Search for Funding to Rehash Enviro Office of Management

Mayor Looks to Include Funding for Campaign Promise in Budget

by Jennifer Greenup
QueenCityForum.com Magazine

City Hall--Mayor Mark Mallory and Councilman David Crowley are in the process of reestablishing an Office of Environmental Management in City Hall. This in the hope that Cincinnati may be better prepared next time the city faces an environmental emergency like the styrene leak or the Queen City Barrel fire.

The prior OEM was cut in 2002 by former Mayor Charlie Luken. The elimination of the program was supported by a majority on Council during a time when the city was facing a $17 million deficit.

“In the last few years, Cincinnati has faced several major environmental problems,” said Mallory in a press release. “It is clear that we need city experts to help us protect the health of our city.”

Mr. Crowley was on Council when the old OEM was disbanded and said that he was against it then.

“I didn’t want to dismantle the original one,” said Crowley. “So when the mayor said that he was going to recreate the office, I said I would help.”

Crowley said he will head the planning group which will consist of environmentalist civic and business leaders.

“My role is to get the concept together and get it back to the Council by June, and the administration will work on how to fund it,” said Crowley.

Mallory said recreating the OEM is a high priority of his. It was one of five campaign promises he made and his administration will find funding for the agency.

“We will figure out how to pay for it,” said Mallory. “It is a priority of mine so it will be in my version of the budget.”

The OEM responsibilities will include coordinating the city’s enforcement of environmental issues, air and water quality, maintain relationships with local experts in the field, and to provide the public with environmental information.

The program started in 1990 with discussions about creating a model program between the Cincinnati City officials and representatives from the University of Cincinnati, the Environmental Protection Agency Research Laboratory, and the American Institute of Pollution Prevention. In 1992 it resulted in an agency that was created with matching funds from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Pollution Prevention Incentives for States Program.

Luken told the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2001 that he had no idea what the agency did and that, as a strong mayor, he would eliminate any unnecessary bureaucracy that wasted the city’s money.
However, in 1996 Cincinnati OEM was the recipient of the Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award.

Then Governor George V. Voinovich said, “[The] City of Cincinnati, has demonstrated strong pollution prevention programs which show that pollution prevention is good for businesses’ economic growth and well as for the environment.”

Some of the former activities of the agency include programs to promote waste managements among local industry promoting waste disposal, treatment recycling and reduction, a Peer Review Advisory Committee made up of a small group of experts who could be frequently consulted, as well as educational outreach programs for the general public.

The OEM was a leader in several successful environmental demonstration projects and received numerous inquiries from across the nation about its program to convert to environmentally friendly lead-free, waterborne paints on local roads and highways.

Reporter Jennifer Greenup covers the City Hall and local politics. The feature appears each Thursday exclusively in QueenCityForum.com Magazine.
contact: jenniferg@queencityforum.com