™".ERfV
Times
|(?JWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES
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INSIDE:
~	Controlling Correspondence
~	Guarding the Gates
~	Protecting Groundwater
VOLUME 1
NUMBER 11
APRIL 27, 1984
New Project Seeks People To Help People
What will raise the quality of your
worklife, improve morale, reduce em-
ployee turnover and enhance your self
image? The Agency personnel staff is
hoping that a new program, the "Em-
ployee Counseling and Assistance
Program," will help achieve all these
goals and more.
The idea is to recruit counselors
from the ranks of employees Agency-
wide. Recruits will be screened to dis-
cover those with good counseling
techniques, interpersonal communica-
tion skills, a keen interest in effective
management and quality-of-worklife
issues. Once selected to participate,
individuals will receive intensive
training, both prior to and during par-
ticipation in the program. A secretary/
receptionist with good communication
and interpersonal skills also will be
required.
The six-month pilot program is now
being developed in cooperation with
AFGE Local 3331 and the Office of
Civil Rights. The project is intended
to supplement, not replace, the help
available from equal employment
opportunity counselors, union repre-
sentatives and client service repre-
sentatives.
If you have the ability to articulate
issues and points of view, solve prob-
lems, maintain a posture of neutrality,
and retain credibility with both man-
agement and employees, then consid-
er offering your services as an em-
ployee counselor. Send your current
SF-171 and a one page letter
summarizing your skills and experi-
ence to Mike O'Reilly, Project Ad-
ministrator, Room 2830-B. Applica-
tions will be accepted until May 4,
1984.
The selected "Employee Counseling
and Assistance" staff will be detailed
to the project for part of their regular
workdays during the six-month
project. ~
Jim Bullard of the Memphis Police Department plays the role of mugger
during his presentation of "The Memphis Message," a ledure and demon-
stration of self-defense techniques for warding off attackers. The program
has proved popular with headquarters employees.
Financial Reports
Due by Mid-May
Employees who served more than
60 days during calendar year 1983 in
certain government positions must file
an Executive Personnel Financial Dis-
closure Report (SF 278) by May 15.
Failure to do so may result in a civil
penalty of $5000 and administrative
sanctions.
Employees who must file include:
Presidential appointees, SES em-
ployees, GS-16s and above, Schedule
C employees, Administrative Law
Judges, and those who acted in the
capacity of such employees (even if
their grade or pay did not change).
Submit the reports to Gerald Yama-
da, the Designated Agency Ethics Offi-
cial (LE-131). For further information
call Yamada on 475-8064, or Don
Nantkes, the Alternate Agency Ethics
Jfficial, on 382-4550. If you need an
SF 278, call Pete Hoffman, Personnel
Management Division, on 382-3328.0

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People
Agency Activities
Retirees from Region 3: Margaret Munro, 17 years,
Annapolis—Central Regional Laboratory . . . Fred Grant,
20 years, Water Program Management and Support Branch.
Quality Step Increases awarded to: Barbara Brown,
Priscilla Bangis, Myrtle Colbert and Stuart Kerzner, Re-
gion 3 . . . Frances Hearn, Office of the Inspector General
. . . Tawanna Griffin, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.
Special Act awards to: Anne Marvel, Sally Brooks,
Richard Fetzer, Thurmond Lewis, Wayne Naylor, Daniel
Ryan, Edward Tonkins, Carey Widman, Barbara Wilson,
Richard Pepino and Larry Whitson, Region 3 . . . Leonard
Fleckenstein, Policy, Planning and Evaluation . . . Susan
Butler, Office of General Counsel . . . Shirley Green, En-
forcement and Compliance Monitoring . . . Delberia Ligon,
External Affairs.
Continued Superior Performance awards to: Joe Dono-
van, Gil Horwitz, Janet Luffy, Francis Mulhern, Phillip
Retallick and Areatha Wilkins, Region 3.
