Step 5:
How to Consult
with and Involve
the Public
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Step 5: How to Consult
with and Involve the Public
Goal:
- To understand the interests and needs of the affected
puWic
- To provide for the exchange of information and views
- Open exploration of Issues, alternatives and consequences
between interested and affected members of the public
and EPA officials responsible for the forthcoming action
or decision
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Issued its
revised Public Involvement Policy in June 2003. The Policy's
overall goal is for excellent public involvement to become an
integral part of EPA's culture, thus supporting more effective
Agency actions.
The Policy provides guidance to EPA managers and staff on
how you can better involve the public in the Agency's decision
making processes. The Policy outlines seven steps to effective
involvement. This brochure, focusing on step 5, offers
suggestions to help you "get started," with emphasis on public
consultation and collaboration. It serves as an outline for how
to conduct consultation and involvement activities.
Why Public Consultation and Involvement?
Public consultation and involvement helps EPA to understand
the interests and needs of the affected public. Giving the
public an opportunity to communicate their concerns,
problems, and alternatives improves the Agency's decisions
and Environmental outcomes. You should seek every
opportunity to expand and diversify public consultation and
involvement processes.
What to Consider in Public Consultation and
Involvement
The public includes everyone. However, because no two
people or groups are exactly alike, no single approach will be
of interest to or appropriate for everyone. When you think
about public consultation and invoivement, consider the scope
of your project or issue and the audience which it affects.
When you consider how to conduct public involvement, be
aware of and comply with any statutory or regulatory public
involvement requirements that apply to your project or issue,
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Plan Your Work
How to Organize for Public Consultation
and Involvement
Research Public Consultation and Involvement
Be creative. Dig in and learn all you can from existing sources
and the community. Learn from other EPA program or regional
staff how similar public audiences and communities have
responded to comparable or related involvement processes
and the issues.
- Ask your colleagues, your Office of
General Counsel advisor or Regional
Counsel staff about pertinent
requirements that may apply to
your Involvement process or issues
- Gather information from organizations
which represent the affected public such
as the city council, civic associations,
churches or other neighborhood groups
• Review census materials, newspapers,
election issues and results, and related
Issues
- Hold Individual or small meetings to help
identify the interests and needs of your
targeted public audiences, as well
as to sharpen the focus of the goals and
objectives for your consultation
Your involvement and the issue or project driving it, may be
national in scope. If so, conduct research and consider design-
ing your activities and overall process to accommodate both a
larger number of people and a greater diversity of interests.
Define Your Consultation/Involvement Process
- Set the public involvement goals you wish to accomplish
- Determine which members of the affected public need lo be
involved in the process
- Decide if the Involvement process will be open to the
general public, only for a representative segment of stake-
holder and Interest groups, or a combination of both
- Define your processes and activities by determining which
involvement practices best fit the stakeholders' or groups'
needs as well as foster EPA's goals
- Encourage participation, especially from under-represented
segments of the public, and seek advice and help from those
groups you wish to consult
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- Ensure feedback from a diverse pool of people, groups,
communities and Interests by using a mixture of the fol-
lowing consullation/invorvemefit techniques to suit different
• Outreach (see brochure #4. "How to Provide
Information and Conduct Outreach for Public
Involvement")
• Information Exchange - Listen to, be available for or
attend community sessions such as:
- Public, "town-hall" meetings and open forums
- Workshops co-sponsored with tocal organizations
and government agencies
- Focus groups, interviews, telephone hotiines and
Internet-based discussions
• Recommendation - Receive advice for EPA on
particularly complex or controversial issues from:
- Technical committees
- Technical advisory groups
- Citizen advisory groups whose members represent
stakeholders
Be aware of, and comply with, the requirements of the
Federal Advisory Committee Act when seeking advice or
recommendations from groups
• Agreements (legally non-binding): mutually developed
and accepted decisions between EPA and affected,
concerned or interested persons
- Estimate budget and resource needs of the
consultation/involvement based on the frequency and
location of:
• Meetings, consultations, and other involvement
activities
• Supplies and materials
• Facilitation or alternative dispute resolution (AOR) tech-
niques needed
• Necessary technical or financial support to ensure
involvement
- Decide how you will evaluate and improve activities and Hie
process throughout your project
- Decide how you will share findings and take action on them
along the way and after completing the decision-making
process (comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act
when applicable)
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Work Your Plan
How to Implement the Consultation/Involvement
Process
Obtain Pre-Activity Consultation/Involvement Support
Consulting
with the Public
• Make allies
• Publicize activities
• Prepare support
• Meet & focus
• Be fair & credible
• Consult with local and statewide
environmental groups (use EPA
regional staff to help build partici-
pant relationships and under-
standing)
- Involve educators from the
community for suggestions/per-
spective about the community
and to engage students
- Encourage affected community
representation and collaboration
through advisory committees,
elected officials and staff of local,
state and federal agencies
Prepare Materials for Your
Consultation/Involvement Activity
- Identify and prepare material(s) that will be distributed at the
activity
- Make relevant information easy to understand and accessible
to the public before any events
- Line up guidance, resources, training and professional
assistance to support participants and/or build capacity to
participate in activities
- Facilitate early communications between technical staff arxl
informed participants so EPA and other "experts" can more easiry
understand, relate and communicate with the general public
Publicize Each of Your Consultation/Involvement
Activities and the Overall Process
- Determine in advance the timing of any notices of
consultation/ Involvement activities, usually 30 days for
regular meetings. 60 days for complex Issues
- Notify participants via e-mail, telephone, posters, and any
other Innovative, creative and appropriate mechanisms
- Clearly state the purpose of the activity and process, and
the rale of EPA and participants in all written materials
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- Schedule activities at convenient times, close to mass transit
(consider activities after work and/or weekends)
- Encourage individuals from under-represented communities -
minorities, tribes - and the general public to participate in the
process
Establish Clearly Focused Consultation/Involvement
Activity for Participants at any Event
- State the purpose of the activity and the goals of the overall
process
- Clarify the roles of EPA and participants, the chief role and
priority of EPA staff being to listen to feedback and concerns
• Establish basic ground rules for all meetings and events,
especially regularly scheduled activities
- Decide ff and how decisions will be made and who will
make them. If majority rules, what percent will carry the vote?
