Burlington County Commissioner Returning to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Panel

Burlington County Commissioner Deputy Director Allison Eckel is continuing her service on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Local Government Advisory Council.

Inactive for nearly a year and a half, the EPA announced this week it would reinstate the advisory panel, which is charged with providing independent and objective policy advice to the EPA Administrator on a broad range of issues affecting the environment and local governments. The panel was created in 1993 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

Commissioner Eckel, who was originally appointed to the panel in January 2024, is one of nine members who were either reappointed or continuing their service with the group. Thirteen of the 22 officials named by the EPA are new appointees.

“New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the country, yet we’re home to an extraordinary range of ecosystems – from the Pinelands to our coastline to working farmland. That combination means we live with environmental resiliency changes every day, and it gives us a perspective the EPA needs at the table,” said Commissioner Eckel. “I’m honored to return to this work, and I value the chance to collaborate with elected officials from across the country who are steering their own communities through similar pressures. Local government doesn’t have the luxury of treating clean air, water, and soil as abstractions. We’re the ones our residents call when something goes wrong, and that keeps us grounded in what this work actually requires.”

Commissioner Eckel is the lone New Jersey official on the new LGAC. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka previously served with her on the panel in 2024 but was not among the returning members named by the EPA.

Eckel has served on the Burlington County Board of Commissioners since April 2022 and is liaison to the Department of Resource Conservation and Parks, the Department of Public Safety, and to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. She was chosen to serve as the board’s deputy director in 2025 and was selected for the leadership post again in 2026.

The LGAC is expected to meet virtually in September for the first time since January 10, 2025.

“There are emerging environmental issues and challenges facing New Jersey and our entire nation, and it’s valuable for Burlington County to continue to have a voice with the EPA to share our local perspectives and to speak out in defense of our unique and sensitive environment and ecology,” Commissioner Eckel said.

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