Stakeholder Involvement at Federal Facilities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office (FFRRO) encourages early and meaningful community involvement in the federal facility cleanup process. Community involvement in decision-making ensures that communities neighboring federal facilities understand and have the opportunity to influence cleanup activities. This engagement can also speed cleanups, reduce costs and increase cleanup effectiveness. EPA also collaborates with tribal associations, environmental and community groups, labor organizations and universities to encourage the consideration of social, cultural and economic factors in the federal facilities cleanup process. FFRRO also works closely with EPA's Superfund community involvement program.

Fostering Community Participation
One method of community involvement includes the Department of Defense (DoD) Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs) and Department of Energy (DOE) Site-Specific Advisory Boards (SSABs), which offer local stakeholders the opportunity to participate in federal facilities cleanups in their community. Advisory boards are only one method, among many, that may be used to involve the community.

Technical Assistance to Communities
Technical Outreach Services for Communities (TOSC) helps citizens better understand the hazardous contamination issues in or near their communities by providing free, independent, non-advocate, technical assistance about contaminated sites. TOSC taps into the technical expertise of the university environmental researchers that will best meet community's needs.

Technical Outreach Services for Native American Communities (TOSNAC) provides technical assistance to American Indians dealing with hazardous substance issues. It provides first contact, needs assessment, initial support and long-term technical support arrangements by regional TOSC programs and other resources, as necessary.

Technical Assistance Grants (TAGs) provide money for activities that help communities participate in decision-making at eligible Superfund sites. An initial grant of up to $50,000 is available to qualified community groups so they can contract with independent technical advisors to interpret and help the community understand technical information about their site.

DoD's Technical Assistance for Public Participation (TAPP) program assists the community members of Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs) and Technical Review Committees in understanding the technical aspects of environmental restoration at DoD installations. The goal of the TAPP program is to encourage community members to participate more fully in the environmental restoration process by providing objective, independent scientific and engineering knowledge regarding cleanup activities and technologies through independent contacts.

Outreach and Training
National outreach efforts include the dissemination of information through newsletters, brochures, pamphlets, success stories, and fact sheets on a variety of federal facility cleanup issues, including community involvement, partnerships with stakeholders, and use of innovative technology. Additional information resources are available.