s.Em Times NEWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES INSIDE: ~ NAPA Highlights ~ A Worthwhile Suggestion ~ Opportunities for Women VOLUME 1 NUMBER 12 May 11, 1984 'Careers/ Not 'Jobs/ Goal of New Office Career development for EPA em- ployees is a key function of the new Office of Human Resources Man- agement (OHRM). The establishment of this office, according to Adminis- trator Bill Ruckelshaus, is "crucial to the ultimate success of the Agency." In announcing the creation of the OHRM, A1 Aim, Deputy Administra- tor, said "we are beginning an effort which will impact the country's capacity to manage its environmental programs for many years. 1 am excited about the concept." The Office of Human Resources Management was created, in part, in response to recommendations of the National Academy of Public Adminis- tration (see story on back page.) Kirke Harper heads the office staff of about 24, and reports directly to the Assis- tant Administrator for Administration and Resources Management, Howard Messner. Harper previously was Director of the Office of Administration, where he oversaw the activities of the Per- sonnel Management Division (PMD) among others. John Chamberlain, former Deputy Comptroller, replaces Harper as OA director. The PMD will remain within the Office of Adminis- tration and continue to deal with the traditional personnel functions (proc- essing applications, maintaining em- ployee records, etc.). The three major objectives of the OHRM are: (1) to establish a system- atic approach to workforce planning and management, (2) to develop strat- egies and programs for employee or- ganizational development, and (3) to improve services and programs for senior executives. The project most likely to affect EPA employees early on will be the reation of a strategy for employee training to prepare individuals for After his swearing-in ceremony as the Director of OHRM, Kirke Harper, his wife and mother, are congratulated by Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus. advancement in their chosen fields. According to Aim, the program will enable EPA to "determine whether we have employees with the right skills in the right places to do the jobs needed in the future. We can also address—at the front end—what reme- dies will be necessary to close gaps between Agency needs and workforce abilities." Two advisory committees are being established to assure outside partici- pation and oversight of the OHRM. One will consist of members of the NAPA panel and the other of federal, state and local environmental officials. ~ HRM Defined Human Resources Management is defined by the Agency's Human Re- sources Management Workgroup as "a comprehensive, systematic approach to assist the organization in accomplishing its goals through work- force planning, policy development, and personnel program evaluation aimed at the best use of the workforce as an organized body and as in- dividual employees, current and fu- ture. "A human resources management program provides more than the tradi- tional services characteristic of op- erating personnel offices. It places im- portance on the need to integrate 'peo- ple issues' into the organization and provides managers with a high-level mechanism to do so. As managers plan programs and allocate resources, they likewise must deal with the issue of what kinds of people will be needed to do the job." The workgroup was established to explore the idea of creating an Office of Human Resources Management at EPA. Chaired by Fran Phillips, the group analyzed the NAPA report and evaluated alternate ways of organizing human resource development activi- ties. ~ ------- People Retiree from Region 3: Fred Grant, 20 years, Water Pro- gram Management and Support Branch. An Electrical Engineering Technician at Research Triangle Park, Ted King, receives $1000 for his idea on renovating a computer room. EPA saved about $27,000 by following King's advice. Linda Harvey, Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, receives a Special Recognition Award for the coordination of Superfund training courses. Harvey's work is cited as "an outstanding example of what can be accom- plished where there is a spirit of cooperation between federal and state agencies." Peter Ludzia receives the 1983 Glen Witmer Award at the Annual Award Ceremony for Region 3. The award— presented in memory of a Region 3 employee who died from cancer in 1977 at the age of 27—is given to the em- ployee who best demonstrates not only outstanding per- formance but also an additional degree of dedication, en- thusiasm, and resourcefulness reminiscent of its namesake. Quality Step Increases awarded to: Michael Stein, Ad- ministration and Resources Management . . . Michael Barclay, Solid Waste and Emergency Response . . . Richard Loranger, Martha Bradley, Randolph Perfetti and Russell Cook, Policy, Planning and Evaluation. Continued Superior Performance awards to: Michael Carpentier and Barry Griffith, Administration and Re- sources Management . . . Arthur Stern and Judith Nelson, Pesticides and Toxic Substances . . . John Onley, Policy, Planning and Evaluation . . . LaVerne Williams, Research and Development. Special Act Award presented to: Ernest Jackson, Re- search and Development. Correction: The EPA Times apologizes for an erroneous headline in its April 27 story about the Group Special Act award to 60 controlled correspondence staff members. The story was correct; the headline reference to Bronze Medals was not. Also, Cheryl Bently works for the Science Advi- sory Board (not Small and Disadvantaged Businesses), and Sybil Currie, Office of Civil Rights, was inadvertently omitted from the list