RE: Identifying the public

[allexe law-flood <allexe.law-flood@state.ma.us>]

The primary difference between EPA's Community Relations Plan and the Massachusetts Public Involvement Plan (PIP)is that the PIP process requires a petition from the community expressing interest.  Since the interest is generated from the community, there is, in general, a greater commitment from the community to understand the issues and to provide comment.  Yet, community interest often wanes, especially at sites where long term cleanup is involved.  Therefore, public involvement plans need to be flexible and adjust to this fluctuation in community interest.  It may be that some community members are just concerned with identifying the risks posed by the site, while others are more concerned about how the technolgy to cleanup the site may impact their lives.  As shifts take place in the phases of a project of any kind, the public involved, the public affected, and the public involvement process in place should be reviewed to determine whether there is a good fit or whether an adjustment needs to be made to the process.