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Public Outreach
Standard Criteria | Small Business Criteria | Site Visits | Annual Performance Reporting | Independent Assessment
Performance Track members demonstrate their commitment to public outreach and report periodically on their performance in the program. There is no standard set of outreach activities, beyond what is required in the Annual Performance Report. Each facility’s approach to public outreach may vary and will depend on its size, scale of operations, and setting. Common outreach mechanisms include open houses, newsletters, sponsorship of community activities, surveys, and performance reporting
EPA expects facilities to have a public outreach program prior to submitting their applications. For example, participants in the Responsible Care program or endorsers of the CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies) principles typically have outreach programs with many of the aforementioned activities. Many small facilities have lower-cost, but effective, outreach programs.
As stated above, public outreach activities may vary across facilities depending on their size, setting, and type of operation, but each application should address the following three areas:
-
Identifying and Responding to Community
Concerns
- Facilities must demonstrate established mechanisms to identify and respond to local concerns about the environmental effects of their operations. Examples include concerns about emissions, odors, traffic, discharges, and emergency warnings. At a minimum, small facilities must document a point of contact with direct access to management as well as procedures responsive to local questions or concerns.
- Other typical efforts include designated community liaison
officials, periodic public meetings or open houses, and similar
mechanisms. The level of public outreach depends not only on
the facility’s size and environmental effects, but also
on the degree of community interest.
-
Informing the Community of Important Matters
- Facilities
must describe how they inform the community of important issues
about their environmental performance in a manner appropriate to
their size, operations, and setting. For example, to preclude potential
misunderstandings, a facility may want to alert the community if
it plans to execute an emergency preparedness exercise. Many mechanisms
for identifying and responding to local concerns, such as open
houses, community meetings, web pages, advisory panels or customer
displays, could be especially appropriate.
- Facilities
must describe how they inform the community of important issues
about their environmental performance in a manner appropriate to
their size, operations, and setting. For example, to preclude potential
misunderstandings, a facility may want to alert the community if
it plans to execute an emergency preparedness exercise. Many mechanisms
for identifying and responding to local concerns, such as open
houses, community meetings, web pages, advisory panels or customer
displays, could be especially appropriate.
-
Reporting on the Facility's EMS and
Performance Goals
- Whatever the means of community outreach, facilities must specifically explain how they inform the public about environmental performance reported both in their applications and Annual Performance Reports.
Facilities will also be asked to provide in their applications a short list of community/local references and to list any ongoing citizen suits.