.

That may be why it's no surprise that corps workers appeared rankled by the move, which coincidentally came after Carter clashed with Utah Rep. Rob Bishop over a wetlands dispute in the northern Utah town of Perry. The corps rejected the city's request to pave a new road into a Wal-Mart because it would destroy wetlands. But Bishop pressed the corps to permit the project.

Corps officials, however, say the agency's reorganization plan wasn't clearly explained to employees, leaving them miffed at the reassignment and speculating it was political.

It's unclear whether politics played a role in his transfer.

But it's clear Carter has caught flak from all sides of controversial disputes — from Utah's congressional delegation interceding on behalf of municipalities upset with Carter's denial of permits to Utah's environmentalists suing over the corps' approval to pave a four-lane Legacy Highway over Great Salt Lake wetlands.

"It's always bad when politicians abuse their authority," said Marc Heileson of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club. "But Brooks also approved Legacy Highway and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals found it was an illegal project."

The Corps, acting on Carter's recommendation, approved a 14-stretch of the highway in Davis County. But environmental groups sued, claiming the proposed route would ruin Great Salt Lake wetlands, and won an injunction from the federal appeals court.

Highway construction is on hold as the corps conducts further environmental impact studies.

State officials could not be reached late Tuesday for comment on Carter's departure and how it could affect the proposed $468 million highway that would stretch from Brigham City to Nephi.