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Gulf of Mexico Program has been primarily a planning effort, but it is just 

 now moving into implementation. 



The Program is headed by a Policy Board that consists of executive-level 

 representation from the Federal agencies, a single representative from 

 each of the five Gulf states, and the Chair of the citizen's committee (a 

 citizen). The state representatives are appointed by the Governors, with 

 the concurrence of the EPA Regional Administrators. 



The actual operations of the Program are directed by a Management 

 Committee, whose membership echoes the Policy Committee. The 

 Program Director and Deputy Director are EPA staff. The other Federal 

 and state agencies provide full-time staff who are physically located in the 

 Program Office. As the program moves into implementation, these staff 

 are being upgraded to Associate Director statxis in the hope that this will 

 aide commitment to implementation. 



There are also 10 technical committees, each reflecting one of the 10 

 program priorities. These committees include technical staff from the 

 agencies, as well as representatives from industry, environmental groups, 

 etc. They tried to have a single representative for each state, but found 

 that multiple agencies within each staff felt they had to have 

 representation. At the same time, there have also been complaints that the 

 committee structure creates a substantial burden on the agency and 

 groups which want to participate. The Program finds that there has to be 

 a periodic rejuvenation of the technical committees, part of which is to 



Final Draft - September 15, 1993 94 