of awardees. ~ Ted King (on left) receives Suggestion Award certificate from Charles Foster, Director of General Service. Linda Harvey receives award from Lawrence Hyde, Region 4 Superfund Training Coordinator. Women to Benefit From Federal Personnel Initiatives Two new programs being implemented by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) are designed to improve opportunities for women in the federal workforce. Executive Development In the Women's Executive Leadership Program, in a manner similar to the White House Fellows and Ex- ecutive Exchange programs, 50 women in GS-9 to GS- 12 positions will be selected from agency nomina- tions to receive executive leadership training. By tar- geting women with exceptional managerial potential in these grade ranges, the program is expected to be a major step towards identifying and developing women for supervisory, managerial and executive positions. De Burton, president of the 700,000 member Feder- ally Employed Women, will manage the leadership program. Part-Time Opportunities A permanent program for part-time employees has been established under a new chapter in the Federal Personnel Manual, which gives agency managers new tools to expand part-time opportunities for women. This action stems from an evaluation of the Federal Employees Part-time Career Employment Act of 1978. OPM has concluded that part-time opportunities should be expanded in order to retain women in the workforce and give them more flexibility to fulfill both professional and family responsibilities. ~ ------- Agency Activities New estimates indicate a 60 percent increase in the amount of hazardous waste thought to be produced by U.S. industries. EPA reports that during 1981—the first full year RCRA was in effect—264 million metric tons were generated. Large portions of this total were mixtures nf hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. A memorandum to regional administrators expands and defines the role of private parties responsible for un- controlled hazardous waste sites. The memo explains who will be permitted to conduct investigations and studies, the principles governing the parties' participation in agency-financed investigations, and the procedures for notifying responsible parties when EPA has targeted specific sites for investigative work. Federal tolerance levels for residues of ethylene di- bromide (EDB) on raw grain set at 900 parts per billion— the same maximum proposed in February. Tolerances apply to raw barley, corn, oats, popcorn, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat. New requirements change the way in which the pesti- cide ethylene oxide (EtO) is used in health care facilities. Many items, such as disposable tubing and syringes, can be sterilized only with EtO. Conditional registration proposed for the use of the pes- ticide Larvadex (cyromazine) to control fly larvae in the manure of egg-producing chickens. Public comment period runs for 30 days from April 27. New studies suggest no adverse risks at normal dosages. The end of sludge dumping in the New York Bight pro- posed. The undersea canyon 12 miles offshore would be replaced by a site 106 miles out (off the Continental Shelf). EPA employees and contractor personnel presented 47 .papers at the 10th Annual Research Symposium on Land £>isposal Incineration and Treatment of Hazardous Waste. April 3-5, in Ft. Mitchell. Kentucky. The symposium was sponsored by the Solid and Hazardous Waste Research Di- vision of the Municipal Environmental Research Labora- tory and the Energy Pollution Control Division of the In- dustrial Environmental Research Laboratory. More stringent controls of wastewater and storm water pollutants from oil refineries are agreed upon by EPA, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the American Petroleum Institute. Revised regulations will be proposed reducing allowable discharges of total chromium, hexava- lent chromium and phenolic compounds. A subsidary of Ford Motor Company agrees to create a $460,000 fund to delineate contamination at the Ringwood mines and landfill in New Jersey. Allied Corporation agrees to complete a remedial in- vestigation and feasibility study to assess hazardous waste contamination of soil at the Allied Chemical-Ironton Coke site in Ohio. The company will pay $35,000 to EPA and $29,000 to Ohio as reimbursement for past site in- vestigations. ~ Around EPA Robert L. Booth is selected as Director of the Environ- mental Monitoring and Support Laboratory in Cincinnati. Booth has been Deputy Director since February 1976, and Acting Director since August 1980. A former Public Health Service commissioned officer, Booth will be responsible for planning, developing, organizing, directing and im- plementing a national program to monitor methods and quality assurance techniques for isolating and identifying pollutants in water and solid wastes. Headquarters employees interested in taking a course from the USDA Graduate School should call 447-5885 for information and schedules. The summer session meets June 11 to August 22 and offers courses on over 500 sub- jects. A revised EPA acquisition regulation and Contracts Management Manual are issued to conform with the new government-wide Federal Acquisition Regulation that took effect April 1. ~ Senator John Chaffee converses with A1 Aim and some of the SESers who attended a luncheon sponsored by the Office of Human Resources Management. Luncheons such as this are part of a program to enhance "esprit de corps" and job satisfac- tion among senior level EPA employees. ------- Personnel Changes Recommended There will be major changes in the Agency's personnel management and