Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Environmental Quality
 
Board
Department of Environmental Quality
 
chapter
Public Participation Guidelines [9 VAC 15 ‑ 11]
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8/17/21  3:21 am
Commenter: James Burke

Engagement with Neglected Communities
 

The voices of marginalized communities across the commonwealth need to be recognized, valued, and engaged in those decision-making processes that affect the communities, directly and indirectly. In doing so, the regulation changes should include: earlier involvement of communities, scheduling of public hearings on permits in the directly impacted communities soon enough to process community concerns and recommendations. The opportunities to engage should include in-person and hybrid opportunities; arrange and hold public hearings to enable participation of workers whose hours may conflict with meeting times; and better publicize advanced notices of times and locations of public hearings.

CommentID: 99757