Around EPA	
EPA's Savings Bond Campaign starts May 1 and closes
May 31. Points to consider: Guaranteed as to principal,
interest and replacement if lost . . . Market-based interest
(minimum 7.5% a year, compounded annually—when
bonds are held five years or more) . . . Can provide tax
free interest for your children's education . . . Can be reg-
istered as single ownership, co-ownership or with bene-
ficiary . . . May be purchased through a payroll allotment
of as little as $3.75 bi-weekly.
Congratulations to Vincent Giordano, Toxic Substances,
on the adoption of his suggestion to establish one central
location for EPA guidance documents on rulemaking. The
Information Management Branch in the Information Man-
agement and Services Division is implementing the idea to
provide an up-to-date reference system for locating and
reviewing documents . . . Your personnel office encour-
ages you to submit your suggestions for increasing the pro-
ductivity or cost efficiency of EPA.
The national GICS Users Group will hold its annual
meeting in Dallas on May 9 and 10. "GICS" is an acronym
for Grants Information and Control System. Themes of the
meeting will be "The Future of GICS" and "Increasing
State Involvement." For information call Nancy Hershber-
ger at 202-887-0970. Deadline for registration is April 30.
The Agency's payroll conversion completed. Separation
from the Department of Interior's DIPS system achieved on
schedule. With the exception of the Leave and Earnings
Statement, which will have a slightly different appearance,
employees should not notice any changes in the payroll
process . . . For information or help contact the Customer
Assistance Section on 382-5116.
"i lu: i'.l'A Times is pulil
shcil 24 limes per year lo provide; news
;ind )m 1 ()iii)m111(;111 s. dud si
ggesluins lo Miles Allen Kditor. Tlie lil'A
7'i;ik.'s Officii ol I'liblic
Allairs (A-107) Telephone 382-4379. In-
lei1 mill ion selec ted lor p
ublii.ation will he edited .is neeessarv in
keeping willi spae.e ,iv;11
Inble All letteis ol opinion must be signed
i'ii .I ji.i.fiuipnnied by su
imiltei's olliu: locution and lulephone
number

Effluent limitations and standards for the nonferrous
and battery manufacturing industries should result in re-
moval of 86 percent of toxic pollutants currently dis-
charged, as well as 90 percent of nonconventional pollu-
tants such as ammonia and fluoride.
Marian Mlay is named Director of the Agency's new
Office of Ground Water Protection. The office will coor-
dinate all EPA groundwater activities, develop policies
and guidelines, and provide guidance to regional
ground water programs. Mlay has been Deputy Director of
the Office of Drinking Water since 1979.
Asbestos: Final rules issued clarifying national asbestos
emissions standards. The rules reinstate some work-
practice and equipment safety provisions that were in-
validated by a Supreme Court decision . . . Schools in
Ohio and New Jersey assessed penalties for asbestos rule
violations. The rule requires schools to be inspected for
asbestos and for parents and teachers to be notified if any
is found. Penalties for failure to do so range from $1,300
per minor violation to $6,000 per major violation at each
school involved . . . EPA estimates that adherence to the
Excerpts from a speech
". . . Almost no one now seriously contends that
concern for the environment is a fad. Environmental
controls have been accepted, like taxes and employe^
benefits, as part of the price of doing business in thi^
industrialized society.
"... I am beginning to be worried about what I see
happening in 1984. We observe, for example, an in-
creased level of contention over environmental
issues, as if, having swept our stables, we cannot
agree about dusting the piano. We observe the in-
cipient stages of a breakdown in the invaluable tradi-
tion that the environment is a national concern, as
we see regional or local interests predominating in
such issues as acid rain and hazardous waste dis-
posal. Most significantly, we observe that, although
public pressure to act remains high, the political
process no longer seems able to resolve important en-
vironmental issues. Of EPA's nine governing statutes,
seven have been allowed to lapse.
". . .Oddly, of the many different kinds of risks
attendant on membership in a technological society,
we often single out those connected with environ-
mental pollution as being totally unacceptable. Yet at
the same time we are reluctant to make the changes
in our way of life (even minor ones) required to
attain such goals. Any time we suggest that an in-
spection and maintenance program be imposed on a
municipal area to achieve the health goals the public
has demanded in the Clean Air Act, the hue and cry
is loud and clear—we want zero risk but not at my
expense.

