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EPA WILL HELP LOCAL GOVERNMENTS MEET ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS
Release Date: 07/18/2002
Contact Information:
Environmental News
FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2002
EPA WILL HELP LOCAL GOVERNMENTS MEET ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS
Robin Woods 202-564-7841/woods.robin@epa.gov
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 WisconsinStout
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 # 404B894-0968
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
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