STREAMLINED OVERSIGHT

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@igc.org>]

STREAMLINED OVERSIGHT 

I am posting, as a separate document, the Federal Facilities 
Streamlined Oversight Directive, signed in December by the heads of the 
U.S. EPA Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office and the 
Federal Facilities Enforcement Office. Rather than invent a new 
process, the directive endorses and urges the widening of initiatives 
designed to bring more focus to the federal oversight of environmental 
restoration at federal facilities.

I have reported occasionally on such initiatives, from the base closure 
cleanup teams to the Versar/Air Command Command variable oversight 
initiative. I believe that the type of streamlining described in the 
directive is likely to bring greater protection of public health and 
the environmental, faster, than the old way of doing business.

I am including here a brief excerpt from the directive which I believe 
explains well why streamlining is necessary:

"The traditional oversight system tends to place heavy emphasis on 
end-of-process activities such as inspection, review, and comment of 
documents and deliverables, and not as much on early planning and 
collaborating. Many documents repeat the same information (e.g., site 
descriptions) that regulators will comment on time and time again. 
Significant time and money may be spent on generating more data and 
documents than necessary.

"In addition, the large number and size of documents inhibits public 
participation as the general non-technical public is overwhelmed by the 
documents. One outcome of a streamlined process could be more 
effective public participation in the federal facility cleanup 
process. Many members of restoration advisory boards and site-specific 
advisory boards have indicated that streamlined documents are very 
desirable and will facilitate their participation."

 Lenny Siegel