RE: EPA's evolving role - communication is a two-way street.

[Lynn Crivello <Crivelll@cpscpo.com>]

Hello, I am an environmental engineer with over 20 years experience in the field including 6 years with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and 6 years with the U S Environmental Protection Agency.  I am also a member of a community with a Superfund project  - The Liquid Dynamics/North-South Pullman projects.  The Liquid Dynamics site was a Hazardous waste treatment facility that went bankrupt in the early 1980s.  Various actions were undertaken and the site is now considered a "non-emergency" site.  This means that letters to the PRPs have to my knowledge never been sent to this date.  I think that this is appalling.  This site, located less than 50 feet from residential housing with small children is not even properly fenced.  Apparently the fencing would require 40 hour trained personnel although children routinely play on the site.  The community has not been kept informed of any actions regarding this site.

At the Pullman North-South site residents were not informed by EPA or anyone else when a contractor removed several acres of trees creating a dust hazard to adjacent residents.  The contractor was given verbal authorization to proceed by the USEPA project manager even though a health and safety plan and QAPP had never been approved.  The citizens of the neighborhood were never informed and found out only when dust from the site and the sight of a devistated landscape clued us that somthing had gone terriable wrong.  USEPA has never to my knowledge provided any opportunity for Bilingual communitcation even though the community has many Hispanic residents.  The USEPA has projected an adversarial attitude and has responded only to appeals to the Administrator or Division Director.  I believe strongly that the Communication Process works only in so far as there is respect and trust between parties.  the USEPA has utterly failed in Pullman.