United States Environmental Protection Agency Issue No. 7 Aug. 2, 1982 Page 25 TIMES A PUBLICATION FOR EPA EMPLOYEES Personnel Alternative Schedules Congress has passed and the President has signed Senate Bill 2240, the "Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act of 1982"--legislation which provides a three-year authorization for Federal agencies to use flexible and compressed employee work schedules. A number of EPA facilities have been experimenting over the past few years with alternative work schedules under P.L. 95-390, the extension of which was due to expire on July 24, 1982. It is the intent of Congress, upon expiration of this new three-year authorization in 1985, to review the alternative work schedule and deter- mine then if it should be continued. Generally speaking the new legislation will permit Federal agencies the same kind of latitude in using alternative schedules as did the first Act. The measure provides for the continuation of all sched- ule experiments in exist- ence at the time of enactment, but calls upon agencies--in the 90 days following enactment--to review these work sched- ules. If the Agency New Appointments for Waste and Emergency Response Rita M. Lavelle, Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, has announced several key appointments in her program. The selections include: John Skinner, named Acting Director of the Office of Solid Waste, to succeed Gary Dietrich, who resigned in May to take a position in private enterprise. "John has done an exemplary job as Director of the State Programs and Resource Recovery Division and in his previous assignments with EPA," Lavelle commented. Mike Cook, chosen to remain as Deputy Director of the Office of Solid Waste, will retain primary responsibility for RCRA reauthorization efforts. Lamar Miller, chosen to serve as Branch Chief in the Office of Solid Waste for compliance. Miller has a strong background in enforcement, ground water chemistry and monitoring. "With this appointment we now will be able to put our efforts into permitting, strengthening our approach to include States in the regulatory management of hazardous waste," Lavelle said. Gene A. Lucero, named Acting Director of the Office of Waste Programs Enforcement. Lucero has been serving as Deputy Director for the Office of Emergency and Remedial Response. Previously, Lucero had been Deputy Regional Administrator for Region 8 in Denver. He also was a former Assistant Attorney General for Colorado. James Lounsburv. named Acting Deputy for the Office of Emergency and Remedial Response, succeeding Lucero. He had previously served in the Office of Director of Water Regula- tions and Standards and on the staff of the Office of Management and Budget. determines that a work schedule has reduced productivity, increased operating costs, or resulted in a reduction of service to the public, the Agency may unilaterally terminate the alternative work schedule program as long as the termination would not result in an unreasonable increase in the cost of Agency Operations. Continued to page 28 ------- 26 REGIONAL PROFILES (This is another in a series of profiles of the Agency regional offices and laboratories that A Report on Region 6 by Dick Whittington, Regional Administrator Region 6 is a mini United States in most respects, with many of the successes and challenges our Agency deals with daily. Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas—the States comprising the Region- cover 560,550 square miles-more than 15 percent of the land area of the United States. Some 25 million people live on the rolling plains, gulf coastland, rugged mountains or bayous and wetlands that comprise the Region's geography. The Region represents a good chunk of the sunbelt with its rapid industrial and population growth. It contains about 70 percent of the Nation's oil production, 85 percent of the natural gas production, 45 percent of the uranium preserves, 10 percent of the coal reserves and 15 percent of the lignite reserves. That, plus 40 percent of the Nation's oil refinery capacity, makes energy very big in Region 6. Other major industries include commercial fishing,with 1.5 billion pounds worth some $300 million landing at Texas and Louisiana ports annually, sports fishing, agriculture and manufacturing. With all the diversity of industries and environment the Region has to regulate and to protect, it is obvious to me that delegation to the State agencies as rapidly as they are willing and able to take the programs is the most effective means of implementing the Federal programs. To this end, we are vigorously emphas- izing delegation. As a result, Texas and Louisiana were the first two States in the Nation to get full authority to run the UIC program and all five States have received some degree of delegation of this program...Texas and Arkansas were among the first three to receive the RCRA Phase 2 delegation...al1 five States have accepted more than half of the PSD program. A lot of activity is under way in other areas of delegation. The work our UIC group did in the areas of delegation as well as in working with headquarters in the development of a National strategy for implementing the regulations earned them an EPA Gold Medal. We are aggressively pursuing enforce- ment activities including submission of a final reorganization of the Office of Regional Counsel to the Office of General Counsel and improving coordina- tion with enforcement elements in the programs. We are referring about two cases per month to headquarters. Along with that, a wide variety of negotia- tions for consent decrees are under way and administrative enforcement actions with industries and municipalities have been undertaken. We have also had considerable success with Superfund. Region 6 has 13 sites on the Agency's first list of Superfund candidate sites. At this time we have worked out seven State-lead cooperative agreements and another under which EPA has the lead in the initial investiga- tive and feasibility studies and the State committed to take the lead after these studies are completed. Negotia- tions are under way for voluntary cleanup of five of the sites, one is ------- 27 EPA TIMES is presenting.) being cleaned up under a consent decree, while court action is pending in yet another case. For the past several years, Region 6 has worked closely with the Texas Air Control Board in the areas of the emission inventory, air quality data, and modeling the development of the 1982 State Implementation plan. The draft plan is now under review. The critical portion deals with ozone non- attainment in the Houston area and the need for an auto inspection-maintenance program. The plan for Albuquerque is expected shortly and is expected to be approv- able. The backbone is an inspection and