Superfund Today • Investing Today for a Cleaner Tomorrow
SEPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5204G)
EPA 540-K-96-005
May 1996
Superfund Today
What Do YOU Think About The Hazardous
Waste Site In Your Neighborhood?
My kids played
around that site
every afternoon!
Are they going to
be okay?
Am I going to have to
ciosemystore?
l/l/e just bought a house
here. Will the pollution
drive down property
values?
We need jobs!
Who's going to do
business here now?
Voice Your Concerns Through Community
Advisory Groups
Dangerous wastes have been discovered in
your town. Y ou have questions that you want
answered, as well as opinions that you want
EPA to hear. EPA is proposing plans for
cleanup—plans you want to know more about.
Where do you go to express your concerns?
How can you ensure that EPA hears you and
considers your views?
Other residents with concerns like yours
have successfully participated in decision-
making about the hazardous wastes sites in
their neighborhoods. You can, too. In fact,
EPA is committed to getting your ideas and
knowledge into itsplans. Onewayto strengthen
your voice is to form a Community Advisory
Group and work togetherto address site issues
and concerns. Community Advisory Groups
allow communities to play active roles in site
decisions by encouraging direct and regular
conversations with EPA.
EPA wantsto ensure that citizens,particularly
minorities, low-income residents, and new im-
migrants, are heard. Community Advisory Groups
help communities get recognition, guidance and
other support that will put them in partnership with
EPA. Com-
munity Advi-
sory Groups
aredesignedto
meettheneeds
ofallcommu-
nitymembers,
and to play an
important role
in bringing
these voicesto
EPA's atten-
tion.
Community
Advisory
Group
Membership
Information
rY
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Superfund Today • Investing Today for a Cleaner Tomorrow
Get Storted
How to Get Your
Start early to make
your voice heard in
cleanup decisions. Discuss your
concerns about the hazardous
waste site in your town with fam-
ily, neighbors, local businesses,
and other community members.
Call EPA to find out what's going
on at the site. Plan a neighbor-
hood meeting to discuss what EPA
has told you. Right away, you
have the beginnings of a Commu- iW_
nity Advisory Group. EPA may
be able to help you start your Community Advisory Group by organizing a kick-
off Community Advisory Group information meeting to inform the community
of the possibility of such a group.
JHelpful Hint: Be sure to contact EPA when setting up your
Community Advisory Group—they have resources and ideas to help
your Community Advisory Group become a voice for your
community. You could use an existing community group
(e.g., a local club) as the foundation for starting your
Community Advisory Group.
Get the Information
You can learn about hazardous
waste contamination, methods for
cleaning it up, and how to interpret
and respond to technical information
on your Superfund site through vari-
ous means. You might read about the
site at your local library. Perhaps
EPA can provide a guided tour of the
site. If English isn't your
neighborhood's primary language,
EPA may be able to provide someone
who can translate site information
into your native tongue. EPA may
also be able to provide training on
environmental topics and on working
together effectively.
¦/Helpful Hint: Contact the EPA
Build a Team
Anyone affected by a haz-
ardous waste site can join a Commu-
nity Advisory Group. Members par-
ticipate in Community Advisory
Group meetings, review site infor-
mation, comment on site decisions,
and share information with the com-
munity. EPA recognizes Commu-
nity Advisory Groups that reflect the
make-up and various interests of the
community—after all, cleanup deci-
sions at the site can affect citizens,
businesses, local government, and
other sections of the community.
While Community Advisory Groups
can be any size, they generally aver-
age around 20 members. At least
half should be residents who live
near the site. The other half might be
made up of the medical commu-
nity, local government, or real es-
tate representatives. EPA encour-
ages joining together with other
groups such as local business own-
ers, neighborhood professionals,
community organizers, as well as
people who do not live near the site,
but could be affected by it, to
strengthen and give credibility to
your Community Advisory Group's
voice.
¦/Helpful Hint: Remember, a Com-
munity Advisory Group must be
made up of community members
who have a direct, personal inter-
est in the site—outside people or
groups can only be involved i f they
are helping you with your Commu-
nity Advisory Group work.
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Superfund Today • Investing Today for a Cleaner Tomorrow
Advisory	Group
Community
Involvement Coordinator at
your site about your training
needs.
