Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/845602
58 The PCB Magazine • July 2017 Abrams: Recently, as part of their implementa- tion of Executive Order 13777, the EPA has had a series of listening sessions, at which I testified. The small business ombudsman had a meeting last week, April 22 and 23, for small businesses to talk about regulations they'd like to see ad- dressed. Then on Monday [May 1], I spoke at the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Pre- vention. Next week someone else will be repre- senting IPC at the Office of Land and Emergen- cy Management, highlighting that same RCRA issue that we were just talking about. EPA is also taking formal comments, which we'll be sub- mitting by the May 15 th deadline. We will also, of course, follow up with the administrator's staff on these issues. Then next week, we have the first meeting of the commit- tee on the negotiated rule meeting on byprod- ucts. Busy times. Goldman: I know things don't happen fast. It seems everybody's very busy, and yet I know things take a while to actually happen. Abrams: That is accurate. To talk about some of these rules on the byproducts issue, we've been working on this issue since 2006. Goldman: That's more than ten years. Abrams: Nothing happens overnight. Goldman: Any other thoughts here today? Abrams: Well, we've been talking about the ad- ministration. Obviously, we have an agenda on the Hill too and the members are meeting with some key legislators right now. You'll proba- bly be interviewing other people on that, I pre- sume. Goldman: Yes, basically I get pretty general, but great feedback on those. To me, the attitude of the people that have been speaking to us seems so much more positive. Abrams: I agree. You know, it's the beginning of an administration. Washington is where hopes come to die (laughs). No, that's not fair. Things take a while. Consensus is hard to reach. We have a democracy. It's set up to have debate and let everybody be heard and so nothing is done immediately. I think a new administration comes to town and they're fresh and they're ex- cited, and that's exciting. Goldman: Apparently, some amount of that has filtered out across the different departments. Abrams: We've seen that in meetings we've had at the EPA and other agencies. We're excited, we're hopeful, and we're ready to work. Goldman: Thanks so much for your time. Much appreciated. Abrams: My pleasure. PCB _____________________________________ Joe O'Neil OAA Ventures Around lunchtime on Wednesday, the sec- ond full day, I was able to sit with Joe O'Neil, IMPACT Interviews Everett Frank, Optimum Design Associates.