budgeting systems if recommenda- tions of the National Academy of Pub- lic Administration (NAPA] are fully implemented. NAPA began an assessment of EPA's programs last summer at the request of Administrator Bill Ruckel- shaus. The independent six-month re- view examined virtually every EPA installation. Interviews were con- ducted with personnel at headquar- ters, every regional office, and four laboratories. Officials of other federal agencies, union representatives, and members of Congress were consulted. A seven-page survey of attitudes was completed by 1,033 employees and supervisors. Frank C. Carlucci chaired the ten- member NAPA panel performing the study. A former Deputy Secretary of Defense, Carlucci is currently president of Sears World Trade, Inc. Other distinguished members of the panel include John W. Gardner, the founder of Common Cause, and Robert W. Fri, president of Energy Transition Corporation and a former Deputy Administrator and Acting Ad- ministrator of EPA. Selected highlights of the report are quoted below: Impressions and Concerns: • ". . . EPA has attracted a bright, aggressive, talented and committed workforce . . . The strong overall com- mitment of EPA's career employees to its mission has been of critical im- portance to an Agency that is in- herently difficult to manage. • "Environmental protection is a permanent public responsibility. Ac- cordingly, we support steps in the di- rection of permanence and stability at EPA." • . . the Environmental Protec- tion Agency should be protected from the vacillations in management and approaches to public policy that have taken place in recent years and . . . encouraged to pursue a permanent mission that transcends partisan poli- tics. • "EPA . . . resembles a university, except that its campus covers the Na- tion and it must carry out its assigned missions in the unrelenting glare of public scrutiny. Frank Carlucci, head of the NAPA panel, looks over the panel's report with Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus. Organization and Legislation: • . we recommend against con- version from [EPA's] current status within the Executive Branch to a multi-member commission purported- ly independent of Presidential direc- tion. The electorate supports environ- mental protection and EPA is far more likely to benefit from having the President directly responsible for its performance than from any illusory insulation from partisan politics. • "At a time when the general pub- lic understands that environmental problems comprise a seamless web, the Agency is left to administer stat- utes that do not reflect the inter- relationships between land, air, and water. • "Congress, the President and EPA should work together to overcome the fragmentation of the Agency's basis in law and accountability to Congress. . . Progress toward a comprehensive protection statute may be slow, but it is worth the effort. Personnel Management: • "Throughout all of the Agency's activities—in research, enforcement, air and water pollution, hazardous waste management, and external affairs—assuring continued high- quality performance on the part of EPA employees is critical to Agency effectiveness. To provide incentives for that optimum performance, the Panel firmly believes that EPA per- sonnel and human resources activities need to be substantially enhanced and given greater emphasis within the Agency. • "... we urge the creation of a new position, Director of Human Re- sources, reporting directly to the Assistant Administrator of Adminis- tration and Resources Management, to emphasize that career development involves much more than routine per- sonnel services. • "We further recommend that EPA undertake a comprehensive and coor- dinated career development and ex- ecutive development effort on behalf of its employees. • "Many EPA employees are cur- rently prisoners of their career spe- cialities and their geographic location. A fundamental objective of the Agen- cy's career development and training should be the removal of barriers to functional and geographic mobility. Senior Executive Service: • "Our concern is to encourage and enable EPA to attract and retain com- petent professional managers who will achieve the consistent, stable adminis- tration that we believe the Agency needs. • ". . . personnel services, functions and communications activities with SES employees need strengthening. . .. [and should be] specifically assigned' to a senior officer within the jurisdic- tion of the Director of Human Re- sources. • "We urge that the number of Presidentially-appointed/Senate- confirmed positions at EPA be cut back to be more in line with compar- able agencies. Research and Development: • "The Agency inherited laborator- ies scattered across a dozen states . . . The R&D activities are fragmented . . . The R&D organization does not make sense. • ". . . we favor concentrating EPA's multi-discipline research activi- ties at the Agency's Cincinnati, Ohio, and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, centers, with center di- rectors reporting directly to the AA for R&D in Washington. • "We believe that R&D should have its own budget, should be di- rected to concentrate on broader prob- lems and pursue science beyond the narrow needs of individually funded programs, and should constitute an integral function of the Agency." ~ ------- ™.Em Times NEWS FOR AND ABOUT EPA EMPLOYEES SPECIAL WDR ANNIVERSARY EDITION Clbrary Environmental Protect* Washington, D. C. 20- May 22. 