Jim Alderman, the Chair of the Citizen's Advisory Committee of our program, and I were able to interact with other CAC and NEP directors during a recent EPA training conference. It seems that all CAC groups are struggling with their direction at times. It appears CAC groups want more involvement in the NEP implementation process. Some CAC groups have nearly disbanded. Other citizen groups use these meetings to vent their frustrations and this can lead to conflict with other CAC members or NEP staff.
Conflict can be positive, if a possible outcome is the goal.
It's important because we need all of you to get involved with your NEP, the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays. We need a consensus of support to educate our policy makers on the importance of keeping our estuaries healthy. We need to strengthen our Citizen's Advisory Committee to help in linking these forces together, here in Delaware, but throughout our United States coastal bays as well. This also represents a change in culture for the agency that traditionally was more concerned with regulation enforcement than community involvement. According to Browner, this shift is toward involving the agency with local communities to work on environmental concerns together.