RE: Best Practices for Permitting and Policy

[Charlie Atherton <charlie@structurex.net>]

CAP's (Citizen Advisory Panels) and CAG's (Citizen Advisory Groups) are created and supported by different people for different reasons.  I can speak to CAP's that are created and supported by industry, from personal experience.  

Industry (CAP's) panels are used basically by industry as an early warning system to identify environmental issues as early as possible.  This gives industry time to prepare, in advance, a sanatized explanation of the issue to the agencies, elected officials and media, while preparing their lawyers.  This is to reduce the public's ability to address the issue.

Industry also braggs to the media, public relation TV ads, and all agencies as to how industry is communicating with the public through these CAP's.  This is missleading as industry controlls the CAP membership and in all reality selects each CAP member.  I know, because one local industry challenged me being on a CAP and tried to keep me off, and another industry sponsor kept me off the CAP, period, even though current CAP members wanted me on the CAP.

Very few industry CAP's are free to run the CAP.  Those CAP's that are run by the members have a better chance of making a difference in the community and are able to actually be of benefit to the sponsoring industry.  These CAPS allow industry to get a real public opinion of an issue, seek suggested solutions, and propose solutions to members.  Industry can get meaningful feedback on running their plant, new plants, permits, enforcement actions, community monitoring for permit compliance, etc..

CAP's can work if given the freedom to operate, freedom to pick their members (members must be representative of the makeup of the community), given the necessary information, the technical assistance to understand the information, understand the process, availability of local, state, and federal agency people as resources, and have an impartial facilitator.

Charlie Atherton