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requirements is about 50% nationwide.
Motor vehicles: Starting with the 1985 model year, EPA
will publish both a city and highway mileage figure and
adjust those estimates to more closely approximate actual
Knileage consumers can expect to achieve. Laboratory
esting results will be reduced mathematically to get fig-
ures closer to those that will be obtained on the road—10
percent for the city figure and 22 percent for the highway
figure . . . The governor of Ohio is notified that the State
must develop a vehicle inspection and maintenance pro-
gram for the Cleveland and Cincinnati metropolitan areas.
... In response to a growing interest by manufacturers and
others in using methanol as an alternative fuel, EPA in-
vites public comment on proposals that would eventually
establish methanol-fueled vehicle emission standards.
Enforcement: Dow Chemical agrees to settle lawsuit in-
volving Agency authority to obtain internal information
under the Clean Air Act.
Mid States Petroleum Company agrees to an innovative
penalty for selling over 700,000 gallons of leaded gasoline
as unleaded. Customers of Michigan stations served by
Mid States may return their vehicles to be tested for de-
fects, and up to 3,000 new catalytic converters will be re-
placed free of charge where damages are confirmed. The
company also will pay $100,000 in civil penalties, adopt
stringent quality controls, and endow the University of
Michigan and Detroit College of Law with donations
funding research and promoting enforcement of the Clean
Air Act.D
Letters	
Dear Editor:
Excerpts from Mr. Davis' report [What's Wrong With
Secretaries?] are THE RIGHT STUFF!!! He certainly did
his homework! I loved it!
Thanks!
Shirley A. Tenhover,
Secretary,
IERL-Cincinnati
Not In My Backyard!
Dy Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus to the Detroit Economic Club
"This position has led to some difficulties in the
formation of an effective national environmental poli-
cy. While it is a fine thing to embody high ideals in
legislation, laws should be written so that mortals
can put them into effect on this imperfect earth,
without either torturing the language or prescribing
nonsense. I think it is clear now that in enacting
several of our major environmental statutes we did
not think through what strict interpretation would
really mean. Environmental protection is an enor-
mously complicated technical process; that it now
shares the aura of Motherhood and the Flag makes it
less, rather than more, likely that we will do a good
job of it.
". . . If we are to remain competitive in the world
we need to recognize the necessity of adjusting to
change more rapidly, of harnessing our entrepreneu-
rial spirit to a sense of national discipline, and that
runs counter to the American tradition of in-
dependence. Our inability to drive toward consensus,
to provide governmental processes which force de-
cisions has very practical effects on our national
well-being.
"Think of what it now takes to site a major in-
dustrial facility. A firm must obtain agreement from
perhaps dozens of agencies and authorities at each of
the three levels of government, not to mention the
courts. And it doesn't help to satisfy a consensus or a
majority of the interests involved; a single 'no' any-
'here along the line at any time in the process can
nalt years of planning, effort and investment.
"Similarly, we have begun a major national com-
mitment to properly dispose of hazardous wastes.
Everyone is in favor of safe disposal, but not in their
backyards or anywhere close. In some parts of the
country, we are running out of places to put the stuff.
. . . The additional risk this may represent to the na-
tion at large does not bother the local groups who re-
sist disposal facility siting. This is the way to run a
railroad only if you like what happened to the rail-
roads.
"The key problem is trust . . . The public can object
to what a regulatory agency does, or believe that it is
going too fast or too slow, but when it ceases to be-
lieve that the agency is trying to act in the public
interest, that agency cannot function at all ... I don't
believe that's the situation at EPA today, although we
came close.
"... When I spoke to you last, the message I tried
to convey was that the EPA did not represent merely
a red light for industrial growth, but that it served a
green light's function, too, in directing movement
toward the kind of society we all wanted, one in
which a healthy economy and environmental values
coexisted. The metaphor is, I think, still apt across
more than a decade, except that now we find our-
selves at one of those infuriating intersections where
the red, green and yellow lights are all on at once.
We must develop more efficient ways of coming to a
practical consensus in response to new problems, or
we are heading towards a sort of societal gridlock.
