United States	Issue No 1
Environmental Protection	May 7, 1982
Agency	Page 1
vvEPA TIMES
A PUBLICATION FOR
EPA EMPLOYEES
•	New Mobile Hazardous Waste Incinerator
•	Civil Rights Realignment
•	Myths and Realities
•	Three Key Appointments
Personnel Tips
EPA Launches Employee Newsletter
HEALTH BENEFITS OPEN SEASON
"Open season" under the
Federal Employee's Health
Benefits (FEHB) program is
now underway! It gives EPA
employees eligible for
health benefits the op-
portunity to enroll or
change their current
enrollment by submitting
changes to their personnel
officer no later than May
28, 1982^ Headquarters
employees should send
their completed forms to
Room 3013, Waterside Mall.
Changes made during this
open season will become
effective on July 11,
1982--the start of the
first ful1 pay period in
July. Premiums and bene-
fits wi11 remain at their
current levels, and em-
ployees who elect to
change plans at this time
will be able to apply
medical expenses incurred
in the first half of the
year to the deductible of
their elected plan Plan
comparison and rate booklets
are being distributed at each
EPA location. Individual
plan brochures are available
from Administrative
Officers.
The U.S. Office of
Personnel Management re-
ports that a second "open
Continued on page 4
This EPA employee newsletter has been started in recognition
of the important role all employees play in the success of the
agency.
This twice-monthly newsletter will provide you with important
personnel news and information about agency programs and
activities. We will include, from time to time, information
about the regions and labs as well as headquarters news. The
underlying goal, however, is to improve communications within
the entire EPA family across the nation.
This administration came to EPA committed to making changes--
to stimulate more efficiency, eliminate wasteful expenditures
and ensure that EPA is responsive to the public.
It is important to state in this inaugural issue that President
Reagan and 1 are unreservedly committed to maintaining and
improving the quality of the environment. 1 point this out
only because there are some who persist in refusing to accept
that it is my sworn duty which 1 will faithfully fulfill.
It is nonsense to think that when we take an action to make a
federal program more efficient that it lessens our protection
of the environment. One thing that all Americans have in
common is the air we breathe and the water we drink.
When accepting the Administrator's position at EPA, I did so
because 1 share the President's judgment that preserving the
quality of our natural resources is among our most important
responsibilities. At the same time, 1 am-deeply concerned
that the federal government has grown far too dominant as an
influence over our lives. We must transfer appropriate
decisions back to the most appropriate levels of government--
the states and local governments. This does not imply that
there is not an appropriate role for the federal government.
But its influence must be brought into an appropriate balance.
With your support, we will carry out our mission to protect
the environment by correcting environmental maladies without
smothering state and local government responsibilities and
individual rights.
Anne M. Gorsuch
EPA Administrator

