What's EPA's Tithe? REPLY: It Takes Time and Money

[Fred Stoss <fstoss@acsu.buffalo.edu>]

How much financial support does EPA provide communities for outreach, information resources sharing, community-based learning and education, training (teachers, librarians, community leaders, elected officials, etc.) for basic science or data/information gathering and access?

I have no idea, and ask this question, perhaps more rhetorically than anything else. I do wonder, though, if there are EPA staff participating that can shed some light on funding instruments such as the Environmental Justice grants, and EMAPCT grants.

This is the second EPA National Dialogue. It looks like it is effective in getting people to act (participate). There is good information be shared. There are some REALLY good suggestions being given to the EPA (FREE!). There has been a tremendous display of civility shown.

Why has it taken the EPA more than 30 years to do this? Will EPA do this for specific environmental issues (e.g., Superfund, wetlands preservation, acid rain [which is NOT solved by the CAAA of 1990], global warming, etc.) Will EPA do this kind of community and public outreach at regional or local levels?

Let's face it folks, we REALLY are making some ground-breaking Environmental ICE (see my comments of 7/10): Informing, Communicating, and Educating. In the future those of us participating in this National Dialog will be able to say not that we knew about some environmental history, but that WE HELPED MAKE IT!!

Fred Stoss