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Is your program officially or unofficially multimedia? Explain.
Our program is
now officially multimedia. This determination was not done through
any rule making process but rather by a management decision within
our agency.
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How and when did
your program start as multimedia?
From the
inception of our program we have functioned as multimedia. Our
first proactive outreach effort began in 1993 in response to the
Perchloroethylene Dry Cleaning NESHAP. We worked with the MN dry
cleaning trade association and also visited 13 dry cleaning shops to
seek input on what types of environmental assistance and information
the cleaners needed and their preferences for method of delivery of
information. As a result of their responses, we held a series of
workshops in early 1994 where we focused not only on the newly
promulgated air quality rule but also on hazardous waste, solid
waste and wastewater issues affecting dry cleaners. Since that time
we have tailored our outreach efforts to address multimedia issues
faced by particular industry sectors. We continually work to
improve our abilities to address multimedia needs with each new
outreach effort. We officially became multimedia in 1999.
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Does your program provide confidential services? Explain.
Yes. We have
an intra-agency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes
the independence of our program from the regulatory programs. This
MOU states that business specific information obtained by SBAP is
kept confidential from the agency’s regulatory programs except if
there is imminent danger to public health and the environment. We
initially had an MOU for this purpose with our air regulatory staff
but because of our increasingly multimedia work we reopened and
reissued the MOU to include all of our regulatory staff.
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What role does
the Ombudsman play? What is the relevance of the Ombudsman’s role
to the multimedia component?
Our Ombudsman
acts as a liaison between small businesses and our regulatory staff
to ensure that small business owners and operators are treated
fairly by our agency regulatory staff. Our Ombudsman advocates for
a small business perspective when environmental rules are being
developed. Our Ombudsman coordinates our Small Business
Environmental Improvement Loan Program. Our Ombudsman does some
technical assistance work but this is not his major role. Our
Ombudsman can give guidance on multimedia issues but his authority
is currently for air issues only.
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What types of multimedia assistance does your program provide (air,
hazardous waste, solid waste, water quality, air, other)? Describe
your program.
All of the
above. In our reactive work, we focus on an individual business to
help them determine all of the environmental rules that impact them,
and then provide them with tools and information to meet those
environmental rules. For our proactive work, we focus on an
industry sector, and then tailor our work so that we can provide
tools and information to meet all the environmental issues that
affect that particular sector.
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Is your program’s work prioritized? If yes, explain (e.g., by
media, rule, industry sector).
Yes. We weigh
many factors and set our work plan according to our priorities.
Sometimes we base our priorities on a new promulgated rule,
sometimes it is because of a media concern, sometimes it is because
of an environmental concern with a particular industry sector; and
sometimes alignment with the work priorities of our partners plays a
factor.
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Describe how
multimedia assistance is provided:
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Through
referrals to appropriate regulatory media staff?
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Through
personal contact with resources outside your program (e.g.,
arranging meetings with regulatory staff from different media,
having each program outline their respective rule requirements,
following up as needed)?
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Through
internal expertise (e.g., gathering all information, presenting
as package, walking client through requirements)?
All of the
above, although the majority of our work is provided through
internal expertise.
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What types of
assistance activities does your program provide (e.g., onsite
visits, training programs, permit assistance)?
On-site
visits, in-office visits at our agency, telephone hot-line, e-mail,
workshops, industry sector demonstration events, participation in
trade association meetings and training events, business and trade
fairs, newsletter, trade journal articles. We offer permit
assistance as well as assistance with other environmental
requirements.
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Do you have program staff members with expertise in pollution
prevention/EMS, as well as regulatory compliance?
Our program
staff does not have in-depth pollution prevention (P2) knowledge.
We depend on our partners at the Minnesota Technical Assistance
Program (MnTAP) to ensure that P2 opportunities are presented. We
do mention P2 opportunities to our customers, but for in-depth work
we refer them to MnTAP. We do not have expertise in EMS.
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What range of
industry sectors has your program helped with multimedia
assistance? List all types of participating businesses.
Our common types
of businesses are asphalt hot mix, auto mechanical and collision
repair, concrete ready mix, construction, dry cleaning,
electroplating, fiberglass fabrication, foundries, wood finishing,
grain elevators, manufacturing, metal finishing, painting/surface
coating, printing, sand and gravel operations, and sawmills. We are
not limited to these types.
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Are there any industry sectors for which you cannot provide
assistance or can provide only limited assistance? Explain.
We can provide
only limited assistance to scrap yards because of an agency
directive concerning our agency’s tight resources. The policy is
the same for questions involving CFCs.
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Where is your program housed (state environmental regulatory agency,
Small Business Development Center [SBDC], college or university [not
SBDC], other state agency)?
Inside a
regulatory agency, but in a non-regulatory program outside the air
office.
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Where does
funding come from for your multimedia program (air permit fees only,
air permit fees plus other sources, task-specific funding, other)?
What are the funding criteria? Please note that since this could be
sensitive information, this is an optional question.
Our SBAP funding
sources are multimedia. We draw from the state environmental fund
and state general fund and appropriations are from state air fees
and ground water and solid waste general funds and the water general
fund and one of our staff qualifies for a specific allotment from
Title 5 funds.
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How many staff
does your program have (using FTE-full time employee equivalents)?
SBAP 2.9, SBO
1.0.
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Does your
program have a documented performance measurement system (system to
track data on activities such as web site hits, hotline/telephone
assistance calls, mailings, onsite visits, publications,
seminars/workshops/ trainings, teleconferences/videoconferences,
other)? Describe.
Yes. We have
and access database that tracks all of these items and which sorts
items by media and industry sector as well.
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What have been
the benefits of providing multimedia versus air only assistance?
Have you performed any cost benefit analyses? Describe your
successes.
We have been
able to do a better job of meeting our customers’ needs. Our small
business owners and operators want to be able to determine what
environmental rules they face and what they have to do to meet those
rules. They want to do it as efficiently as possible. We are able
to provide a more efficient service to them when we are able to deal
with more than just air issues. We have not performed any cost
benefit analyses.
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Provide an
overall link or links to your online multimedia assistance web
page(s), checklists, calculation spreadsheets, guidance, factsheets,
publications, and contacts.
http://www.pca.state.mn.us/programs/sbap_p.html
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What kind of peer assistance (for other SBO/SBAP programs) is your
program willing to contribute at this time (information provided
here only, telephone/email assistance, program visits, training,
other)?
If time and
resources are available, we would be willing to help out other
programs in whatever way needed including all the ways mentioned
above.
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Please list the industry sectors that you assist/have assisted most,
and feel you have "expert" knowledge about. If
possible, use the provided list of industry sector examples to
categorize (www.smallbiz-enviroweb.org/sba/multimediafiles/Questions_MentorPrograms.pdf).
You may also be more specific, include additional details, or write
in a category that is not listed. In addition, please provide
contact information for each industry sector "expert."
Automotive
(collision and mechanical repair) - Contact: MN SBAP,
800/657-3938
Dry Cleaning - Contact: MN SBAP, 800/657-3938
Fiberglass Manufacturing - Contact: MN SBAP,
800/657-3938
Hot Mix Asphalt - Contact: Jim Kolar, 800/657-3938
Sand and Gravel Mining - Contact: Jim Kolar, 800/657-3938
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Provide contact information for peer assistance with your program.
Our hotline
works nationwide; you can reach us at (800) 657-3938. You can send
an e-mail to Troy Johnson, our program coordinator at
troy.johnson@pca.state.mn.us.
4/05,
updated 10/05, 02/07
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