EPA Official Solicits Advice on Policy, Rules, Guidance in Waste Programs

The Horinko Group has added a new headline from BNA’s August 21, 2009 Daily Environmental Report entitled “EPA Official Solicits Advice on Policy, Rules, Guidance in Waste Programs

Synopsis

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s hazardous waste cleanup programs is soliciting advice on how the office can make policymaking more open, develop better strategies for handling waste or cleaning up contaminated sites, and ‘‘bring about more community involvement at cleanup sites.’’ Mathy Stanislaus, assistant EPA administrator for solid waste and emergency response, released a letter Aug. 17 that is being circulated online. ‘‘I believe that government works best when it listens carefully to the opinions and criticism of interested stakeholders,’’ Stanislaus wrote.

Former Official Calls Effort ‘Laudatory.’

Marianne Horinko, president of The Horinko Group, said it is ‘‘laudatory’’ that Stanislaus is ‘‘reaching out and saying ‘I need your good advice’ to stakeholders.’’ Horinko heads an environmental consulting and research firm, but was in charge of EPA’s solid waste office from 2001 to 2004.

Among other things, Horinko thinks the office should examine ways to streamline the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act corrective action program and find ‘‘a different measure of success’’ for superfund cleanups.