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National Advisory Council for

Environmental Policy and Technology

Teleconference Meeting Summary

July 11, 2011

Participants

NACEPT Members EPA Representatives

 Cynthia Jones-Jackson, AO/OFACMO

 Randy Brady, ORD

 Eugene Green, AO/OFACMO

 Bryn Loeffler, AO/OFACMO

 Diane Lynne, NTEU

 Ismael Martinez, OCR

 Stephanie McCoy, AO/OFACMO

 Claire Milam, OHR

 Jim Morant, ORD

Jennifer Margolies, ORD

 Megan Moreau, AO/OFACMO

 Antoinette Powell-Dickson, OARM

 

 Members of the Public

 Hannah Pearcy (Intern with Dr. Osidele)

Welcome and Opening Remarks

The call began at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Monday, July 11, 2011. Mark Joyce and 

Cynthia Jones-Jackson welcomed the Council members and the public. It was noted that no 

requests to make public comments had been received. Mr. Joyce explained the purpose of the 

call was to discuss and decide whether to finalize the draft of NACEPT’s Second Advice Letter 

Jim Johnson, NACEPT Chair

Karl Benedict

Christine Costopoulos

Ben Dysart

Kurt Erichsen

Effenus Henderson, Workgroup 

Member

DeWitt John

Mark Joyce

Dan Kammen

Sara Kendall, Workforce CoChair

Leah Ann Lamb 

Howard Learner, Workforce 

Co-Chair

Clayton Matt

Mark Mitchell

Arleen O'Donnell 

Bob Olson

Olufemi Osidele

John Preston
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on EPA Workforce Planning. He also thanked the Office of Research and Development (ORD)

for their proposed workforce questions and noted that these would be addressed at a follow-up 

teleconference next week.

Dr. Johnson noted that the edits received in the last seventy-two hours had been incorporated 

into the draft. Mr. Joyce then invited Ms. Kendall and Mr. Learner to give an overview of the

Second Advice Letter.

Overview of NACEPT Draft Second Advice Letter on EPA Workforce Planning

Mr. Learner stated that everyone should have received a copy of the most recent draft. 

Considering the deadline for the release of the letter, only editorial comments will be considered, 

which should be emailed to Mr. Learner as soon as possible. Dr. Kammen suggested bulletpoint examples be included with the One EPA recommendations (#5-12) in the letter. Due to the 

time constraint, Mr. Joyce advised that these could be incorporated into the final report along 

with ORD’s concerns.

Ms. Kendall commented that the letter should remain as it is, with the exception of minor edits, 

in order to facilitate its release. She suggested that the final report include how to incorporate the 

separate workforce letters into an action plan for EPA and elaborate on how the One EPA

message will be concretely translated. Ms. Kendall noted that the ORD questions should not 

accompany the existing content in this letter. Agreeing with Ms. Kendall and Mr. Joyce, Dr. 

Johnson stated that ORD’s issues should be addressed separately but also that ORD should be 

more fully included in the process.

Ms. Kendall noted that Mr. Learner did a fantastic job of incorporating the Council’s input from 

the May meeting, including tying together the first and second workforce letters.

Dr. Osidele noted the absence of any specific mentions of the electronic applicant tracking 

system. It was brought to his attention that item #1 on page 16 addresses his issues in a broader 

sense. He should send Mr. Learner the more specific wording he would like to see incorporated.

Public Comments on NACEPT Draft Second Advice Letter on EPA Workforce Planning

Hannah asked if the two-year EPA Career Program (ECP) had been compared with private 

sector entry-level programs. Ms. Kendall responded that the ECP program has only been 

evaluated in terms of recruiting and has not been compared with other two-year programs. Dr. 

Osidele elaborated that an exploration of options concerning public/private sector partnerships 

should be included in the final report. Dr. Kammen noted that this initiative could be coupled 

with the One EPA action items, and he could draft these ideas for inclusion in the final report.

Ms. Lynne appreciated the inclusion of the expansion of rotational assignments to eliminate 

stovepipes and to promote One EPA.
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Discussion and Approval of NACEPT Draft Second Advice Letter on EPA Workforce 

Planning

The NACEPT members approved the advice letter. Mr. Learner will forward the final version to 

Mr. Joyce and Ms. Moreau for final formatting. Dr. Johnson will then transmit the letter to 

Administrator Jackson.

The teleconference adjourned at 11:45 a.m. EDT.

Note: This summary and other meeting materials will be posted to the NACEPT website at 

http://www.epa.gov/ofacmo/nacept.

Chair Certification

I, Dr. James H. Johnson, Jr., Chairman of the National Advisory Council for Environmental 

Policy and Technology (NACEPT) certify the meeting minutes for July 11, 2011 are complete 

and accurately reflect the discussions and decisions of said meeting.

/Signed/ August 11, 2011

_____________________________________ _________________

Dr. James H. Johnson, Jr. Date

NACEPT Chair