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Opposition to EPA Cutbacks IncreasesThe Environmental Protection Agency faces escalating resistance to its cost-saving plan to replace printed library materials with online resources. The transition is part of the agency’s response to President Bush’s proposed $2-million budget reduction in EPA operations for FY2007. In 2006, the agency has already closed regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas, and Kansas City, and has reduced hours or public access to libraries in Boston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington.In a November 30 letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, four House Democrats wrote, “Congress, however, has approved neither the President’s 2007 budget request nor the library closure. We request that you maintain the status quo of the libraries and their materials while this issue is under investigation and review by Congress.” Penned by Reps. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), and Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), the letter continues, “We also request that EPA brief our staffs and provide a written plan to Congress that includes the schedule and procedures that EPA intends to use to govern the disposition of documents, the consolidation of library services, and the transfer of paper and microfiche documents to electronic forms that will be publicly available.” The December 4 Austin (Tex.) American-Statesman reported that Linda Travers, acting assistant administrator of the EPA Office of Environmental Information, said the agency would respond in a “timely manner.” The appeal follows a November 3 letter from 18 senators requesting that the agency restore and maintain all onsite library collections until there is both public input and congressional approval. American Library Association President Leslie Burger added her voice to the controversy in a December 8 op-ed contribution to the New York Times. “In the age of terrorism,” she wrote, “when the safety of our food and water supply, the uninterrupted flow of energy, and, indeed, so much of our environment has become a matter of national security, it seems particularly dangerous to take steps that would hinder our emergency preparedness.” Burger, who will speak on the EPA closings at a December 14 meeting of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology, added, “While the agency says the closings are all part of a commitment to modernize and digitize, we are not assured that its public plan is adequate or its skills sufficient.” In addition, a December 7 statement from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility alleges that on December 1 thousands of online documents were de-linked from the agency’s Office of Prevention, Pollution, and Toxic Substances. PEER also reports that EPA is making certain some libraries stay closed by hastily selling their office equipment, and claims that $40,000 worth of furniture and furnishings from the shuttered Chicago office was recently sold for $350. Meanwhile, agency chemist Bill Hirzy told the December 1 San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News that the EPA’s chemical library was asked to throw a valuable journal collection into the dumpster. “We managed to put a halt to that,” said Hirzy. “It’s that kind of craziness that’s going on down there.” “One big irony is that EPA claimed the reason it needed to close libraries was to save money, but in the process they are spending and wasting money like drunken sailors,” said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. The Mercury News quoted Travers as insisting that all EPA-produced documents would be accessible online within two years. “Nobody is against modernization, but we don’t see the digitization,” Francesca Grifo, director of scientific integrity at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in the December 3 Kansas City (Mo.) Star. “We just see the libraries closing. We just see that public access has been cut off.” Posted December 8, 2006. |
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