MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT:  Implementation of the RCRA Expanded Public         
          Participation Rule

FROM:     Elliott Laws, Assistant Administrator

TO:       Regional Administrators
          Regions I - X

     The Agency will soon take a major step forward in its
effort to promote public involvement and environmental justice
by promulgating the "RCRA Expanded Public Participation Rule."

     The final rule will improve the RCRA permitting process
by:  (1) providing earlier opportunities for public
involvement in the process and (2) expanding public access to
information throughout the permitting process and the
operational lives of facilities.  The rule's requirements
include:  a facility-led pre-application meeting; agency
notice at application submittal; agency notice of impending
trial burns; and a provision for information repositories. 
  
Immediate Implementation

     While the effective date of the rule will not arrive
until six months after promulgation, I am recommending that
all EPA Regions start meeting the goals of the final rule as
soon as possible.  The Regions, in turn, should encourage the
States and individual RCRA facilities to meet these goals even
as States are pursuing authorization for components (e.g.,
this rule, BIF permitting, and corrective action) of the RCRA
program.
  
     Early implementation of the final rule will allow the
public to benefit immediately from the rule's new and
important procedures.  This early implementation will be
useful for the entire program and help the Agency fulfill its
commitment to  meaningful public involvement in RCRA
permitting.  

     I would like to express my appreciation to the Regions
for working to achieve these goals since the Agency proposed
the rule in June 1994.  We are encouraged by the positive
reception these new standards have received, and look forward
to full implementation. 

Guidance on Equitable and Flexible Public Participation

     The development of the final rule involved a balance
between broader, more equitable public participation and
flexibility for individual permit writers, facilities, and
communities to adopt the most appropriate, site-specific
approaches.  Some of the principles underlying the final rule
would have been difficult to prescribe through regulation.  We
decided that, instead of trying to achieve these goals through
regulatory language, the public interest would be served best
by encouraging permitting agencies and permit applicants to
adopt these principles through guidance.

     Consistent with this approach, you should abide by the
following principles in your permitting efforts:

     -  Using all reasonable means to ensure that all segments
        of the population have an equal opportunity to       
        participate in the permitting process and have equal 
        access to information in the process.  These means may 
        include, but are not limited to, multilingual notices 
        and fact sheets, as well as translators, in areas    
        where the affected community contains significant    
        numbers of people who do not speak English as a first 
        language; 

     -  Addressing environmental justice concerns, in part, by
        expanding access to information (particularly in a   
        multilingual format) and opportunities for public    
        input (through tools such as information             
        repositories); and

     -  Going beyond the regulatory requirements, where      
        appropriate, to provide for a level of public        
        involvement that is commensurate with public interest 
        in the permitting issue.

I also encourage State permitting agencies and permit
applicants to adopt these principles in their dealings with
the RCRA program.  These policies will improve the RCRA
permitting program and promote the Agency's commitments in the
area of equitable public participation.

     We are providing further guidance for implementing the
final rule and this policy directive in our update of the 1993
RCRA Public Involvement Manual (EPA530-R-93-006, September
1993).  We anticipate issuing the new guidance document in
Spring 1996.  The revised manual will provide guidance to
regulated facilities and affected communities, as well as
permitting agencies.
   
     If you need any additional information about the rule,
the policies in this memorandum, or the upcoming guidance
manual please contact Patricia Buzzell of my staff at (703)
308-8632.

cc:  Michael Shapiro
     Linda Garczynski, OSPS
     Matt Hale
     Frank McAlister
     Patricia Buzzell
     Fred Chanania
     Paul Bangser, OGC
     Hazardous Waste Management Division Directors, Regions I 
       - X
     Hazardous Waste Management Division Branch Chiefs,      
       Regions I - X
     RCRA Public Involvement Network
     Lance Miller, Permits Improvement Team