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[GreenYes] Re: EPA's arrogance
Karen-

I would not criticize EPA because they will not participate directly in
a children's educational program.  I think that role is much more
appropriately handled by local government or state agencies or
non-profit groups - not directly by a national environmental regulatory
agency.  I don't think staff at EPA would disagree about the importance
of environmental education.  It is just that other, more-local
organizations would be more appropriate for directly participating in
something like this.

For an example from Oregon, I know that our Oregon EPA office is tiny,
taking up just part of one floor in our building.  My own agency, the
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, has 8 floors of offices in
our headquarters, and many regional offices too.  We have some staff
designated for the type of participation you are looking for, plus many
of our larger counties have environmental education programs -
particularly for recycling education.  In some cases the governments
have contracted with non-profit groups to provide this education.  In
our state, we could probably help you with your festival, but there is
no way EPA's Oregon office could do so and also do all the other
important work that they need to do.

It is true that the EPA office in Illinois is much larger than our tiny
Oregon EPA office, but the Illinois office is a major regional office,
with responsibilities for environmental programs in 6 large states.  I
think it would be best if EPA sticks to its larger-scale
responsibilities and leave the direct public contact programs more to us
local and state government people.

Peter Spendelow
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 13:57:15 EST
To: greenyes@no.address
From: Kking61101@no.address
Subject: EPA's arrogance
Message-ID: <23.2b727d87.2b72b88b@no.address>

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..... This morning I called the EPA to ask if they would 
like to participate. 

I was told that they are not interested because they are too busy and
only 
work Monday through Friday. I made it clear that I was VERY disappointed
and 
unhappy with the EPA! They are not interested in promoting environmental

education to over 5,000 children basically because it is inconvenient
for 
them. 

Karen King
On the Waterfront, Inc.





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