by Michele Catahay, KUAM NewsThursday, May 15, 2008 Subscribe to Michele's newsfeed
Representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are on island to assess the various programs at Guam EPA. Michael Wolfram says they were able to meet with the agency's program managers to discuss the challenges with an expected increase in workload associated with the military buildup.He says GEPA may be faced with a limited budget, while at the same time receiving double their workload. He said of the local agency, "[They have] been working very closely with the USEPA and the Department of Defense because number one, to maximize the grants they receive from the USEPA, and number two, to try to secure additional resources from the DoD with the additional workload attributed to the military buildup."Wolfram says GEPA is also faced with retention of staff, and the inability to hire qualified individuals. He does note despite the challenges the agency still has many dedicated staff on board to tackle the issues.