Welcome to Fourth Day of Dialogue

[Bruce Engelbert <engelbert.bruce@epa.gov>]

On behalf of my co-host colleagues in the Superfund Community Involvement and Outreach Center (U.S. EPA in Washington, D.C.), welcome to this fourth day of the dialogue.  Our primary focus today will be on providing assistance to facilitate public access and meaningful involvement.  We recognize how difficult it is for many members of the public to participate in important environmental decisions that will directly affect their lives.  The obstacles include lack of information, time and  money; unfamiliarity with the technical issues; and government inattention or indifference.  We certainly believe that EPA should do all it can to help the public overcome these obstacles. 

EPA programs have developed different ways of supporting  public participation, including educational outreach efforts, skill and technical training, logistical support, technical advisors, and grants.  These efforts are often successful in promoting more and better public participation. In other cases they do not seem to work well or are not sufficiently funded.  During the exchange today, we hope to hear about ideas and experiences in providing public involvement assistance that may help all of us to be more effective in engaging the public.
	
Superfund, which is the program for cleaning up hazardous waste sites, has used a number methods to assist the public.

    	The Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program provides money for activities that help  community groups participate in decision making at eligible Superfund sites. An initial grant of up to $50,000 is available.  These grants may be renewed.   TAG funds are most frequently used to hire independent technical advisors who can help interpret and comment on site-related decisions.

       	The Technical Outreach Services for Communities (TOSC) program brings university educational and technical resources to communities affected by hazardous substance contamination.   TOSC is provided to the public at  no cost.  It is a  non-advocacy, independent technical assistance program based on the premise that understanding the underlying technical issues is a requirement for meaningful citizen participation in the environmental cleanup and site reuse process.  The TOSC program is supported by the Hazardous Substance Research Centers (HSRCs) through an EPA grant and is staffed by researchers and professionals from 30 major universities.

       	Superfund encourages and provides various kinds of logistical and technical support to organized community advisory groups (CAGs) at cleanup sites.  CAGs are made up of members of the community and serve as a focal point for the exchange of information among the local community and EPA, the State regulatory agency, and other pertinent Federal agencies involved in cleanup of a Superfund site.  CAG members participate in meetings, provide data and information to EPA on their Superfund site issues, and share information with their fellow community members.

       	Superfund has both national and regional ombudsmen who are available to investigate concerns about the program and help to resolve them.  In addition, we utilize EPA's Consensus and Dispute Resolution Services Contract, which can provide facilitators and mediators to assist members of the public to work more constructively with each other and with the Agency. 
	
Today we hope to learn more about effective ways to provide assistance that will result in better public involvement.  Some questions to get the dialogue going are:

       1.	What are creative ways to leverage the limited financial assistance that is available for public involvement?

       2.	What are effective ways of providing technical assistance?  Are there special approaches or techniques when there is a lot of data or difficult technical issues?      

       3.	How can EPA make it easier for people to educate themselves about policy and technical issues?

       4.	How do we make sure that people without internet access are fully informed and involved?

       5.	Often determining the types of contaminants present at a site and how they have traveled are important questions a community needs to have answered.  What are good ways to assist a community's involvement in developing sampling plans and determining the extent of contamination?

	We also have a couple of questions, not directly related to providing assistance, that we would appreciate comments on:

       6.	In what circumstances is EPA usually responsive?  Are there certain types of issues, areas, or processes where EPA is not responsive?

       7.	Do you believe EPA is open in sharing information?  If no, please give an example, and say what could be improved.