Formation of a Task Force on Innovative Approaches to Environmental Protection and a Public Meeting on draft recommendations for innovative actions by the Agency

Scope and Objectives of the Innovations Task Force: EPA's leadership, at the direction of Vice President Gore and with the support of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR), has formed the Task Force on Innovative Approaches to Environmental Protection to take stock of EPA's reinvention work and find new approaches to improve environmental compliance and performance. The Task Force is charged with developing a set of proposals that can be promptly implemented to improve or expand the Agency's reinvention activities with input from employees, EPA's state partners and stakeholders. Innovative efforts are underway in all parts of EPA--the media- based program offices, the regional offices, and the cross-cutting offices--and state environmental programs. Through various reinvention initiatives, the Agency has streamlined regulatory requirements, tested innovative regulatory approaches through programs such as Project XL and the Common Sense Initiative, initiated voluntary programs to encourage environmental improvement, and launched new programs and policies to assist businesses in complying with environmental laws. It is now time to take stock of these efforts: to identify ``what's working'' and to integrate successful approaches more broadly into day- to-day operations. The task force will look for specific, concrete and readily implementable ideas, focusing on innovative ways to: • achieve the baseline of regulatory compliance, and • encourage environmental improvements beyond that baseline. The Task Force is soliciting feedback on these topics from EPA staff, state partners and external stakeholders in March and April 1999. The task force, chaired by Deputy Administrator Peter Robertson, will submit its final report to the Administrator by May 15.

Key Issues and Questions

I. Achieving the Compliance Baseline.

Full compliance with environmental laws is the baseline standard of environmental performance. A wide variety of EPA activities, in addition to enforcement actions, address this issue. These activities include: 1. New approaches in regulatory requirements. EPA is testing regulatory approaches that establish clear standards, while providing flexibility in how those standards are achieved. In one program, the Agency has consolidated scattered rules that apply to a single industry into a clearer and more understandable package. We are also writing new regulations in ``plain language'' to reduce confusion about what is expected of regulated parties. These efforts should promote improved compliance. Are there additional steps that EPA can take to make regulatory requirements easier to understand and comply with? 2. Results-oriented permitting and reporting. Unnecessarily complicated permit conditions and reporting requirements can be sources of non-compliance. EPA has carried out a number of pilots to test simplified or consolidated environmental reporting and has experimented with many approaches for getting better results from permits, such as watershed trading. Can EPA use this experience to make broader changes that will reduce the frequency of non-compliance associated with complex permit and reporting requirements? 3. Compliance assistance. EPA and other regulators are using a number of innovative approaches to help regulated parties comply, ranging from compliance assistance centers, to compliance manuals, to onsite technical assistance and hotlines. Should EPA expand the use of these strategies? What is EPA's role versus the role of state agencies in providing compliance assistance? Based on the experience of the past five years, are there ways that compliance assistance strategies can be adjusted to get the maximum benefit? Are there new strategies that should be adopted?

II. Encouraging Environmental Stewardship:

The work of the the Task Force also includes identifying incentives to stimulate environmentally beneficial behavior beyond what is legally required. Included in this effort may be reductions in emissions below the levels required by regulations and permits, helping to solve environmental problems that are not regulated by EPA, such as energy or water use, or actions which support broadly desirable goals such as sustainability. There are an increasing number of companies and communities which are demonstrating leadership through pollution prevention, product stewardship, providing others with guidance about environmental responsibilities, and developing other creative ways to achieve environmental results. 1. Encouraging top performance. Some companies consistently perform well above required levels environmentally--not only meeting the compliance baseline, but going well beyond it in addressing environmental issues. Is EPA doing enough to reward and encourage this kind of outstanding environmental performance? What specific opportunities are there to employ other incentive approaches to promote these objectives? What types of incentives are likely to be most effective? 2. Encouraging voluntary improvements. An increasing number of companies are interested in improving their environmental performance beyond minimum regulatory requirements--e.g., by participating in targeted voluntary programs. Similarly, communities are working to solve local environmental problems such as habitat loss, traffic congestion, and loss of open space. There is widespread interest in actions individuals can take to reduce their impact on the environment. Are there additional steps EPA should be taking to encourage improvement by these parties? Are there unaddressed problems, or problems not fully addressed by regulatory approaches, that present promising opportunities for using voluntary approaches? Is there a particular industry or set of pollution sources that presents opportunities? Should EPA develop more comprehensive strategies for encouraging continuous improvement by companies and communities? 3. Integrating environmental and business decisions. New business tools have been developed that incorporate environmental considerations into traditional business systems. For example, some companies now use

robust accounting systems that track environmental costs and benefits thereby providing information necessary for the organization to achieve greater economic efficiencies and improved environmental performance. Are there additional opportunities to accelerate the adoption of these new practices in related areas such as capital budgeting, design, materials management, underwriting, and finance?

Dated: March 11, 1999. Jay Benforado, Acting Associate Administrator, Office of Reinvention. [FR Doc. 99-6513 Filed 3-16-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-P