Press Release: Cal/EPA's Deputy Secretary Surles Provides Keynote Address at Workshop on Draft Environmental Technology Verification Protocols

For Immediate Release (C-23-97)
Contact: Communications Office (916) 324-9670
July 22, 1997

555 Capitol Mall, Suite 525
Sacramento, CA 95814
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BERKELEY--Speaking at a workshop on the California Environmental Protection Agency's (Cal/EPA) draft environmental technology certification protocols, Dr. Terry Surles, Cal/EPA's Deputy Secretary for Environmental Technology, today underscored the agency's commitment to ensure a sound scientific foundation for technologies approved under its Environmental Technology Certification Program.

In a keynote address to technology developers, regulators and other workshop participants, Dr. Surles reaffirmed California's pledge to work with other states and nations in promoting innovative technologies for the protection of public health and the environment, and emphasized that sound science, crucial to ensuring acceptance of new technologies, must be the cornerstone for California's environmental technology certification process. To ensure this, he encouraged all stakeholders to actively participate in reviewing Cal/EPA's draft certification protocols.

"The success of Cal/EPA's Environmental Technology Certification Program can be largely attributed to stakeholder involvement from the beginning. To ensure the program's continued growth and success, we must capitalize on the synergy developed by harnessing the knowledge and expertise of technology experts in the industrial, regulatory, and academic communities worldwide," said Dr. Surles.

Today's workshop in Berkeley is the first of three workshops to solicit industry, regulatory agency, and other stakeholder comments on Cal/EPA's draft "Generic Guidance for Environmental Technology Verification Protocols." The remaining workshops will be conducted on July 23 and 24, 1997, in Irvine and Los Angeles, respectively. The draft generic guidance sets forth the common elements of all certification efforts in Cal/EPA's boards and departments, focusing on protocols to assure the quality of scientific data used to justify performance claims by technology developers and manufacturers.

Workshop participants will also discuss the need for and comment on draft technology-specific verification protocols in four main technology sectors: chemical/physical treatment and remediation; bioremediation; pollution prevention; and measurement, analytical, and characterization.

Cal/EPA's Environmental Technology Certification Program was initiated to facilitate the acceptance of innovative environmental technologies, to eliminate redundant testing and validation requirements, and to simplify the permitting process for users of certified technologies.

With the involvement and support of representatives of the environmental business community, technology users, the financial community, regulators, universities, public interest groups, the legal community, and the federal government, the program has evolved from a California private-public partnership to the national and international arenas in less than four years.

In 1996, the program received Harvard University's "Innovations in American Government" award which recognizes creative governmental initiatives that are especially effective in addressing vital public needs.

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