EPA Will Help Local Governments Meet Environmental Goals 7/18/2002
From: Robin Woods of the EPA, 202-564-7841, e-mail: woods.robin@epa.gov WASHINGTON, July 18 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water has selected eight organizations from across the nation to become Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Local Resource Centers where local governments can go to make their operations more environmentally friendly. "What this means is local communities can treat their wastewater more effectively and efficiently and reduce costs to taxpayers," said G. Tracy Mehan, Assistant Administrator for Water. "EMS is a powerful management tool that in the end helps the local citizens enjoy a cleaner and healthier environment." For years private industry has been using the EMS management tool to reduce pollution and protect public health and now local governments can use EMSs in the same way. These EMS Resource Centers will be located in existing academic or other non-profit institutions that have a proven track record of providing high quality environmental assistance. EPA will be working with the Global Environment And Technology Foundation to help local agencies adopt the EMS tool for their operations. Each center will also share information on its activities through a publicly available on-line National Clearinghouse of EMS information for public agencies. This clearinghouse is available at http://www.peercenter.net. According to Larry Chalfan from the Zero Waste Alliance, one of the organizations selected to be Local Resource Center, "As an EMS Local Resource Center, Zero Waste Alliance can realize its mission of supporting organizations in the creation of a more sustainable future. This means we must try to make EMS equally as appealing and accessible to public agencies as private agencies and we intend to do just that." The local Environmental Management Systems Resource Centers are: Purdue University Indiana Clean Manufacturing Technology and Safe Materials Institute School of Civil Engineering 2655 Yeager Road West Lafayette, Indiana 47906 Phone: 765-463-4749 Contact: Dr. Lee Corson University of Wisconsin -- Stout EDA University Center 103 1st Avenue W Menominee, Wisconsin 54751 Phone: 715-232-5023 Contact: Joe Benkowski University of Florida Center for Training, Research, and Education for Environmental Occupations 3900 SW 63rd Boulevard Gainesville, Florida 32608 Phone: 352-392-9570 Contact: Dr. William Engel Georgia Institute of Technology Center for International Standards and Quality 143 OKeefe Building Atlanta, Georgia 30332 Phone: 404-894-0968 Contact: Paolo Chiappina University of Massachusetts at Lowell One University Avenue Lowell, Massachusetts 01854 Phone: 978-934-2635 Contact: Dr. Robert Wagner Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission Small Business and Environmental Assistance Division P.O. Box 13087 Austin, Texas 78711 Phone: 512-239-5318 Contact: Israel Anderson Virginia Tech University Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement 110 Shenandoah Avenue Roanoke, Virginia 24016 Phone: 540-853-8276 Contact: Robert Herbert The Zero Waste Alliance One World Trade Center 121 SW Salmon Street Suite 210 Portland, Oregon 97204 Phone: 503-279-9383 Contact: Larry Chalfan |