Public trust

[Dale Beasley <crabby@aone.com>]

I am a stakeholder invovlved in an ocean disposal taskforce lead by EPA & Corps of Engineers.  This has been a eye opening experience.  First the task force was setup by urging of local congressional delegation, not a voluntary EPA action. The experience has been a breach of trust at every level in the process.  Meetings are too infrequent to accomplish any meaningful goals & agendas are strictly controlled.  I have watched the responsible EPA official attempt to end run laws (RFA & CZMA) requirements and flattly refuse to discuss issues like compensatroy mitigation for lost habitat, resources, and use.  Every action is termed insignificant, cumulative actions are not considered, and options developed that were not even discussed in the task force meetings, the list could go on, but to put it bluntly I have lost all trust and respect for EPA in the time I have been publicly involved.  Hopefully this process can reclaim some of that trust if implimentation at the local levels where it is meaningful can be achieved.