June 24, 1996

SUBJECT:	Summary of June 13, 1996 Communication and Outreach Work Group meeting

I.	PURPOSE

A Communication & Outreach Work Group teleconference took place on June 13, 1996 to discuss the May 30 in-person meeting, fact sheets, and schedule of upcoming meetings. Following is a summary of the discussion and proposed action items.

II.	PARTICIPANTS

Work Group members in attendance:

Tom Curran, Co-chair, OAQPS/ITG

Ron White, Co-chair, ALA

Jan Kleeman, OAQPS/ITG

Stephanie Cooper, OTC - for Bruce Carhart

Caryl Pfeiffer, Kentucky Utilities Co.

Nancy Seidman, Massachusetts DEP

Quin Shea, NMA

Scott Thomas, Oklahoma DEQ

Work Group members not in Attendance:

Tad Aburn, MDE

Alice Collingwood, PSAPCA

Kathy Ellis, DOD

Nancy Kruger, STAPPA/ALAPCO

Veronica Kun, NRDC West

Richard Paul, AAMA

Sandy Stash, ARCO

Other EPA attendees: Bill Hamilton (Designated Federal Official), Christine Sansevero, Karen Borel (Region IV), Susan Bullard, and Barbara Parzygnat.

Eric Schweitzer, EC/R Incorporated (EPA Contractor support)

III.	MEETING SUMMARY

Action items

1)	Tom Curran will post a news alert on the TTN to direct people to the maps when they have been posted. The maps will depict the impacts of different ozone NAAQS options (e.g., 1-hour, 8-hour averaging, etc.) by county, based on 1993-1995 data.

2)	Tom Curran and Ron White will get on the agenda for the next Coordination Group meeting to ask if there should be a broader Communication & Outreach effort.

3)	Two public meetings on the ozone/PM NAAQS ANPR are scheduled to take place on July 17 in Philadelphia, and July 25 in St. Louis.

4)	Ron White and Nancy Seidman will send minor editorial comments to Jan Kleeman on the FACA and NAAQS fact sheets. EPA is preparing a fact sheet on regional haze and Jan Kleeman will send members a draft when it is ready.

5)	Jan Kleeman will locate the July 11 downlink flyer and send copies to members and people on the contact lists.

6)	Jan Kleeman will send a copy of the PM Staff Paper fact sheet to Ron White.

Other items to note:

1)	Schedule for upcoming meetings and teleconference calls:

6/27	12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT	(202) 260-8330 (#6978)

There will be no teleconference meetings on July 11 and July 25. The July 11 meeting conflicts with the CAA update satellite downlink, and the July 25 meeting is too close to the next in-person meeting scheduled to take place on Monday, July 29 in Crystal City, Virginia. The July 29 meeting will take place at the Sheraton Crystal City, located at 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway. The Sheraton's phone number is (703) 486-1111. The FACA Subcommittee will meet on July 30 and the CAAAC will meet on July 31.

2)	The National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone and Particulate Matter Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) Federal Register notice was signed on May 31, 1996 and was published in the Federal Register on June 12, 1996.

3)	The ad hoc group formed to work on the IIP principles as a result of Subcommittee discussion will be chaired by Sally Shaver and have John Taunton, Shawn Kendall, Ted Russell, Beverly Hartsock, and David Hawkins as members. They expect to have their first conference call on June 18 and an in- person meeting on June 20 or 21.

4)	The annual Clean Air Act update satellite downlink will take place on July 11 from approximately 12:00 - 5:00 EDT. It will reach approximately 100 sites and is free to the public. There will be about 1.5 hours dedicated to ozone NAAQS material.

IV.	SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION

Follow up to May 30 Subcommittee meeting

Public meetings

Two public meetings on the ozone/PM NAAQS ANPR are scheduled to take place on July 17 in Philadelphia and July 25 in St. Louis. The meeting format is still being discussed. It is possible that Mary Nichols will co-chair both of these meetings. The other co-chairs may be the EPA Regional Administrators for these two regions. There will be presentations by EPA on health effects and FACA. After that there will be a series of other presentations followed by comment periods. The intent is a focused but informal atmosphere. Mary Nichols wants these meetings to be an opportunity for informal information exchange.

Caryl Pfeiffer noted that the ANPR mentions public hearings. Susan Bullard suggested that public information materials be made available at these meetings. Tom Curran suggested using the Work Group's key audience contact lists for invitations to the public meetings. It is possible there will be more public meetings in the future.

Availability of maps

Tom Curran viewed draft maps of the impacts of different ozone NAAQS options on June 12. Ten rural counties are still being analyzed. The maps and data will be posted on the TTN by June 21 and will depict data from the 1993-1995 period, which will illustrate where counties fall under different standard options. Those familiar with the API database should not see any surprises. Tom Curran will post a news alert on the TTN to direct people to the maps when they have been posted. The maps will also be available at the public meetings.

Communication & Outreach Work Group charge

Ron White noted that the ANPR's description of Communication & Outreach's charge is quite broad and asked members' opinions on whether the Work Group's focus should be expanded further. Is the current program "talking to ourselves?" Should there be a bigger campaign directed towards the general public? Is it realistic to greatly expand the Work Group's plan beyond the four target audiences and specified tools? Should the Work Group wait until the Subcommittee directs it to do this and provides the necessary funds? Susan Bullard likes the idea of broadening the Work Group's scope if the Subcommittee provides the resources. Without the resources, an expanded scope will be a recipe for failure. Another member mentioned that the Work Group's charge has always been broad but the Work Group has chosen a more focused approach.

