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Citizens Advisory Committee
Meeting Summary, October 26 and 28, 2004
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
U.S. EPA Gulf of Mexico Program
Stennis Space Center, MS
Work Assignment No. 1-01
Prepared by Battelle
397 Washington Street
Duxbury, MA 02332
(781) 934-0571
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Tuesday, October 26, 2004
- Roll Call - Opening Remarks (1)
- Election of Officers (1)
- CAC Participation in Break-out Session and Management Committee Meeting (1)
- Miscellaneous Discussions (2)
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Thursday, October 28, 2004
- Roll Call - Opening Remarks (3)
- Recap of Focus Team Meetings (3)
- Attendance and CAC Vacancies (4)
- Review and Approval of July Meeting Summary (4)
- Agenda Items for Spring Meeting (5)
- Meeting Wrap Up (5)
LIST OF APPENDICES
Gulf of Mexico Program
October 26 and 28, 2004
Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting
Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, LA
The October CAC meeting was held in New Orleans, LA in conjunction with the Gulf of Mexico Program Management Committee Meeting and the Annual Gulf of Mexico Program Comprehensive Meeting. The CAC met on Tuesday morning, October 26, 2004 from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. prior to the Management Committee Meeting and then again on Thursday October 28, 2004 from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. following the Annual Comprehensive Meeting.
Tuesday, October 26
1. Roll Call - Opening Remarks
Members Present:
Mr. Brian Grantham, Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chair; Mr. Robert
Crowe, CAC Vice-Chair; Ms. Casi L. Callaway; Ms. Eva Golson; Mr. Paul
Maclean; Ms. Jean Westbrook; Mr. J. R. Wilson; Mr. Thomas Schultz; Ms.
Jenell Tompkins (Interim); Mr. Ned Meister; Mr. James W. Kachtick; Mr.
David Allex (Interim); Ms. Eliska Morgan (Member-at-Large)
Members Absent:
Mr. Chris Nelson; Mr. Scottie Butler (Interim); Ms. Heidi Lovett; Mr.
Robert Jones; Ms. Becky Clayton (Interim); Mr. McChord Carrico (Interim);
Mr. Donald Lirette; Mr. Don Waller; Ms. Patty Caranna; Ms. Linda Shead
(Interim)
Guests Present:
Ms. Gloria Car, Gulf of Mexico Program (GMP); Mr. Drew Puffer, GMP; Ms.
Jennifer Field, Battelle
Mr. Brian Grantham, the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) chair, called
the meeting to order. The meeting agenda and list of attendees are included
as Appendix A and Appendix B, respectively.
2. Election of Officers
The CAC elected new officers during this brief morning session. Mr. Jim Kachtick of the CAC nominating committee put forth the motion that Robert Crowe serve as Chairman, Paul Maclean serve as Vice-Chair, and Patty Caranna as Secretary again. All CAC members present unanimously accepted Robert and Paul as the new Chair and Vice-chair, respectively and Patty will keep her post as Secretary. Mr. Allex thanked Mr. Grantham for serving as chair for the past two years.
3. CAC Participation in Break-out Session and Management Committee Meeting
Ms. Gloria Car gave a brief overview of the goals and objectives of the break-out sessions. CAC members asked if agendas were available for each of the break-out sessions. Ms. Car mentioned that the individual focus team leads were working on their agendas up until the meeting, and they were not able to get them out ahead of time.
Ms. Calloway questioned what would be discussed in the Public Health break-out group because it always appears to have two distinct pieces. Mr. Kachtick noted that he sits in on the Public Health Focus Team and they often have three distinct topics that are covered (i.e., mercury, bacterial source tracking, and shellfish). Several CAC members mentioned that they would float between the different break-out groups. Mr. Kachtick suggested that if any CAC member stayed in one particular session to please be prepared to summarize that session for the other CAC members.
Mr. Grantham asked the group if there was anything they would like him to mention during the update he was scheduled to give to the Management Committee at 9:40 following the CAC meeting. Several members stated that they are disappointed the Executive Order has yet to be signed. They also suggested mentioning how pleased they were with the EPA Clean Water Act “Basics” that was presented at the March CAC meeting. Several other members agreed that this was a great class and they would like to have more of those. Mr. Kachtick suggested that perhaps a “Wetlands 101” could be scheduled for the spring meeting. Mr. Puffer offered to check with Region 4 to see if there was somebody who could give a short presentation on the Wetlands issues.
