Small businesses vent frustrations- Federal SBA official, Michael Barrera listens to complaints of business owners

Small-business owners who say federal bureaucrats do not listen to them had an audience with a man who can change that.

cdapress.com

Michael Barrera, the Bush administration’s ombudsman at the U.S. Small Business Administration, listened to disgruntled Idaho entrepreneurs who have had run-ins with the government.

"I don’t consider it complaining," Barrera said after taking testimony about the shortcomings of federal agencies. "These are small-business people who have concerns."

During Thursday’s "Regulatory Fairness Hearing" in Boise, Barrera heard Norman Hobson’s story about his experience with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

After inheriting a building long used as a dry-cleaning business, Hobson discovered the site was contaminated with perchloroethylene, commonly known as "perc," a solvent used in the cleaning process.

Hobson’s efforts to find the extent of the contamination through the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality were thwarted by EPA regulators who said efforts to clean up the chemical, which can cause health problems, were taking too long.

Hobson said the EPA crowded state regulators out of the process. The site’s subsequent designation as a Superfund cleanup site by the EPA will likely increase Hobson’s liability for ongoing study and remediation, he said.

Lin Hintze, owner of Big Lost River Meats in Mackay, complained that U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors are required to come to his butcher shop daily to ensure the quality of his product.

Meanwhile, other butcher operations, like those in grocery stores or hotels and restaurants, operate with little or no oversight, he said.

"My problem is not with my inspector," Hintze said. "It’s with the system that allows this. Every time I talk or complain to a government official, it’s not their department — it’s someone else’s issue."

Barrera directed local representatives of the federal agencies being criticized to redouble their efforts to work out compromises or other, less-confrontational solutions.

http://www.cdapress.com/index.asp?Sec=Business&str=11987