A
K
Pull Together
Elect a chairperson, setup ameeting structure, andagree on
the goals you want to achieve. Get continual feedback from
residents. Does your community want to use the cleaned up site for
manufacturing? Could it be a parking lot to stimulate local shopping? Or
a basketball court? Keeping residents" goals in mind, you will be able to
work in your community's best interest. Your Community Advisory
Group should meet regularly, and the community at large should be invited
to these meetings.
JHelpful Hint: Concerned about money or services? EPA may be able
to help by providing mailing services andpostage, preparing andplacing
public notices, copying site-related documents, and
more.
Moke A Difference
EPA is committed to bringing all
players to the table from the begin-
ning—and then working together to-
ward the common goal of cleaning up the site. EPA must and will listen
to your opinions and recommendations about the hazardous waste site in
your community. Community Advisory Groups promote effective two-
way communication between Superfund professionals and community
residents—ensuring that everyone has the chance to share his or her ideas
and concerns. This is an important and sensitive job that calls for
dedication and hard work. Consider this—if you don't participate, who
will? You can make atremendous difference on community environmen-
tal decisions.
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Superfund Today • Investing Today for a Cleaner Tomorrow
A Community Advisory Group In Action
South Carolina Residents Take Charge
After years of living near the
Carolawn, Inc. Superfund site,
Chester County residents recently
joined forces to form a Superfund
site Community Advisory Group.
The Community Advisory Group
was established to make sure that
community concerns about the
ongoing cleanup of this site are
addressed by EPA, State, and
responsible parties. They have
chosen to become the Carolawn
Site Community Advisory Board
(CAB). With EPA's assistance, they
have become the voice of a
community worried about its future
health and welfare.
The Carolawn Superfund site
is an abandoned waste storage
and disposal facility located near
Fort Lawn in Chester County,
South Carolina. Thousands of
drums of wastes were stored or
buried at the site. Many leaked
into the soil, surface water, and
groundwater—putting nearby
residents at risk. In the early
1980s, EPA began to remove the
contaminated soils, drums, and
liquid waste, and provided
alternate drinking water supply
to nearby residents. Later, after
responsible parties completed the
remedial design to deal with the
contaminated groundwater at the
site, residents were concerned
about the proposed change in the
treated water discharge
alternative that was being
"I would like to see EPA
appoint a committee
from the community to
work with them...I'd like
the community to be
involved, then we
wouldn't have to be
wondering what EPA
was doing."
Barnette Nichols, CAB
Member
proposed. The community
banded together, over 300 strong,
in January 1995 to show EPA,
local officials and responsible
parties their opposition to the
discharge of untreated
contaminated groundwater to the
local sewer line.
The community group's efforts
worked. The ground water
treatment system is currently under
construction; treated water will be
discharged to a nearby creek. The
CAB is monitoring the progress,
but remains concerned that soil just
outside the immediate site
boundaries may also be
contaminated. The group will be
gathering additional information
regarding any possible disposal
activities that may have occurred
on the additional land.
Interest in the Carolawn CAB
has reached far and wide. South
Carolina U.S. Representative John
M. Spratt, Jr. played a very active
role in setting up the CAB. Also,
an EPA Superfund Remedial
Section Chief, Jan Rogers, sees
the CAB as "a group that fairly
represents the entire community's
interest, that continues to conduct
an ongoing dialogue with the
Agency..." Bottom line, residents
near the Carolawn site are using
the power of the CAB to keep the
cleanup of Carolawn at the
forefront of peoples' attention.
Concerned About the Carolawn
Superfund Site?
Meetings of the Carolawn CAB are held on a quarterly basis. Come by
and receive up-to-date information on the status of the construction of the
ground water treatment system as well as discussions of other issues and
concerns regarding the site. Please call our CAB Chairman, Davis White,
Sr. locally, or our EPA Community Involvement Coordinator, Cynthia
Peurifoy, at 1-800-435-9233 or (404) 347-7791 x.2072, for dates, times, and
locations of our meetings, or if you have any questions, comments or ideas.
Y ou can also get information on the CAB and the Carolawn site at our local
libraries—Lancaster County Library and Chester County Library.
Remember, the Carolawn CAB is the best way to have your say about the
site. Take this opportunity—you can make a difference!
For More Information About
Community Advisory
Groups...
y/ Call the Superfund Information
Hotline at 1-800-424-9346.
y/ Visit the Superfund Homepage at
http ://www.epa.gov/
superfund.
f Read Guidance for Community
Groups at Superfund Sites
(ETA 540-K-96-001).
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