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2 WASTES
New Mobile Hazardous Waste Incinerator
A new mobile hazardous waste incinerator,
which can destroy pesticides, toxic organic
substances and PCB's, has been built by EPA
and industry. "The mobile incinerator is
designed to be sent directly to abandoned
hazardous waste sites or to chemical spills
anywhere in the country," EPA Administrator
Anne'M. Gorsuch said. "Now we hope industry
will take the ball and run with it."
The incinerator, which cost $2.2 million to
develop and build, is the first and only one
of its kind. However, EPA estimates that
industry should be able to reproduce the
incinerator for approximately $1 million
each.
The mobile incinerator consists of three
trailers holding specialized equipment.
Substances will be incinerated at 2200°F,
which is expected to provide greater than
99.9 percent destruction. An air pollution
control system will prevent the discharge of
toxic gases. Any residual ash will be
analyzed and properly disposed of.
The incinerator, which is based at the EPA
laboratory in Edison, N.J., can treat up to
100 tons of dry hazardous waste or six tons
of liquid hazardous waste per day. For
further information, contact Ira Wilder,
Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory,
Edison, N.J., (201) 321-6635.
CIVIL RIGHTS	
Realignment Approved for Civil Rights
EPA has recently approved a realignment
of the Headquarters Office of Civil Rights
to reduce the workload of the Discrimination
Complaints Staff and to eliminate the
potential for conflict of interest caused
by the fact that this staff had responsibil-
ity in discrimination cases for counseling,
investigating, adjudication, and hearing
and making the final decisions. Under
the realignment the responsibilities are
distributed to the Agency units best
qualified to perform these duties:
•	The Discrimination Complaints Staff
retains responsibility for counseling and
investi gation;
•	The adjudicatory responsibi1ities are
transferred to the Agency Administrative
Law Judges experienced in carrying out
such duties, detached from other manage-
ment officials, and regarded as highly
objective;
•	The Agency Judicial Officer, a member
of the Administrator's staff, who is
skilled in the legal process and involved
in final Agency decisions in a number of
areas, reviews all EEO complaints,
examiner's decisions, and final Agency
decisions. By separating this final step
from the Office of Civil Rights, the
Agency eliminates the possibility of the
conflict of interest which might arise
from the same staff making the initial
decision and then being asked to review
appeals to that decision.
Under the realignment, the EEO Program
Activities Staff has been combined with
the Discrimination Complaints Staff.
This newly formed staff will be con-
centrating on bolstering the counseling
and investigative stages in discrimination
complaint cases.
In keeping with these realignments, the
Assistant Regional Administrators (or
Management Division Directors) are now
designated as the Directors of Civil
Rights for their respective regions.
EEO Officers will serve as the principal
advisors to these assistant regional
administrators and will be responsible
for day-to-day operations of the program
and serve as the EEO counselors-at-large.
The objective in taking this action is to
strengthen, elevate, and put more account-
ability into the counseling program by
infusing higher level management involvement
into the EEO process. These steps should
result in improved service to our employees.

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APPOINTMENTS
3
Three Key Appointments
Three high-level appointments have been
made at EPA recently. President Ronald
Reagan appointed Rita M. Lavelle and
Frederick "Eric" A. Eidsness as Assistant
Administrators, and Administrator Gorsuch
selected Robert M. Perry to serve as EPA's
Associate Administrator for Legal Counsel
and Enforcement.
Lavelle will direct all EPA's work on
hazardous and other solid wastes. Lavelle
has initiated, directed, and managed
several programs for Aerojet-General Corp.
subsidiaries, including ones for divisions
which manufacture chemicals and various
industrial and chemical products, nuclear
and chemical waste treatment systems,
liquid rocket engines for the aerospace
industry and high-speed marine propulsion
systems defense applications. She also
worked for Intercontinental and Continental
Chemical Corporation as director of market-
ing and had previously worked for the State
of California as director of consumer edu-
cation and as publications assistant in
the office of then-Gov. Reagan.
Eidsness, a former employee in EPA's
Atlanta regional office in the early 1970s,
is the new Assistant Administrator for Water.
He had served since Sept. 1981 until his
appointment as a consultant to the EPA
Administrator on water issues. Prior to
serving in this capacity, he had been a
partner in a management consulting firm in
Boulder, Colo. Previously he had been
director of water and air qua-lity planning
of the Larimer-Weld Regional Council of
Governments in Loveland, Colo. From 1973-
75 he was a staff consultant for the
Biomedical and Environmental Systems
section of Arthur D. Little, Inc., of
Cambridge, Mass
Perry, 46, served as a trial attorney in
the Land and Natural Resources Division of
the Department of Justice from 1964 to
1969. From 1969 to 1981, Perry worked as
trial counsel for Exxon Corp. Commenting
on the appointment of Perry to his new
post, Administrator Gorsuch said, "The
position of Associate Administrator for
Legal and Enforcement Counsel was created
to bring together all of the legal functions
within the agency. A better job can be
done with fewer resources by integrating
our legal shop and eliminating duplication.
Bob Perry is a lawyer's lawyer who will
ensure that top legal and policy judgment
is applied to strong enforcement and legal
programs."
ENFORCEMENT				
Prosecuting	"
Environmental Offenders
Improved procedures for prosecuting environ-
mental offenders have been developed by
EPA in consultation with the Department of
Justice. Robert M. Perry, EPA Associate
Administrator for Legal and Enforcement
Counsel, said the procedures were worked
out to improve the agency's enforcement
capability, "particularly with regard to
litigation." The new approach was developed
in discussions with Carol E. Dinkins,
Assistant Attorney General for the Justice
Department's land and natural resources
division, which is responsible for prose-
cuting EPA civil and criminal suits. Dinktns
said that Justice is ready to "deter unlawful
conduct, and remove any incentive to non-
compliance by firmly and fairly punishing
violators of environmental laws."
AIR	
EPA Adopts
New Emissions Trading Policy
A new policy that will make it easier for
industry to clean up air pollution and for
states to attain national standards for
clean air has been adopted by EPA. States
will be authorized to approve—without
time-consuming federal'review--most
actions necessary to implement the policy.
The policy is an improvement on EPA's
original "bubble" program—a concept in
which an imaginary "bubble" is placed over
an entire industrial plant, allowing
reduced control of emissions from some
expensive-to-control stacks as long as
total emissions from the plant do not
exceed control limits. The revised
program allows broader use of the "bubble"
to achieve fast compliance in industrialized
urban areas.

