United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-07-27 monographic deposited born digital 40 p. GA 1.13:GAO-01-813 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813 P0b002ee180379875 f:d01813 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813 GAO-01-813 Dispute settlement Hazardous substances Investigations by federal agencies Standards evaluation Waste management Superfund Program Other Written Product A01344

Through the impartial and independent investigation of citizens' complaints, federal ombudsmen provide the public an informal and accessible avenue of redress. In particular, ombudsmen help federal agencies be more responsive to persons who believe that their concerns have not been dealt with fully or fairly through normal problem-solving channels. At the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a national hazardous waste ombudsman was established in 1984. In recent years, the national ombudsman has played an increasingly prominent role through his investigations of citizen complaints referred by Members of Congress. As the number and significance of the ombudsman's investigations have increased, so have questions about the adequacy of available resources and whether there are other potential impediments to fulfillment of the ombudsman's responsibilities. Amid concerns about whether there are institutional barriers to the fulfillment of the EPA national hazardous waste ombudsman's responsibilities, GAO (1) compares the national ombudsman's operations with professional standards for independence and other factors and (2) determines the relative roles and responsibilities of EPA's national and regional ombudsmen. GAO found that key aspects of EPA's national hazardous waste ombudsman differ from professional standards for ombudsmen who deal with inquiries from the public. For example, an effective ombudsman must have both actual and apparent independence from any person who may be the subject of a complaint or inquiry. However, EPA's national ombudsman is located within the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER), the organizational unit whose decisions the ombudsman is responsible for investigating, and his budget and staff resources are controlled by unit managers within OSWER. GAO also found that compared with EPA's national hazardous waste ombudsman, the regional ombudsmen are less independent and play a reduced role, primarily responding to informational inquiries on a part-time basis. Most of the ombudsmen in EPA's 10 regional offices hold positions within the regional organization that appear to compromise their independence. The regional ombudsmen split their time between performing duties related to the ombudsman function and duties related to the implementation of the hazardous waste programs that they are responsible for investigating. Communication between the national and regional ombudsmen is limited, despite operating guidelines that call for close communication. The national ombudsman periodically refers informational inquiries to the regional ombudsmen but rarely requests their assistance in investigations. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813.pdf GAO-01-813 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-01-813 Other Written Product GAO-01-813; Hazardous Waste: EPA's National and Regional Ombudsmen Do Not Have Sufficient Independence; Dispute settlement Hazardous substances Investigations by federal agencies Standards evaluation Waste management Superfund Program Title 5 Section 552 5 U.S.C. 552