Re: [CPEO-MEF] Letter from New EPA OSWER Assistant Administrator

["Catherine J. Knudsen" <cathy.knudsen@planteco.com>]

Hmmmm!  Here's our chance!  

Catherine J. Knudsen
Vice President, Federal Programs
 
PLANTECO Environmental Consultants, LLC
LEADING THE WAY IN INNOVATIVE ENGINEERED GREEN REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: military-bounces@lists.cpeo.org
[mailto:military-bounces@lists.cpeo.org] On Behalf Of Lenny Siegel
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 5:36 PM
To: Military Environmental Forum
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Letter from New EPA OSWER Assistant Administrator

[This is the text of a public letter from Mathy Stanislaus, the new EPA 
Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 
Response. Please excuse the duplicate posting. - LS]

U.S. EPA
Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response

Greetings!

I am Mathy Stanislaus, and President Obama recently appointed me to 
serve as the Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Solid Waste and 
Emergency Response (OSWER). I'm writing today to introduce myself and 
ask for your help, advice, and cooperation in the months ahead. As you 
know, OSWER has primary responsibility for leading or supporting federal 
action related to a host of issues crucially important to public health, 
environmental quality, and future economic growth in the United States. 
These issues include cleaning up contaminated land, responding to human 
health and environmental emergencies, and supporting the more efficient 
use of, recovery, reuse, and/or proper disposal of virtually all 
materials used in our economy. This is a daunting task, and I am keenly 
aware of the challenges that it poses to EPA, OSWER, and myself.

In light of the broad scope of my responsibilities, I am inviting you to 
lend your support as OSWER begins this new era under President Obama. I 
believe that government works best when it listens carefully to the 
opinions and criticisms of interested stakeholders, ensures ongoing 
public participation in government decisions, and learns from successful 
models. Your organization includes people with a broad range of insights 
and experience in many of the issues facing us, and I encourage you to 
use those assets in cooperation with OSWER as we work toward our shared 
goals. As a first step, I'm inviting you to send me any comments or 
suggestions you may have for restructuring OSWER programs to provide 
greater transparency in our decision making and more accessibility to 
information, especially for vulnerable communities.

How should EPA's process for developing and issuing policy, rules, or 
guidance be opened so that we can gain from your experience and 
insights? How can we develop better strategies for handling waste or 
cleaning up contaminated sites? How should we enhance or redesign the 
public processes used at individual cleanup sites so that local 
communities are more fully informed and consulted?

Furthermore, I intend to use the Internet to expand my interactions with 
the public. I can be reached by e-mail at aastanislaus@epa.gov. Feel 
free to use that address to send me your thoughts on OSWER issues. We 
will also be hosting video town hall meetings so that interested groups 
across the country can speak directly with me and OSWER experts. In the 
coming months we will be launching the OSWER discussion forum, an online 
conversation where EPA officials and the public will be able to post and 
respond to comments on specific topics. Please participate, because your 
views will inform my management of OSWER at every step.

I personally intend to meet with as many of you as possible both here at 
EPA headquarters in Washington, DC, and as I visit EPA's regional 
offices around the country.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you may give me in the future. I 
look forward to meeting you, listening to your views, and - when the 
occasion requires - working cooperatively with your organization to 
improve the lives of all Americans.

Sincerely,

Mathy Stanislaus
Assistant Administrator

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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