USDA, EPA TO HOLD THREE PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR CLEAN WATER ACTION PLAN


                                                               
                                            Release No. 0410.97
                                                                 
Media Advisory
                                      Tom Amontree (202) 720-4623
                                            tom.amontree@usda.gov
                                       Brad Fisher (202) 720-4024
                                             brad.fisher@usda.gov

USDA, EPA TO HOLD THREE PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR CLEAN WATER ACTION PLAN

   WASHINGTON, Nov.19, 1997--The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency will co-sponsor three public meetings across
the country this month on water quality.  Agriculture Under Secretary for
Natural Resources and Environment James R. Lyons and Deputy Under Secretary for
Natural Resources and Environment Thomas R. Hebert, along with EPA Assistant
Administrator for Water Robert Perciasepe, will host these sessions scheduled
for Atlanta, Ga., Columbia, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif.

    The meetings are part of the initiative announced by Vice President Al
Gore on October 18, 1997, the 25th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, to
tackle the nation's most serious water quality problems.

    The meetings provide opportunities for USDA and EPA officials to hear
the public's views about what the federal government should be doing to protect
water quality and wetlands from runoff and associated forms of pollution in the
nation's cities and rural areas.

   Information from the hearings will be used to help develop--by mid-February--a Clean Water Action Plan for the nation to achieve three key goals:
protect public health, prevent polluted runoff, and ensure community-based
watershed management   

   Dates, times, and locations of the meetings are:
   
   Nov. 20 - 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
   Atlanta Federal Center
   61 Forsyth St., SW, 
   Conference Center, Room D, 
   Atlanta, Ga.
   
   Nov. 21 - 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
   Holiday Executive Center
   junction of Interstate 70 and Stadium Drive
   Columbia, Mo.
   
   Nov. 25 - 2:30 to 6:00 p.m.
   Employment Development Department Auditorium
   722 Capitol Mall 
   Sacramento, Calif.
   
   Information on the action plan is available on the World Wide Web
homepages of both agencies at nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/cleanwater/ or
epa.gov/cleanwater/.

   Comments may be mailed by December 8 to Denise Coleman, USDA, NRCS, Room
6032, South Building, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, D.C., 20013 or to Robert Goo,
Assessment and Watershed Protection Division (4503F), U.S. EPA, 401 M St., SW,
Washington, D.C. 20406.
                                
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