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Statement Of Ernest W. Bach
Environmental Protection Agency
Aging Initiative Public Listening Session
Tampa, Florida
April 3, 2003
Ernest W. Bach
Executive Director, Florida Action Coalition Team
President, Florida Senior Task Force
Former Senate President/CEO, Florida Silver Haired Legislature
Executive Director, Florida Action Coalition Team
President, Florida Senior Task Force
Former Senate President/CEO, Florida Silver Haired Legislature
Good afternoon Administrator Whitman, distinguished members of the panel. My name is Ernie Bach and I represent the Florida Action Coalition Team, a statewide citizen advocacy organization with thousands of members as well as a number of other senior organizations here in Florida.
I wish to thank the EPA for this listening session, and the opportunity to address these very important issues on behalf of senior citizens.
From what I've heard here today, I can fully understand the serious concern about some very realistic issues and the passions with which they have been expounded.
Indeed, I have teamed with some of these very same folks, on some very similar issues, if in fact not some of the same ones mentioned, however, the agenda for this meeting is "the aging initiative", and the proposed goal for these activities as elucidated by the panel -
To study, to prioritize, and to formulate a national agenda by,
#1 - identifying research gaps on senior health issues;
#2 - preparing for an ever increasing aging society; and
#3 - encouraging older adults to volunteer
Although the message presented by many of the speakers today are right on target relating to serious environmental concerns this country and its citizens face - and although everyone here is probably going in the same direction, not everyone is on the same road going that way - which is not all bad because diversity reaps productivity.
So I'd like to wrap up this well appreciated opportunity to participate, with a few comments, which I hope are productive and insightful, from the senior perspective.
Administrator Whitman - these sessions are an excellent idea, and I hope they prove successful enough to expand them as time and finances permit your department to do so.
"Genuine" interaction between elected officials, bureaucrats and the real people who live, pay for and suffer through the turmoils of life is - in my humble opinion - the basic premise for good government and providing for the needs of citizens. I do not believe there is any substitute for that interaction. And, as evidenced by the earlier mentioned Senior Services America programs involving seniors - who better to do it than seniors?
In that vein, there is a vast and mostly untapped resource available to anyone who seeks it out and has the entrepreneurial skills and means to harvest the crop. And I'm talking about what I call E.K.E., - Experience, Knowledge and Expertise, from elder citizens who are either semi-retired or fully retired.
At age 60 or 65 or even 70 plus, these folks today are not ready to plop into a rocking chair and just watch TV.
These folks today are not ready to just let events which impact them negatively occur around them, without reaching into that bag of E.K.E. and marching to the tune of a different drummer if that's what is necessary.
And these folks truly know the meaning of contributing, participation and volunteerism - and they prove it - by doing it
Also, it doesn't hurt to keep busy so that you don't notice that you're moving a little slower with each passing year.
Programs such as this aging initiative and others that the EPA sponsors through various funding mechanisms such as the SSAI program and others, will stimulate older Americans to continue to work for our communities, including the environment.
One serious problem I have with today's scenario however, is the fact that the money you have informed us has been approved for this aging initiative is one million dollars, which you found prideful, but which I find outrageous. You at the EPA and our state EPA director have just agreed to dump phosphate waste in the gulf of Mexico, at a cost of up to $35 million to taxpayers rather than the problem causing business, and yet this aging initiative receives a drop in the proverbial bucket for assisting millions of folks nationally. What a sad state of affairs in comparison.
In closing, seniors are proven factors in their commitment and their service - and it shall be our pleasure to promote this new program throughout Florida, in co-operation with the EPA in order to make it as successful as possible. Thank you.