\ssistance to
Statehood
Governments
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U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Revised, 1978
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402
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SW707
Technical
Assistance to
State & Local
Governments
Resource
Conservation &
Recovery Panels
Program
The Program Among the eight environmental laws
adminstered by EPA is the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976
(RCRA), Public Law 94-580, which amends
the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965. RCRA
addresses the Nation's goals of protecting the
public health and the environment while
conserving our valuable resources. The main
thrusts of RCRA are protection of the land,
control of hazardous wastes, and
encouragement of resource conservation and
recovery initiatives.
It is clear under the provisions of
RCRA that Congress intended that the Act
be implemented by the States and local
communities, with financial and technical
assistance from the Federal Government.
As responsibility begins to pass from
the Federal criteria, guidelines, and regula-
tions to the States for preparation of State
plans, EPA is completing the institutional
See "Financial Assistance: Grants Authorized
by the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act," available from Solid Waste Information,
Cincinnati, OH 45268.
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arrangements that will provide technical
assistance, as authorized in Section 2003 of
RCRA. This section requires EPA to make
available to State and local governments
teams of personnel to provide technical
assistance on solid waste management,
resource recovery, and resource conserva-
tion. These teams may include technical,
marketing, financial, and institutional
specialists.
Among Federal, State, and local
employees and contractors are many
experienced managers and specialists who
have a great amount of relevant knowledge
and expertise in solving solid waste
management problems. EPA is utilizing the
combined talents of these specialists in
establishing its Technical Assistance Panels
(TA Panels) Program and making this
expertise available to State and local
governments for particular local problems.
The TA Panels are available on request to
provide advice on a wide variety of subject
areas to State and local governments as they
develop strategies and plans and implement
programs to achieve the goals and objectives
of RCRA. Some areas of expertise are
particularly suited for State-level programs
while others are pertinent to local programs.
Examples of State-level TA Panels functions
are to support the development and
implementation of State solid waste
management plans to
• manage hazardous wastes,
• assure proper disposal of all solid
wastes,
• conserve resources through waste
reduction and recovery.
At the local government level, some
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examples are assistance in the development
of programs to
• evaluate, procure, and implement
resource recovery systems;
• establish environmentally acceptable
disposal facilities or upgrade unaccept-
able facilities;
• implement more efficient solid waste
management practices (such as
collection, storage, and transfer
systems, and management information
systems).
Eligibility
Technical assistance to other than State
and local governments (i.e., Federal
agencies, universities, and private citizens),
although not a part of the program, may be
considered through a request by a State or
local government. Routine requests for
information and advice will be answered as
in the past.
Application
The TA Panels program is managed by
EPA's 10 regional offices. For assistance
and information about the program, please
contact the appropriate regional office.
Regional areas are identified and addresses
listed on the last page of this pamphlet.
Requests for assistance should be
submitted in writing by the chief elected
official of a jurisdiction and should contain
the following information:
1. nature of the environmental prob-
lem;
2. type of assistance requested (such
as help in writing requests for
proposals or engineering assistance
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in siting a landfill) and reason it is
needed;
3. estimate of level and duration of
assistance (in workdays); and
4. indication of any time frame within
which work must be performed and
explanation of time frame circum-
stances.
The specific information required of
applicants may vary slightly among EPA
regional offices. Potential applicants should
contact the appropriate EPA regional office
before making written application to ensure
that their initial requests contain all
required information.
Local governments should submit requests
either through their State solid waste
management office or directly to the
appropriate U.S. EPA regional office (with
a copy sent to the State office) to assure
consistency with State plans and priorities.
Availability Section 2003 of RCRA requires that TA
Panels be provided upon request at no
charge. It is possible that requests for
assistance may exceed the availability of TA
Panels resources. In this event, assistance
will be provided based upon priorities
determined by the regional offices. Current
details on such selection processes are
available from each regional office.
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SW-707
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