Facility Involvement

[Jonathan Garoutte <jgaroutte@des.state.nh.us>]

Mr Focht wrote:
?trust judgments of government involve more tha[n] judgments about competence; it involves judgments about fiduciary responsibility, which concern the use of discretion, degree of shared values, responsiveness and accountability, public mindedness, and respect for autonomy and justice.

This doesn't speak directly to Mr. Focht's full comments, but?
Although facilities may not be a part of the "public" they are definitely a "stakeholder" in this process.  In order to achieve and maintain trust (between the community, the EPA, and any other stakeholders) facilities must be involved in the public participation process.  Inasmuch as all new programs cost money (either directly from the EPA or from other agencies like States or Tribes which often receive Federal funds from the EPA and are therefore encouraged if not bound to follow similar policies) perhaps even a monetary input to the process by facilities would not be out of line.  In some circumstances (RCRA) the EPA can require information to be made available by facilities to the public.  The way that EPA attempts to involve facilities in this process, "early and often," needs to be addressed somewhere in this PIP since at least the trust-building factor is a major part of public participation.