Review of Environmental Protection Agency Public Participation Policies

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The EPA Administrator, in EPA Report 100-R-99-006, dated July 1999, entitled ``Aiming for Excellence--Actions to Encourage Stewardship and Accelerate Environmental Progress, Report of the EPA Innovations Task Force,'' pledges the Agency to, ``Evaluate and update EPA's public participation requirements. We will assess how well our regulations and policies ensure public participation in decision making. We will report on what we find and develop an action plan to upgrade requirements and fill gaps.'' EPA has convened an internal workgroup to conduct a review of EPA public participation regulations and policies in accordance with this pledge. The workgroup is scheduled to give a report to the Administrator by January 31, 2000, which will contain an inventory of EPA regulations and policies regarding public participation and an initial assessment of how well these regulations and policies ensure public participation in decision making. The report will also contain an action plan to update requirements and fill gaps. One of the primary policies being reviewed is the Final EPA Policy on Public Participation (Federal Register/Vol. 46/no. 12/Monday, January 19, 1981), herein referred to as