Larry and Shelley,

 

We opened the public hearing on the proposed permitting rules on Tuesday evening at 5:30.  Only about a half dozen people showed up, and three of those were either board or advisory committee members.  The time was really used to answer questions, with no one offering public testimony after all, even though a couple had signed up to do so.  The hearing will continue on September 9 at our board meeting, and the record is being held open until September 30.  This mailing is to get the word out to the interested persons mailing list about what the current proposal is, after incorporating all the input so far, and to invite further public comment on the current proposal.  I’m attaching the cover memo which accompanied hard copies of two documents available on our website.  One of the documents is a news release regarding holding the hearing record open until September 30.  The other document is a summary of the proposal.  Both documents can be accessed by clicking on the links in the box in the upper left-hand corner of LRAPA’s home page.

 

I hope this will work to rectify the fact that part of the mailing list was not specifically notified early in the process.  There are about 420, or so, names on the list, and about 200 of them are permitted sources in Lane County.  Some of the names for those sources are corporate representatives in other areas of Oregon and in other states.  There are also individuals who want to know about our rulemaking in general, as well as organizations such as Oregon Toxics Alliance, Oregon Environmental Council, Sierra Club and a number of environmental attorneys, as well as a number of people at DEQ and EPA Region 10 and Oregon Ops.

 

Let me know if you think this will satisfy that requirement.  I took the mailing to the main postal distribution facility yesterday afternoon, and the envelopes will be delivered within the next couple of days by taking them directly there instead of to a regular post office.  People should have roughly 30 days to respond.  There was a display ad in the Eugene Register Guard prior to the August 26 hearing, in addition to the 30-day notice published in the legal ads sections of four newspapers in Lane County.  There will also be a display ad printed in Register Guard a few days before the September 9 board meeting, to remind people about the hearing.

 

I hope you’ll both have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

 

Merrie