Mr. Grantham also stated that the Management Committee wants to know about vacant posts within the CAC. He noted that there are still currently one vacancy each in Florida (business), Louisiana (tourism) and Texas (fisheries). It was mentioned that Texas may soon have two vacancies. Ms. Callaway suggested that the person to fill the Florida vacancy for a business representative be involved in real estate.
4. Miscellaneous Discussions
Before the meeting concluded, Ms. Westbrook submitted a motion to change
the submittal process for the meeting minutes. She would like to see Battelle
submit the minutes to Mr. Puffer for review and then have Mr. Puffer distribute
them to the CAC members for comment. Mr. Kachtick pointed out that the
CAC needs to have a specified period of time within which to make comments.
If no comments are received by that time period, the GMP and Battelle
are to assume there are no comments. Mr. Puffer mentioned that this would
be acceptable and the CAC approved Ms. Westbrook’s motion.
It was noted that the Gulf of Mexico Program Office (GMPO) now has a Director
(Mr. Bryon Griffith was appointed from Acting Director to Director) and
the CAC questioned who the Deputy Director was to be. Ms. Car mentioned
that the GMPO is currently advertising for this position as well as for
Mr. Bill Holland’s former position. The CAC suggested that they
would like for the program office to speak to the CAC members about the
different roles/responsibilities of the staff at the GMPO so they know
who to interact with. It was suggested that this could be on the agenda
for the spring meeting.
A question was asked about McChord Carrico, whose name appears as an Interim Business/Industry representative for Louisiana. Neither Ms. Westbrook nor Mr. Maclean knew anything about him and Mr. Puffer was asked to research the source of his nomination.
Ms. Westbrook stated that she has not been receiving copies of press releases or any other products from the Communications office. According to policy they should be sent to the CAC members. Other members said they do receive this information. Mr. Puffer agreed to check into this.
To follow up from action items from the last meeting, Mr. Allex mentioned that he spoke with Ambassador Garza of Mexico. The Ambassador is interested in sitting down and talking to the GMP Director, Mr. Griffith, about how to get Mexico and the U.S. working together.
Thursday, October 28
1. Roll Call - Opening Remarks
Members Present:
Mr. Brian Grantham; Mr. Robert Crowe; Ms. Casi L. Callaway; Ms Eva Golson;
Mr. Paul Maclean; Mr. J. R. Wilson; Mr. Lee Harbison (Alternate); Mr.
Thomas Schultz; Mr. James W. Kachtick
Members Absent:
Mr. Chris Nelson; Mr. Scottie Butler (Interim); Ms. Heidi Lovett; Mr.
Robert Jones; Ms. Becky Clayton (Interim); Mr. McChord Carrico (Interim);
Ms. Jean Westbrook; Mr. Donald Lirette; Mr. Don Waller; Ms Patty Caranna;;
Ms. Jenell Tompkins (Interim); Mr. Ned Meister; Ms. Linda Shead (Interim),
Mr. David Allex (Interim)
Guests Present:
Ms. Gloria Car, Gulf of Mexico Program (GMP); Ms. Jennifer Field, Battelle;
Mr. Michael Waguespach
Mr. Robert Crowe, the new CAC Chair, called the meeting to order. He asked that Mr. Michael Waguespach introduce himself. Mr. Waguespach is currently an attorney in the New Orleans area. He previously worked as an environmental engineer and has been speaking to Mr. Griffith about getting involved with the Gulf of Mexico Program. Mr. Griffith suggested he sit in on this meeting of the CAC.
Mr. Crowe then opened the floor to Mr. Tom Herrington who wanted to address
the CAC to inform them of a potential International Conference on Molluscan
Shellfish Safety in the Gulf Coast region. Mr. Herrington mentioned that
he attended the 2004 conference in Galway, Ireland and that this conference
would be a great venue to showcase Gulf seafood. He mentioned that the
next meeting will be held in 2006, 2007 or 2009 and the location would
likely be Biloxi, MS. The exact date of the meeting (’06, ’07
or ’09) would be available soon. Mr. Kachtick asked what type of
support from the CAC Mr. Herrington was requesting. Mr. Herrington stated
that he would leave it up to the CAC to decide how to offer support, but
that letting people know about the conference and some type of financial
support would be helpful. Mr. Herington mentioned that the conference
would likely bring in approximately 800 participants. CAC members asked
that this topic be an agenda item for the upcoming spring meeting.
