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New York City Council Member Stanley E. Michels To Serve on EPA's Local Government Advisory Committee

Release Date: 04/07/1998
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(#98028) New York, NY – Stanley E. Michels, Chair of the New York City Council's Environmental Protection Committee, will serve as a new member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Local Government Advisory Committee. This national advisory group provides the EPA Administrator with advice and recommendations to help build the partnership between EPA and local governments to better protect the nation's environment.

A substantial part of EPA's mission involves developing and enforcing Federal regulations to protect and improve the environment. Local governments are essential partners in this mission. Serving as both regulators and regulated entities, they implement major environmental regulations and provide community services such as drinking water treatment, waste water treatment and solid waste management. Local governments also play a key role in addressing environmental issues such as clean air, clean water, and sustainable development.

"The Local Government Advisory Committee gives representatives of local governments a direct voice in how best to address the environmental protection needs of the country's cities and communities," said Jeanne M. Fox, EPA Regional Administrator. "I am very pleased that Council Member Michels will have the opportunity to work closely with us on this effort. As Chair of the City Council's Environmental Protection Committee, Stan Michels is a leader in advancing environmental legislation that protects the environment and people of New York City."

Council Member Michels, whose district is in northern Manhattan, has served in the Council since 1978 and is the chair of the Manhattan delegation. As Chair of the Environment Protection Committee, he has played a leading role in the city's recycling and waste reduction program and in the protection of its water supply. The author of the city's precedent-setting lay on childhood lead poisoning prevention, Council Member Michels is also responsible for laws that make "unreasonable noise" illegal, limit excessive noise from car alarms and restrict smoking in public places.

The Local Government Advisory Committee was formed in 1993. The group has provided recommendations to the Agency on a broad range of topics including communications, flexibility, strategic planning, regulatory innovation and reform, environmental protection tools, pollution prevention, new technologies, and roles of various levels of government. Council Member Michels will be one of 31 representatives from different regions of the country that will meet on a regular basis with EPA. Michels will serve on the Committee through January of 2000.

For more information contact:
Peter Brandt, Intergovernmental Affairs Branch
EPA Region 2
290 Broadway
NY, NY 10007-1866
Voice: 212-637-3654 FAX: 212-637-3561 E-Mail: brandt.peter@epamail.epa.gov