David Charters
USEPA Facilities Raritan Depot
2890 Woodbridge Avenue
Edison, NJ 08837-3679
732-906-6825
charters.davidw@epa.gov
Mr. Charters,
My name is Terry Teruya. I am the QA Officer for the Clean Water Branch (CWB) of the Department of Health for the State of Hawaii. We are currently preparing for a Data Quality Objectives (DQO) class that is being sponsored by the City and County of Honolulu. The class is being presented by Mr. Sebastian Tindall. Mr. Tindall developed this material through funding by USDOE and USEPA. During our discussions, your name came up as the current contact for present and future EPA funding of this training. I will state up front that this training is excellent and worthy of further support.
I previously attended this class in 2002 (I was in the CWB Monitoring section then). At the time, we had already attended another QA Training session led by EPA Region 9 staff that I felt was devoid of substance. As such, I was reluctant to waste 3 days on another QA type class. However, since our supervisor directed us to attend, the Monitoring section personnel did. By the end of the first day, I realized that this class was different. We were discussing concepts and applications that clearly applied to our work, but had never been presented in such a systematic and organized manner. As the class progressed, I began to question why we hadn't been exposed to this information when we were first hired. It also became clear that the information presented applied not only to our section, but to the entire branch, and to other branches, government agencies, consultants, labs, permittees, etc. Anyone and everyone that takes/analyzes samples, handles/reviews data, or makes decisions based on that data would benefit by attending this training.
From that point on, I have advocated for more training. In 2004, we were able to bring Mr. Tindall back for 4 classes in which more than 140 personnel attended. We deliberately had to limit the number of attendees (each session was overbooked). We have not formally endorsed this training since there is no way we could accommodate all of the permittees, consultants, labs, etc. Our goal is to take small steps at this time, train as many people as we can at every opportunity, and then perhaps at some point in the future be able to accommodate the large number of people that have yet to attend the training. We need as much help as we can get to make this happen. That is why I am writing to you today.
EPA understood the value of this training and was willing to sponsor sessions throughout the country. I ask that you continue with the sponsorship, and if at all possible, to expand on the number of sessions.
I know that you don't know me or whether my judgment is impaired. If you have any doubts about this training, I think you owe it to yourself to evaluate it in person. Therefore, I would like to invite you to attend the upcoming training that is scheduled for the week of Oct 2nd, 2006.
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or need more information. My contact information is listed below. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. I appreciate anything you can do to help us to obtain more training.
Terry Teruya
QA Officer
Clean Water Branch
Environmental Management Division
Hawaii Department of Health
919 Ala Moana Blvd., Room 301
Honolulu, HI 96814-4920
(808) 586-4367
(808) 586-4352 (fax)