[CPEO-BIF] TOSC-TAB re-organization

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

At EPA's National Community Involvement Conference this week, I learned 
that there is uncertainty about the future of the EPA-funded Technical 
Outreach Services for  Communities (TOSC) program. In the long run the 
Technical Assistance for Brownfields (TAB) program, operated by the same 
institutions, may be affected as well. I'm not sure about all the 
specifics, but I'll stay tuned for more information.

TOSC was originally known as Technical Outreach for Superfund 
Communities. It provides technical assistance for community groups and 
advisory boards addressing hazardous waste contamination throughout the 
United States. Unlike EPA's Technical Assistance Grant program - which 
is limited to actual "Superfund" National Priority List sites - it does 
not require the communities it serves to administer its projects.

I have served, for the past few years, on the advisory board for the 
TOSC/TAB program serving EPA's two West Coast regions, and in my work 
across the country I frequently run across or even partner with the 
other TOSC/TAB centers. Nationally, this is a successful program.

TOSC has historically been operated by five regional and one tribal 
Hazardous Substance Research Centers, based at universities. With the 
phasing out of the research programs at those centers, EPA has indicated 
that it intends to re-organize the program. As far as I can tell, EPA 
has proposed to fund TOSC through a contract to a "HUB Zone Small 
Business." If it pursues this approach, the centers that currently 
operate the program will be forced to cut back or even shut down.

The TAB program is funded separately, and it is expected that EPA will 
re-compete the program when the current funding runs out. However, 
without TOSC funding, it's not clear that the host institutions can 
continue as is. That is, TOSC re-organization may force the 
re-organization of TAB.

I don't doubt that EPA is committed to the continuing provision of 
technical assistance to communities, but I'm skeptical that 
re-organizing the program can easily be accomplished. It's hard to 
imagine that any existing, genuinely small business can replicate this 
program, and hiring a "middleman" contractor - to subcontract to the 
existing centers - is likely to be slow and difficult.

I fear that communities that currently depend upon the independent 
advice of TOSC/TAB will left midstream without a paddle. Services will 
be interrupted. Even if comparable services are re-established, it's 
possible that assistance relationships in most customer communities will 
have to re-start from scratch - a process that sometimes takes years.

In dozens (or more) of communities across the country, the TOSC/TAB 
centers are the only source of essential technical support. I CALL UPON 
EPA to work with representatives of those communities, as well as the 
existing centers and any potential program operators, to ensure continuity.

For EPA's official descriptions of TOSC and TAB, go to 
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/tools/tosc/.


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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