Outreach, then push way

[Glenn Landers <glenn.landers@sierraclub.org>]

A couple weeks ago I was heading into a stakerholder meeting  which is dealing with some EJ concerns. In the parking lot, I ran into an aide for a local Congress member. He had heard about the meeting, which was in his members district, and decided to see what was happening. He was leaving, though, because it had been suggested to him, either by the facilitators or by EPA staff, (it wasn't clear to me which)that things would go better if he left. They didn't want things to become political.

Today I was looking at NEJAC model plan for public participation and I see a list of recommendations. One says that in an EJ process, Congressional representation may be appropriate. 

Of course, when it is appropriate is up for debate. Unfortunately, this debate did not occur during my meeting. When the committee discussed members, the facilitators and EPA forgot to mention they had chased away a Congress member's aide. 

I have since raised the issue with the facilitators, but thought it worth mentioning in this forum. I guess my point here would be that EPA needs to accept even those stakeholders that might make things messy (like politicians and their reps) and that stakeholders who get involved have an obligation to try to ensure that others who are needed have the opportunity to participate, even if it means challenging the agency.