News Releases from Region 06

Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Commissioner Dennis Scott named to National EPA Advisory Subcommittee

DALLAS – (May 11, 2018) Today, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the appointment of Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Commissioner Dennis Scott of Lake Charles, La., to the Small Community Advisory Subcommittee (SCAS). The 17-member subcommittee helps EPA develop robust partnerships with small communities to address environmental and public health issues.

Small communities, which are communities with less than 10,000 people, face unique issues such as critical water and water infrastructure needs and limited administrative capacity to address environmental and public health challenges. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 60 million people, or one-fifth of the U.S. population, live in small or rural communities, but occupy 97 percent of the land area. EPA is committed — in the spirit of cooperative federalism — to achieving cost reductions and distributing resources to improve public health and the environment in these small and rural communities.
 

“EPA is committed to helping small and rural communities improve environmental and public health protections and make much-needed repairs to local infrastructure,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “I look forward to working with SCAS to enhance EPA’s efforts to assist small communities.”

 “Commissioner Scott will add great value to this committee with his knowledge of issues facing counties in the Gulf Coast,” said EPA Regional Administrator Anne L. Idsal. “His expertise in coastal erosion and land use and his deep familiarity with the region will be an asset to the committee.”

Commissioner Scott served as the president of Louisiana Parishes Against Coastal Erosion and is now in his second term as vice president. He is a committee member of National Association of Counties’ Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee and Gulf States Counties and Parishes Caucus, where he is an immediate past president. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry and the Louisiana Army National Guard, as well as a business owner. He also served on President Obama’s National Ocean Council Governance Coordinating Committee.

The panel was selected based on their demonstrated leadership experience, proven record of service to their communities, and involvement in effective environmental protection services and programs at the community, state, and federal level.

The Small Community Advisory Subcommittee was established by EPA in 1996 to advise the Administrator on environmental issues of concern to the residents of smaller communities. It is a subcommittee of the Local Government Advisory Committee, chartered in 1993 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, to provide independent policy advice to the EPA Administrator. The subcommittee intends to meet in early summer to begin their work.

For more information and to see the full list of newly appointed SCAS members, please visit http://www.epa.gov/ocir/scas_lgac/lgac_index.htm.

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