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4 	
Myths and Realities
(Periodically, the EPA Times will carry a
report on "myths and realities" which will
examine a particular misconception about
EPA and report the facts provided by EPA's
Office of Management Systems and Evaluation.)
MYTH
"THERE ARE WHOLESALE FIRINGS GOING ON AT
EPA, RESULTING IN A TREMENDOUS LOSS OF
CAREER PROFESSIONAL STAFF, A SO-CALLED M
'TALENT HEMORRHAGE1 (OR 'BRAIN DRAIN').
REALITY
•	EPA has the same responsibility as
other civilian agencies to bring staffing
levels into conformance with the President's
budget. We have been able to do this princi-
pally through the normal process of attri-
tion and without resorting to wholesale
RIFs. For example, in all of calendar
year 1981, only 91 employees departed the
Agency involuntarily as a result of a
reduction-m-force. Further, Administrator
Gorsuch recently announced that no EPA
employees will be involuntarily separated
due to a reduction-in-force from the
Agency in fiscal Year 1982. Our attrition
rate has actually been slightly less than
that in the previous fiscal years.
•	There is no "brain drain" at EPA in
which our most talented and technically-
trained people are being lost to the
Agency.
•	For example, Technical staff remains
one of the Agency's greatest strengths
- For the five major groups of scientific
or technical personnel, staff reductions
from all causes since October 1980,
averaged only 5.5 percent per year.
Scientific and technical jobs represent
a greater proportion of Agency staff now
than in October 1980:
Occupation
Oct. 80
Feb. 82
Environmental Engineers
10.1%
11 1%
Physical Scientists
7.3%
8.0%
Chemists
4.8%
5.0%
Biologists
4.6%
4.8%
Environmental Protection


Specialists
6.2%
7.0%
News Briefs
•	Cleanup contract funded in Washington
State...Commencement Bay site given $1.6
million to clean up abandoned hazardous
waste sites.
•	EPA establishes small business
ombudsman...Marc D. Jones appointed as the
agency's first ombudsman to represent
small business interests.
•	Niagara river report...calIs for
corrective actions to be taken by EPA in
cooperation with New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation to correct
pollution problems.
•	Agreement reached with pesticide
manufacturer...for registered uses of PCNB
as a soil fungicide and for seed treatment
on a variety of crops.
PERSONNEL TIPS (CONTINUED)
season" is now scheduled
for November 1982. Changes
made during this period
would take effect in
January 1983. Premiums
then wi11 probably rise
from their current level
and benefits will change.
Consideration is also
being given to holding
"open seasons" only once
every two years following
this November 1982 oppor-
tunity. As further infor-
mation on the future of
the health benefits pro-
gram becomes available,
the Personnel Office will
inform you In the mean-
time, you can review your
health insurance coverage
and make any desired
changes during "open
season "
The EPA Times is published every two weeks by EPA's Office of Public Affairs, A-107,
Washington, D.C. 20460, to provide current information for all agency employees.

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