The Report Card

Friday, 23 Jan 2004

DENVER, Colo.

Well, this is my final chapter. Words cannot describe … ah, forget it.

In this installment, called “EPA Potpourri Day,” I will cover EPA topics that are not my direct assignment. (Inquisitive minds can go to EPA.gov for more.)

On the sustainability front, Environmental Management Systems are commonly defined as systems in which organizations catalog their various impacts on Mother Earth and make a plan to tread more lightly. Tim Rehder was recently assigned to the new position of EPA Region 8 EMS coordinator. I interviewed Tim in preparation for writing this diary entry, so I am plagiarizing his thoughts. He said it was OK. He claims none of them are original.

The EPA houses most of its employees in typical offices, so significant impacts result from 700-plus employees in an office consuming electricity, paper, and various other office products, traveling to meetings and inspections, and commuting. We also have laboratories that use lots of energy and create chemical wastes.

EPA Region 8 has a major EMS opportunity on the horizon, as we will be constructing a new downtown Denver building with a projected move date in 2006. The new building will be situated next to a major transit hub to encourage non-car commuting. Developers’ proposals will be graded on their use of features such as whole systems design, renewable energy (solar has huge potential in sunny Denver), secure bicycle parking, natural light, low-water landscaping, recycled materials, quickly renewing materials like bamboo and hemp, and low-toxicity paints. Tim thinks we’ll get a building that will make us proud, but he secretly worries the new building won’t have a Starbucks.

Given the EPA’s mission to protect public health and the environment, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking the EPA has an obligation to be a role model for organizations and to lead by example. There’s no doubt that most EPA employees have a strong environmental ethic. However, they are also Americans — the products of a remarkably wasteful, convenience-oriented culture. So Tim and his colleagues are constantly struggling to get employees to recycle, make two-sided copies, use energy-saving software, turn off computers and lights, and commute via mass transit or bicycle.

“For God’s sake, if we can’t get people at the EPA to act like the planet is in jeopardy, we’re screwed,” laments Tim. We must do better.

Personal interests gave me reason to chat with David Schaller of our staff, creator of the Sustainability Newsletter. Each weekly edition has two or three items on subjects as diverse as “International Momentum Builds to Ban Plastic Bags,” “Toyota Unveils First-in-the-World Ecological Vehicle Assessment System,” “Navdanya Helps Create Freedom Zones for Indian Farmers,” and “Chicago Climate Exchange Announces Start of Trading.” The emailed newsletter is distributed to 400 people in 11 countries, and is an outstanding electronic information transfer vehicle. David also inspires by including quotes from others in each edition, like, “Yes it is impossible, therefore it will take a little longer.” That quote seems pertinent to the EPA and its EMS attempts.

Just before lunch today, Nat Miullo and I met to discuss our efforts in the San Juan Mountain headwaters in southwest Colorado. We have an initiative providing ecosystem assessment services and assisting the watershed groups in the area, several of which suffer from the legacy of hard-rock mining. When we undertake an effort such as this, the required internal EPA, state, and local coordination is massive and difficult to streamline. Nat is helping by assessing how we are doing and offering suggestions.

For lunch today, I went out with a friend from my 1989 leadership program who is half of a small facilitation services firm. Dennis and I traded old stories, chatted about where our lives are going, and planned a larger leadership alumni lunch. It was fun, as we share many interests.

My boss suggested that I write a diary entry on the subject of EPA-state-local partnerships. How we work with states and locals is a factor in almost everything that the EPA does. All major environmental laws describe a state role that varies widely. We work closely with all six Region 8 states. Local governments and other partners are closest to the issues. Politics come into play often.

I will describe how this works in relation to Rico, Colo., and the Clean Water Act and Superfund. Rico is the small mining town we are working with in regard to old mining waste. Under the Clean Water Act, the state of Colorado has primary responsibility to set water-quality standards and issue discharge permits. The state is currently working on a water-quality assessment to provide the technical basis for issuing a permit for the St. Louis Tunnel Discharge just upstream from Rico. The EPA also has Clean Water Act enforcement “over file” authority. Several years ago, we filed suit against the St. Louis Tunnel owner for discharge permit violations, and are just now settling. With this amount of activity, a high level of federal-state-local communication is necessary, and issues exist with the tunnel — so not everyone is happy.

In my role as a watershed coordinator, I advocate non-regulatory, locally based voluntary approaches to resolving water-quality and habitat issues. While I think it is the right thing to do, it interjects another level of complexity but also adds opportunities for solutions.

For abandoned hazardous-waste sites, Superfund plays out in a different way. EPA has direct responsibility to designate Superfund National Priority List (NPL) sites (a designation used to indicate high-priority sites and to ensure adequate cleanup); states are in a support role. So we relate to each other very differently under Superfund versus the Clean Water Act. Under Superfund, we are the lead agency with the goal of minimizing the health risks of lead (the metal) in Rico’s residential soils. There are several cleanup options (Superfund emergency removal, voluntary cleanup, Superfund NPL designation). Rico and its residents have strong opinions, as they should. I am helping plan for a Feb. 11 public meeting intended to gather community concerns regarding the options for cleanup. The details are way more complex and confusing than this. Is it surprising we have communication issues?

So my Grist diaries end. I have chosen to provide background on what I do, versus snippets; I hope that has kept your interest. Remember: I am from the government, and it’s your job and mine to take care of the planet.