1984 Keeping Our Environmental Perspective This week marks the anniversary of Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus' return to the helm of EPA. Special activities in celebration of that event included a visit with headquarters employees at a brown-bag lunch along the banks of the Washington Channel (see photos) and a speech before the National Press Club. In his remarks, Ruckelshaus spoke of the changes in the environmental situa- tion since he first addressed the Club, and of the need for maintaining per- spective when evaluating the "crises" of today. Excerpts of the speech follow: ". . .1 consider myself uniquely fortu- nate to have become a recidivist in my present job, and to have been given some of that rare perspective in connection with our nation's efforts to protect the environ- ment ... It's nearly impossible to understand our current environmental _Aiituation or to form an intelligent view of ^fhat we still must accomplish without a good understanding of where we've been. ". . .A little over thirteen years ago . . . air pollution was obvious and perva- sive and immediately threatening to public health in many places. In fact, one of the first things EPA did as an agency was to get a court order shutting down the factories of Birmingham, Alabama, to avert a threatened health disaster. In 1970, sixty million (Continued on back) A Riverside Social Videotapes of Ruckelshaus' remarks to employees have been sent to each Regional Office. ------- people were on sewage systems that discharg- ed raw sewage—two million tons a year of organic wastes—into surface waters, around a quarter of a million tons of toxic heavy metals, and tens of thousands of tons of other toxic chemicals into the same waters. "... pollution was pervasive and ob- vious ... No one can forget the Cuyahoga River in Ohio bursting into flames. Many responsible scientists were predicting the death of Lake Erie. In Pensacola Bay, they used to report fish kills in square miles of dead fish. Vast areas of the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes shoreline had been closed to swimming and fishing . . . despite the warnings, we used over 30 million pounds of DDT; DDT residues in human tissue were up to eight parts per million and the bald eagle and other birds of prey were headed for extinction in America as the pesticide des- troyed their eggs. Wetlands continued to vanish to the developer; Florida alone lost 169,000 acres and California lost nearly 50,000 acres in the decades between 1950 and 1970. "It is in retrospect remarkable that al- most all of my first speech in 1971 was a defense of the environmental ethic. This is another point of perspective: the immense mental distance we all have come in our attitudes toward the environment . . . [EPA] demonstrated that the ideals of Earth Day, which many in 1971 considered a vaporous fad, could be made to work . . . "The problems that led to the formation of the new Agency in 1971 are largely under control . . . Between 1970 and 1981, although we added 30 million people to our population and increased the GNP by almost 36 per cent, estimated particulates emissions declined by 53 per cent, sulfur oxides declined by 21 per cent and carbon monoxide declined by 20 per cent. Lead levels decreased nationally 64 per cent between 1975 and 1982, as the use of leaded gas declined. The trends for ambient levels of almost a-ll^cities have also been steadily declining. A decade ago, for example, Portland, Oregon, could expect to have a hundred or so days when the CO count was in excess of the ambient standard. Currently it's more like two or three days. We have provided municipal sewage treatment yfor over 80 million Americans since 197 0. Most industries have installed water pollution control technology, and as a result, organic waste discharges from industry have been reduced by 38 percent. When the controls mandated by our recent effluent guidelines are in place, discharges of toxic pollutants will have been reduced by 96 per cent from 1972 levels. And the environment has responded. There is fishing and water recreation again on many major rivers that people thought were lost forever. Over 99 per cent of the streams nationwide are designated for uses equal to the "fishable-swimmable" goal mandated by Congress in the Clean Water Act. We've improved water quality on 47,000 miles of streams since 1972. Lake Erie did not die. There are fish in the Trinity River at Dallas, once written off as a sewer. Over 22,000 acres on the New Jersey shore have been re-opened for shell- fishing ... I suppose the most symbolic achievement of all has been the return of the bald eagle; we have convincing scientific evidence that endangered populations of our national bird have come back much more quickly than expected, and that this resurgence is strongly correlated with the-^. ban on DDT. "... Given reasonable goals we can make reasonable progress against them. The major sources of air and water pollution we identified in 1971 are under control. Note that this does not mean that they are gone. Control of industrial and mobile sources of air pollution and water pollution from manufacturing and sewage are still the subject of perhaps the bulk of EPA's ordinary activity, but they no longer enter the popular consciousness as overwhelming problems. I don't mention these achievements to pat EPA on the head, nor do I wish to suggest that the environmental challenges now be- fore us, such as hazardous waste and toxic chemicals, are in any sense trivial. But these are real improvements, and they should generate public confidence that we can handle serious environmental problems. Occasionally we should stop flagellating ourselves as a nation for problems unsolved^, and recognize that we are moving forward asW mankind has always progressed—one step at a t ime. ------- |