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EPA FORMS ADVISORY PANEL TO PROMOTE NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON SUPERFUND

Release Date: 05/30/2002
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Note to Correspondents

EPA Administrator Christie Whitman today announced the formation of a new advisory panel to make recommendations on the role Superfund should play in addressing the nation’s most polluted and costly hazardous waste sites.

“I am forming this advisory group to spur a national dialogue on the Superfund program,” Whitman said. “Today, Superfund exists alongside other cleanup programs, such as state voluntary cleanups, that did not exist when the statute was created more than 20 years ago. As we move forward as a country on addressing contaminated sites, we need to consider how all of these cleanup tools can work together in a more effective and unified fashion.”

The advisory panel is being formed as a Subcommittee to the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT). NACEPT was formed by EPA in 1988 to provide a forum for public discussion and independent advice to the Agency. Council members include: senior-level decision-makers and experts from academia, business and industry, community and environmental advocacy groups, federal, state, local, and tribal governments, regulators, and environmental justice, labor, non-governmental and professional organizations.

EPA will request the Subcommittee to consider the scope of the national Superfund program against a backdrop of other federal and state waste cleanup programs. This broader dialogue will consider how the nation’s waste programs can work together in a more effective and unified way so that citizens can be assured that federal, state and local governments are working cooperatively to make sites safe for their intended uses. The Subcommittee is being asked to have a public dialogue and reach consensus-based recommendations on three major issues: the role of the National Priorities List in cleaning up the worst Superfund sites; the role of Superfund at so-called “mega sites”(sites where cleanup costs are expected to exceed $50 million) and measuring program performance.

The new Superfund Subcommittee will be chaired by Dr. Raymond Loehr, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin. Loehr is a recognized expert on municipal, industrial and hazardous waste management and cleanup. He has published over 300 technical publications and reports and authored/edited 14 books. He has served on numerous boards and committees, including EPA’s Science Advisory Board, National Research Council Committees, and the Department of Defense’s Science Advisory Board, and as Vice President of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers.

The first public meeting of the Subcommittee is Tuesday, June 18, and Wednesday, June 19, in Alexandria, Va., at the Holiday Inn and Suites at 625 First St. A Federal Register notice will be published soon which provides more information on the meeting, including how the public can offer brief comments on the Superfund program. The subcommittee is expected to hold additional meetings on this issue which will also be open to the public. EPA will provide details of additional meetings as they are established. As with other NACEPT dialogues, a final report from the subcommittee is expected within 12 to 18 months. For further information, see: https://www.epa.gov/oswer/SFsub.htm .

A list of the Subcommittee members is attached.

Chair:
Raymond Loehr, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, Texas,

Members:
Bill Adams, Director of Environmental Science, Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., Magna, Utah

Sue Briggum, Director of Environmental Affairs, Waste Management, Inc. Washington, D.C.

Grant Cope, Attorney, US Public Interest Research Group, Washington, D.C.

Jim Derouin, Attorney, Steptoe & Johnson, Phoenix, Ariz.

Richard Dewling, President, Dewling Associates, Inc, Union, N.J.

Steve Elbert, Senior Vice President of Global Environmental Management, British Petroleum America, Inc., Warrenville, Ill.

Jane Gardner, Manager and Counsel, Corporate Environmental Programs, General Electric Co., Fairfield, Conn.

Mark Giesfeldt, Director of Remediation and Redevelopment Program, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Madison, Wis.

Glenn Hammer, Vice President of Environmental Health and Safety, Ashland, Inc., Columbus, Ohio

Delores Herrera, Executive Director, Albuquerque San Jose Community Awareness Council, Inc., Albuquerque, N.M.

Robert Hickmott, Senior Vice President, The Smith-Free Group, Washington, D.C.

Aimee Houghton, Associate Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight, Washington, D.C.

Ken Jock, Director, Environmental Division, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Akwesasne, N.Y.

Frederick Kalisz, Jr., Mayor, City of New Bedford, Mass.

Ed Lorenz, Chair, Pine River Superfund Citizens Task Force/Professor of History and Political Science, Alma College, Alma, Mich.

Mildred McCain, Executive Director, Harambee House, Inc. Savannah, Ga.

Michael Mittelholzer, Director of Regulatory Affairs, National Association of Home Builders, Washington, D.C.

Thomas Newlon, Senior Counsel, Port of Seattle, Seattle, Wash.

Lindene Patton, Vice President, Zurich U.S. Specialities, Zurich North America, Great Falls, Va.

Victoria Peters, Assistant Attorney General, Colorado Attorney General’s Office, Lakewood, Colo.

Kate Probst, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C.

Ed Putnam, Assistant Director, Remedial Planning and Design, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, N.J.

Catherine Sharp, Assistant Division Director, Land Protection Division, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Alexandria Shultz, Director of Legislative Affairs, Mineral Policy Center, Washington, D.C.

Mel Skaggs, President, InDepth Environmental Associates, Inc. Southlake, Texas

Richard Stewart, Emily Kempin Professor of Law, Center on Environmental and Land Use Law, New York University School of Law, New York, N.Y.

Wilma Subra, Technical Advisor, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, New Iberia, La.

Michael Tilchin, Vice President, CHM2, Herndon, Va.

Jason White, Environmental Scientist, Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah, Okla.

Robin Wiener, President, Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc., Washington, D.C.

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