Click Here to see previous Fax Alerts.
January 16, 1997
National Biosolids Partnership Meets in DenverAMSA staff and Biosolids Management Committee leaders attended a National Biosolids Partnership Management Group meeting in Denver, Colorado on January 14. The Partnership is co-chaired by Bob Hite (AMSA) and Richard Kuchenrither (WEF) with EPA acting in an advisory capacity. The USDA is also expected to join the Partnership in an advisory role.
The Partnership is creating a National Biosolids Partnership Advisory Group that will include representatives from federal, state, local, and tribal government, as well as agriculture, vendors/consultants, academia, environmental and public interest groups. AMSA President Cecil Lue-Hing will chair a nine-member Steering Committee that will aid in the selection of the Advisory Group, which is slated to meet after AMSA's National Environmental Policy Forum in May. Cecil Lue-Hing will also serve as the Advisory Group liaison to the National Biosolids Partnership Management Group.
The level of EPA funding for the Partnership and other EPA biosolids initiatives for 1998 was discussed. Among the projects on EPA's biosolids agenda for 1998 are: a code of management practices manual, a biosolids data management system, a biosolids quality survey, enhanced oversight & compliance activities, development of communications plans and materials as well as the creation of an incidence response team, expanded staff training, and development of booklet explaining biosolids quality control by pretreatment.
E4E Announces Recommendations to Improve Environmental Protection
Enterprise for the Environment (E4E), a broad-based, bi-partisan group of environmental, business, and government leaders, issued a set of recommendations calling for changes in the way the United States manages its environmental protection system. In a press briefing on January 15, E4E's chair, William D. Ruckeslhaus, presented the group's final report, The Environment Protection System in Transition: Toward a More Desirable Future, which can be seen online at www.csis.org/e4e.
While E4E participants did not reach consensus on a need for new legislation, Ruckelshaus did say that legislative change would be necessary to unleash the kind of creativity in the private sector and local government that is needed to meet or exceed current levels of environmental protection. Ruckelshaus also said that Congressional leadership, including Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, endorses the E4E approach.
E4E is a more comprehensive take on some similar initiatives that have addressed goal-setting strategies over the past few years, such as the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). E4E's vision for the future is composed of 12 elements, which are listed on page four of the report. E4E participants firmly believe that an environmental protection system consistent with these elements will produce significantly more improvements in environmental quality at a faster pace and lower cost than the current "command and control" system.
The E4E report concluded that the country should move carefully, with broad political support, in making the transition to an improved system. The report relates the transition to, "putting stepping stones in place when fording a river. Stepping stones lead to evolutionary, not revolutionary, change," and ensure measurable and concrete improvement, with time and oversight to assess and fine-tune the transition. E4E participants at the briefing mentioned two such stepping stones currently being tested, EPA performance-based Project Excel and Common Sense Initiative. AMSA member agency representative Doug MacDonald, executive director of the Massachusetts Water resources Authority, served on the E4E Steering Committee.
 |
 |