maintenance program necessary because the city has not attained the carbon monoxide standard. City participants should be commended for their work on the program which was complicated by changes in the city administration following an election. The Region also has an active program to authorize incinerators for the disposal of PCBs. Two incinerators have been approved for commercial PCB disposal and a number of incinerators have been approved for burning of process wastes generated on-site con- taining small amounts of PCBs. In addition, a couple of mobile chemical disposal systems have been approved for operation in the Region. EPA Resumes Construction Grants EPA is making available to the States $2.4 billion for construction grants to munic- ipalities for sewage treatment facilities. The grants resumed after most States had run out of funds for this program when Congress finally passed and President Reagan signed a supplemental appropriations bill. "We know that 41 States have run out of money during the months we have waited for Congress to approve the supplemental bill," EPA Administrator Anne M. Gorsuch noted. "I urge State agencies to certify eligible projects to us promptly and I promise them that EPA will act on their proposals in the shortest possible time." Allocation of the $2.4 billion among the States and territories is set by law. Amounts range from $11.8 million for smaller States up to $250 million for New York. Mrs. Gorsuch noted that regulatory revisions to simplify the grants program, along with greater delegation of decision-making to the States, will mean less red tape and shorten the time required to turn the newly appro- priated dollars into operational facilities to combat pollution. The $2.4 billion supplemental appropriation for construction grants was requested by the Administration after Congress enacted amend- ments last December which President Reagan said were necessary to restrain costs and to target spending on projects that will achieve substantial improvements in water quality. In the current year, the Federal grants will generally cover 75 percent of the cost of treatment plants, sewers, and projects to correct certain problems in existing sewer systems. The Federal share will drop to 55 percent after September 30, 1984. Congress specifically provided that $3.9 million of the total appropriation should go to Kansas, in addition to the State's normal allocation, to correct a previous accounting error, and $933,000 should go to New York to fund one-third of the cost of providing sewer service to the proposed New York Convention Center. (New York and New Jersey will pay the remainder from their allotments.) ------- 28 Gorsuch Emphasizes Results EPA Administrator Anne M. Gorsuch told members of five House subcommittees recently that "we are fully committed to a stronger, better directed, and more effective Environmental Protection Agency."-... She testified before the Subcommittee- on Commerce, Transportation and Tourism and the Subcommittee on Health and Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce; the Subcommittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources of the Committee on Government Operations; the Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Agricultural Research and the Environment and the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the Committee on Science and Technology. "We are committed to environmental results, not environmental rhetoric," Mrs. Gorsuch told the subcommittees. "We are not tied to budget increases or budget decreases, but to the better use of taxpayer dollars. We are not locked into more lawsuits or fewer lawsuits, more attorneys or less attorneys, but to better lawsuits and the better use of enforcement resources." Mrs. Gorsuch cited improvements achieved in each of the programs administered by EPA during her first year as head of the agency. Major statutory programs have been strength- ened, she continued, while focusing on five overall goals: better science, regulatory reform, elimination of backlogs, improved State partnerships, and stronger management. Her ultimate goal, Mrs. Gorsuch said, "has been, and will continue to be, the safe- guarding of the health and welfare of the American people and the protection of our national environment." Yet, Mrs. Gorsuch noted, she opposes "the use of the Federal government's power merely as a hammer to force State and local governments into a preconceived mold." Maloley Named to CEQ Nancy A. Maloley, a former EPA official, has been appointed as a member of the Council on Environmental Quality by President Reagan, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Maloley, who would succeed Jane Hurt Yarn, has been serving as Policy Advisor in the Office of Policy Development at the White House. She was Director for Legislation Transition Team when the Reagan tion assumed office. She served tive Assistant to U.S. Senator R Lugar of Indiana from 1977-81. as Special Assistant to the Admi EPA from 1971-76. Prior to hold post, she served on the staff of Representative E. Ross Adair of for the EPA Admi ni stra- as Legisla- ichard G. She served nistrator of ing this former U.S. Indi ana. Personnel Continued Contracts Rep Pam John of the Procurement and Contracts Management Division has been desig- nated to serve as her division's Client Services Representative. As an- nounced in the June 21 EPA Times, the Office of Administration is creating Client Services Represent- ative positions in each of its divisions in response to a need identified in a recent user survey. Pam's counterpart in the Per- sonnel Management Division is Client Services Rep- resentative Rich Lemley (Telephone: 8-382-5217). Pam John wi11 use her knowledge of procurement policies and procedures to answer questions from headquarters and field program offices on how the procurement process works and what the program office needs to do to get a contract awarded. She will respond to service problems which cannot be resolved at the opera- tional level by working with both the contract operations and the program offices. Her office is in Room 2003 of Waterside Mall. Her telephone is 8-382-5026. Managers of each alter- native schedule unit have already begun their re- quired program reviews and will be telling program participants what the Agency decided about each particular work schedule. Flexible work schedules which predate the exist- ence of P.L. 95-390--such as the headquarters' flexitime program--are unaffected by this new legislation. The EPA Times is published every D.C., 20460, to provide current with three ring holes so that it two weeks by EPA's Office of Public Affairs, A-107 Washington, information for all Agency employees. It is printed on paper can be filed in a binder for future reference. ------- |