Nations that can forge the requisite social unity will
have the road all to themselves. We must get back on
that road or be out of the race."

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MEMORANDUM
Subject: National Secretaries Week
From: The Administration and Management of the U.S. EPA
To: The EPA Secretarial Staff
Thank you for your contributions to the effective and efficient
operation of our Agency.
We couldn't do it without you!
60 Get Bronze Medals
For Controlling Correspondence
Controlled correspondence is no
longer the source of embarrassment it
once was to the Agency. The 60 em-
ployees responsible for the im-
provement have been presented with
a group Special Act Award for their
efforts.
"Controlled correspondence" con-
sists of letters from, or forwarded by,
members of Congress and other gov-
ernment officials. Last fall, when Ad-
ministrator Bill Ruckelshaus empha-
sized the need for timely replies to
Agency correspondence, more than
100 pieces of controlled correspon-
dence were overdue, and it was normal
for replies to be sent one or two
months behind schedule.
The preserverance, diligence and
efforts of the employees of the Office
of Executive Secretariat and program
and regional correspondence control
staffs brought about a dramatic rever-
sal. By the first week of February
there was no overdue Congressional
Correspondence and only one overdue
letter in Executive Correspondence.
Recipients of the group Special Act
Award are:
Office of Executive Secretariat—
Michael Barber, Rosemary Carroll,
Geraldine Colfer, Alice Greene,
Kimberly Henderson, Earline Mills,
Cynthia Payne, Janice Poole, Nancy
Reinhardt, Paul Savage, Mary Stod-
dard, Virginia Williams and Mary
Young.
In the Regions—Mary Kelley, Re-
gion 1 . . . Sara Robinson and There-
sa Ramos, Region 2 . . . Annamarie
Marzulli, Valerie Griffin, Lorraine
Urbiet and Deborah Nash, Region 3
. . . Penny Poeppelman, Region 4 . . .
Arlene Fortsas and Shirley Bednarz,
Region 5 . . . Wanda Poole, Jerva
Durham and Barbara Goetz, Region 6
. . . Kathleen Montalte and Betty Sala-
din, Region 7 . . . Beverly Goodsell,
Region 8 . . . Terry Wilson, Region 9
. . . Ann Dunn, Terri Krick and Vivian
Helewicz, Region 10.
In the Program Offices—Vickie
Thomas and Stacy Grigsby, Policy,
Planning and Evaluation . . . Linda
Thompson, Enforcement and Com-
pliance Monitoring . . . Paul Frazier,
Office of General Counsel . . . Tanya
Jones, Administration and Resources
Management . . . Victoria Green, Sus-
anne Denning, Marilyn McKenzie,
Peggy Moran and Towana Dorsey,
Water . . . Gregory Marion, June
Price, Lori DeRose, Marjorie Russell
and Estelle Bulka, Solid Waste and
Emergency Response . . . Zelma
Taylor, Pesticides and Toxic Sub-
stances . . . Priscilla Smith, External
Affairs . . . Linda Hilwig and Deborah
Good, International Activities . . .
Cheryl Bentley, Small and Dis-
advantaged Businesses.~
Security Force
To Be Hired
And Run by EPA
The General Services Administra-
tion has agreed to allow the EPA to
directly contract its own security
guard force for headquarters buildings;
and manage the activity in-house.
The Agency will be able to choose
the guard service best suited to its re-
quirements, and may continue,
through options, with the same con-
tract for up to three years, depending
upon the degree of service required.
The Facilities and Support Services
Branch is currently advertising for
contractor services which should re-
sult in several improvements.
Plans call for both guards and re-
ceptionists to be trained to assist em-
ployees and visitors in a courteous
and helpful manner.
Receptionists will be outfitted with
blazers bearing an EPA patch and
guard uniforms will change.
A computer terminal in the West
Tower lobby will be used to locate
employees, determine meeting room
numbers, and generally assist visitors
to reach their destination. Future
plans include automating the property
control system so that property passes
can be handled by the computer ter-
minal, and establishing a network of
terminals for all entrances.
Anyone with comments or sugges-
tions on the new program should con-
tact the Security Office at 382-2010.~

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