If decisions will require consensus, agree on how the group
will define consensus
- At meetings, have someone write a summary of the results
and actions to keep track for future reference
Ensure Fairness
• Employ facilitators and/or mediators who are fair and
accessible to everyone involved, and ensure their role as
facilitator/mediator is dear to all participants
• Use collaborations that "level the playing field," enabling
anyone to take an active role in public Involvement, ensuring
individual citizens have the same respect as corporations,
organizations, associations, or government agencies
Ideas from Participants in EPA's
Public Involvement Policy Review Processes
"Good intentions must be inextricably linked with good process.
Otherwise we will continue to alienate key stakeholders, the
implications of which are evident,"
Greg Bourne . Center for Civic Participation and Renewal
Dialogue on Public Involvement in EPA Decisions
"Any stakeholder shoutd be suspicious of engaging in any
open-ended process that does rvot have any ground rules or
structure."
Alan Strasser
Dialogue on Public Involvement in EPA Decisions
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"Citizens should be directly involved in evaluating the problems
as well as formulating creative solutions. This should reach
beyond traditional hearings and meetings, providing competing
interests...the opportunity to deepen their mutual understand-
ing. Often collaborative methods result in win-win solutions
where the interests of each party are substantively addressed."
Michigan Environmental Council -
Public Comments on Draft Policy
"... if you raally want to be successful at public involvement,
leam to LISTEN, not just speak. This will help the EPA to
become aware of the difference between what the EPA intends
the public to hear and what the public actually hears."
Ellen Omohundro, Washington State University - Public
Comments on Draft Policy
Other EPA Public Involvement Brochures
Introducing EPA's Public Involvement Policy
How to Plan and Budget for Public Involvement
How to Identify People to Involve
How to Provide Technical and Financial Assistance lor
Public Involvement
How to Do Outreach lor Public Involvement
How to Review and Use Public Input and Provide Feedback
How to Evaluate Public Involvement
How to Improve Public Meetings and Hearings
How to Improve Working with Tribes
How to Involve EnvironmentatJustice Communities
How to Overcome Barriers to Public Involvement
Additional Resources:
Philip Harter, The Mediation Consortium & Deborah
Daltcn. U.S. EPA, Office of General Counsel,
Destinaions: Better Decisions Through Consultation and
Collaboration, A Stakeholder Involvement Manual for EPA
Policy and Program Managers, (to be published in 2003)
Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA)
Public Participation Manual. U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste
and Emergency Response. RCRA Program,1996
http:;/www.epa.gQv/epaoswer/hazwaste/permit/{)ubpart/manual.lTfan
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About Community Advisory Groups Toolkit: A Summary of the
Tools, U. S. EPA Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response.
liUp://www.epa.gov/superfund/toqls/caQ/resQurcfl/aboiJtcag.piif
More Information about the Policy
Copies of the Policy and the Framework for Implementing it
are available at
http.'//www.epa.gov/pabliclnvQlvemgnl/policy2003/policy2Q03.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/publiclnvolvement/pQllcy2003/trameworK.pdf
The Website for the "Internet Dialogue on Public Involvement in
EPA Decisions" is
http://www,natwork-demQcracy.Qrg/apa/Bpa-plp
EPA's Response to Comments on the Draft 2000 Public
Involvement Policy is available at
http:// www.epa.gov/publlclnuol veni ent/poiicy20D3/f espa nse. pdt
•'Involvement brings Ihe pieces together" artwork is the creation
of Erica Ann Turner, who contributed the work to EPA through an
agreement between the Art Institute of Washington and the Agency.
United States Environmental Protection Agency
National Center for Environmental Innovation
Public Involvement Staff
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 1807T
Washington, DC 20460
•U.S. Govommont Priming Otfice: 2«W — 520-677
EPA-233-F-03-009
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