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Can anybody out there on the net tell me what's involved in getting an 
OSHA certification?

This member of the Divers' Environmental Survey has had it with 
bureaucratic haggling and turf-, budget-, and influence-protection 
battles. When we find a barrel in the water, we want to get it out of the 
water. 

We don't want to spend time negotiating with the Department of 
Environmental Protection (DEP), Fisheries & Wildlife (F&W), and the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about who is responsible for and who 
has the budget for removing potentially toxic waste from a body of water.

In case any of you are interested, the average cost of removing a 
barrel from a body of water, at least for the EPA, is about US$10,000. 
If they can get a barrel out of the water and disposed of for <$4,000, 
it's a real bargain -- a miracle, in fact. The EPA's local Emergency 
Response group is understandably reluctant to get a call from the Divers' 
Environmental Survey about a barrel nobody else can see. Out of sight, 
out of mind, you know?

(To be fair, I should point out that I have friends and other 
acquaintances I deeply respect in all three of those agencies. They often 
seem as frustrated as I about the bureaucratic mazes they have to run.)

Anyway, to the point -- thank you for reading this far -- at long last:

One of the obstacles for getting barrels out of the water is that, if any 
of the environmental agencies of the government(s) are involved, 
OSHA-certified divers are required by law. These guys cost a small mint 
and have to be mail-ordered (so to speak) from out of state because they are 
under contract with one of the approved "beltway bandits."

I would do it for free, without the myriad potential legal problems I now 
confront, if I had OSHA certification. I am willing to go to the expense 
of acquiring a full OSHA-approved isolation suit, if that's what it takes.

There are too many suspicious barrels in our waterways, and if we can't 
figure out a cheap, safe way to remove them, we'll either bust the budget 
of every agency charged with removing them or see all of these waterways 
continue dying at the hands of cheapskates who won't pay the normal fees 
for disposing of the hazardous and toxic waste they use and produce.

John H-C

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