Ron White noted that the Work Group has tried to focus on the new health information driving the potential new standard and the implications of new NAAQS on health, costs, and benefits. That is what drove the Work Group's timetable, mechanisms, satellite downlinks, and printed materials. The Work Group needs to move quickly if it decides to make a significant change in direction, which will involve ascertaining the available resources. He does not want to develop a broader plan that has no chance of being implemented. Tom Curran concurred with this last point. He said EPA will need to talk with management about the question of resource availability and asked the Work Group whether it is willing to be more ambitious if the resources become available.

Ron White noted that he did not hear general concurrence from the Subcommittee at large concerning the suggestion to undertake a much larger Communication & Outreach effort. He said that he does not have the time to implement an expanded effort and sees the Work Group's role as creating a plan and providing guidance. The implementation of such a plan will need to be carried out by another party. Caryl Pfeiffer said the other Work Groups do not appear to have given Communication & Outreach much thought. They seemed to be more immediately concerned with resolving the confusion about overlapping products.

Susan Bullard asked what the process is to determine who will answer the question of what money is available for an increased Communication & Outreach program. Requests could either go through Susan Bullard's office, or through John Seitz. Ron White asked about the availability of the money hinted at in the last Subcommittee meeting. Susan Bullard asked for joint OAQPS/OMS funding to undertake an expanded FACA Communication & Outreach effort during the 1997 105 grant process.

Ron White said the Work Group can either decide what it wants to do about enlarging its focus now, or wait for input from the Subcommittee before making any major change in direction. After some discussion, he suggested the Work Group proceed with the current program, while simultaneously exploring resource availability for a greatly expanded effort. If the money becomes available, the Work Group can reevaluate its plan at that time. Tom Curran and Ron White will get on the agenda for the next Coordination Group meeting to ask if there should be a broader Communication & Outreach effort. If the Coordination Group endorses this idea, Tom Curran and others will take their feedback to EPA management. Susan Bullock noted that whatever the Coordination Group's feedback is, EPA must do all it can to ensure that the NAAQS is successful.

Private PR firm

It is legal for the FACA Subcommittee to hire a PR firm. Susan Bullard stressed the importance of deciding what it is that they should do beforehand. A comprehensive strategy should be developed in advance. There is sensitivity about hiring a PR firm for a potentially controversial program.

Reactions to Subcommittee meeting

Jan Kleeman began the discussion by listing several ideas that have been suggested as means of improving the Subcommittee meetings. Some of the ideas being discussed include possibly having a professional facilitator, creating more structure in the Subcommittee meetings, providing less time for Work Group reports and more time for covering issues, and moving to 2-day meetings.

Tom Curran noted that some think the process is becoming too open, but John Seitz liked it and thought the discussions were valuable. He especially liked the articulation of views, as exemplified by David Hawkins remarks. It is important to get people's views out on the table. Mary Nichols liked the meeting as well. She wants to be further involved in the FACA process. However, the free-flowing discussion was not conducive to producing much in the way of tangible results. The question now is whether future Subcommittee meetings need more emphasis on producing results.

Bill Hamilton clarified that the ad hoc group formed out of the Subcommittee's discussion will be looking at all the IIP principles. The ad hoc group will be chaired by Sally Shaver and will have John Taunton, Shawn Kendall, Ted Russell, Beverly Hartsock, and David Hawkins as members. They expect to have their first conference call on June 18 and an in-person meeting on June 20 or 21.

Ron White expressed frustration at the sparse attendance towards the end of the meeting and Tom Curran concurred. The material covered in this period was valuable, e.g., the maps of model runs on ozone. He suggested re-structuring the meetings in the future to ensure better attendance.

Fact sheets

Jan Kleeman has not received any comments on the NAAQS and FACA fact sheets. The fact sheets on ozone and PM health effects are almost done and she would like feedback on those as well. Tom Curran said that the same people will be producing other fact sheets in the future, so it is worthwhile to give them feedback. There was a mix up concerning a fact sheet on the Staff Paper a member obtained at the Subcommittee meeting: it is not one produced for use by this Work Group. However, Jan Kleeman will send Ron White a copy of it for his own use.

Ron White and Nancy Seidman both expressed satisfaction with the fact sheets on FACA and the NAAQS and will send minor editorial comments to Jan Kleeman. Ron White found that the fact sheets do a good job of targeting the selected audiences including State/local agencies and MPOs: people with involvement in air issues that are not experts. Jan Kleeman mentioned that EPA is preparing a fact sheet on regional haze and will send members a draft when it is ready.

Upcoming meeting schedule

There will be a teleconference meeting on June 27 from 12:30 - 2:00 EDT as scheduled. The next meeting after that will be the in-person meeting on Monday, July 29 at the Sheraton Crystal City, 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway, Crystal City, Virginia. The Sheraton's phone number is (703) 486-1111. Because the July 11 meeting would conflict with the first satellite downlink, it will not be held. The July 25 teleconference is also being canceled because it is only a few days before the next in-person meeting. Ron White will not be on the June 27 call.

Satellite downlink

The annual Clean Air Act update satellite downlink will take place on July 11; from 12:00 - 5:00 EDT. It will reach approximately 100 sites and is free to the public. There will be approximately 1.5 hours dedicated to ozone NAAQS material. Karen Borel mentioned that flyers on the downlink will be available in the future but she has not seen them yet. Jan Kleeman will locate the downlink flyer and send copies to members and people on the contact lists.

Other

The Clean Air conference set to take place from September 17-19, 1996 in Colorado is eager to have a person come talk. Meeting representatives would like to have a speaker's name and title as soon as possible to put in the preliminary schedule. They want a speaker from EPA to focus on the NAAQS.