2. Recap of Focus Team Meetings
Mr. Paul Maclean opened by stating that he has served on the CAC for 12 years and he is very excited that the entire program appears to be ready to take a big leap forward and that many eyes around the country will be on the Gulf region. Mr. Maclean reinforced that the CAC has a unique and excellent opportunity to become more involved by helping to evaluate and award projects to specific focus areas. He stated that he personally will take a more active role in facilitating where the projects come from and where they go. He re-emphasized that the big effort of the meeting was on whether or not the Program is meeting its objectives and if not, how do we meet them. Ms. Callaway also mentioned the excitement of the meetings, but stated her disappointment that Alabama had poor representation at the meeting. She said that the CAC members for Alabama are active and it should be their responsibility to get their representatives to attend meetings.
Mr. Kachtick stated a concern that water quality projects may not necessarily be matching the prioritized water quality segments stated in the GMPO’s goals/objectives. The CAC would like to know where each of their respective states currently stands on water quality issues in terms of their impacted segments from the 303d list. Ms. Car mentioned that the GMPO is trying to get a better handle on this 303d list. It is a rolling list and things are continually dropping off and continually coming on. All would like to know which segments are coming off the list due to projects being implemented in those regions.
Mr. Crowe reported that the Monitoring, Modeling, and Research Committee (MMRC) met and that the break-out group for the MMRC was asked to consider ways to rebuild the MMRC. Mr. Crowe mentioned the importance of this group and that they are doing good work. He also suggested that this group will be influential, given the direction in which the Gulf region is heading.
Before moving on to the next topic, the CAC was asked if they had any advice to give the GMPO on the Comprehensive Meeting. The CAC suggested that it would benefit them to have agendas and meeting materials ahead of time. Ms. Car mentioned that the GMP will make this effort, but they were simply overloaded with this particular meeting. Additionally, EPA has been asked to try to reduce paper and go to the “greening” method of distribution by making all the information available on their website. Ms. Car mentioned that CAC members should definitely check the website prior to meetings for any information that may be posted there.
CAC members wondered if the Comprehensive Meeting will be scheduled differently in the future, since it is generally held in June and this year it was held in October. Ms. Car stated that it depends on many things including hotel availability, funding etc. Several of the CAC members mentioned that they found the October timeframe to be a better time than the summer months.
3. Attendance and CAC Vacancies
Mr. Kachtick mentioned that in order to maximize the CAC’s impact, the problem with CAC attendance needs to be revisited. Mr. Kachtick indicated that we need to have alternates for the spots that are currently vacant. There is no reason the delegation within a particular state cannot come up with names of people to nominate for these vacancies. There also needs to be a mechanism to get the folks to come to these meetings. If they don’t have a good reason for not attending, then they need to be asked if they still want to participate. Mr. Kachtick mentioned that the CAC Chair should work with the GMPO to identify members that do not wish to participate any longer. Because things appear to be taking off rapidly, Mr. Kachtick emphasized that now it is more important than ever to have this participation.
Ms. Car stated that perhaps it was time to think about position announcements, or investigating other ways to find people to serve and get these positions filled. She did mention that now that Mr. Griffith is the Director of the GMP, he will be traveling and meeting with the different states. Ms. Callaway mentioned that it might be good for the CAC members to attend meetings with Mr. Griffith. It was also mentioned that if the Executive Order gets signed, the CAC will have more tools at their disposal to get new members onboard.
CAC members mentioned that this issue needs to be on the agenda for the spring meeting. However, it was suggested that perhaps each of the states should begin thinking about how to take action and come to the meeting prepared to discuss with the group what steps/actions they have taken to remedy the situation.
4. Review and Approval of July Meeting Summary
Eva Golson mentioned that she attended the July meeting but was not included in the meeting summary as having attended. Ms. Golson recommended that this be changed and approved the remainder of the summary. A motion was made that the July meeting summary be approved. All agreed that the summary be approved.
5. Agenda Items for Spring Meeting
The date of the spring meeting is not currently set; however the GMPO will let the CAC members know as soon as possible. The meeting will be held in Pascagoula, MS. Mr. J.R. Wilson mentioned that he is working with a local grass roots organization, the Pascagoula River Alliance, to check into the feasibility of a ½ day field trip on the Pascagoula River.
During the course of the CAC meetings on Tuesday and Thursday, CAC members identified many potential topics for consideration at the spring meeting. These topics are listed in no particular order below:
- A “Wetlands 101” seminar
- Presentation on the roles and responsibilities of the GMPO staff
- International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety (to be held in Biloxi, MS in either 2006, 2007 or 2009)
- What steps have each of the states taken to address the CAC participation and vacancy issue
- Bacterial Source Tracking
- Report on the LA Statewide Mercury Workgroup (LA DEQ considers this an initiative to gather information to develop an action plan by spring)
- Success Story of State Projects (presentation of several of the successful projects)
6. Meeting Wrap Up
Several members of the CAC mentioned that the MAP from the program office was out of date. The question was asked as to whether the GMPO can update this map and distribute it. The GMPO will take this as an action.
Following the proposal that the LA Statewide Mercury Workgroup be considered for a topic at the spring meeting, Dr. Carlton Hunt from Battelle mentioned that the New York Academy of Sciences had recently published a report that gives a nice overview of the mercury issue including sources and cycling in the environment. Battelle took this as an action to email the link (and/or document) to the CAC members.
A motion to adjourn was made and the CAC concluded at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 28, 2004.
Appendix A - Agenda
| Tuesday, October 26 | |
|---|---|
| 8:00–9:00 | Opening Remarks/Introductions
|
| 9:30–4:45 | Attend Management Committee Meeting |
| Wednesday, October 27 | |
| 10:00–12:00 | Comprehensive Meeting of the Teams
|
| 1:00–5:00 | Participate in Break-out Sessions
|
| Thursday, October 28 | |
| 8:30–1:00 | Break-out sessions continue |
| 1:00–2:00 | Comprehensive Meeting of the Teams |
CAC Reconvenes |
|
| 2:15–3:00 | Recap of focus team/committee meetings from previous days |
| 3:00–3:30 | Wrap-up
|
| 3:30 | Adjourn |
Appendix B - Attendee List
| ALABAMA | ||
| Agriculture Business/Industry Environment |
Tourism Member-At-Large |
|
| LOUISIANA | ||
| Agriculture |
Environment
|
|
| MISSISSIPPI | ||
| Business/Industry Mr. Lee Harbison (Alternate) |
Fisheries Tourism |
|
| TEXAS | ||
| Agriculture Mr. Ned A. Meister Director, Commodities & Regulatory Activities Texas Farm Bureau P. O. Box 2689 Waco, TX 76702-2689 FedEx: 7420 Fish Pond Road Waco, Texas 76710 (254) 751-2457 Fax: (254) 751-2671 Email: nmeister@txfb.org Secretary’s Email: dphillips@txfb.org Business/Industry |
Tourism |
|
| GULF OF MEXICO PROGRAM | ||
| Ms. Gloria Car Associate Director for Administration Gulf of Mexico Program Office Mail Code: EPA/GMPO Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000 (228) 688-2421 Email: car.gloria@epa.gov |
Mr. Drew Puffer |
|
| BATTELLE | ||
| Ms. Jennifer Field Battelle 1400 Centrepark Blvd. Suite 1005 West Palm Beach, FL 33401 (561) 656-6303 Fax: (561) 683-0126 Email: fieldj@battelle.org |
||
Appendix C - Follow-up Action Item Summary
| ACTION REQUESTED | LEAD(s): | STATUS: |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Update MAPs (membership directory, biosketches, website updates, meeting summaries, etc.) | GMP/M. Manley | Spring 2005 meeting |
| 2. Organize discussion within state delegations about vacancies | GMP | Pending |
| 3. Meeting minutes from Management and Policy Review Board Meeting held in March 2004 | GMP | Completed 1/20/05 |
| 4. Meeting minutes from Management Committee Meeting and Focus Team Meetings held during Comprehensive Meeting in October 2004 | GMP | ASAP |
5. Potential March 2005 Agenda Topics:
|
Pending |
