Cooperative Environmental Management

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460

MAY 1 2001

OFFICE OF ENFORCEMENT AND COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE

Mr. Richard C. Sustich
Co-Chair, Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
111 East Erie Street
Chicago, IL 60611

Mr. Richard Desanti
Co-Chair, Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee
Mobil Business Resources Corporation
3225 Gallows Road
2D2106
Fairfax, VA 22037

Dear Messrs. Sustich and Desanti:

            On August 18, 2000, the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT) provided the EPA Administrator with a series of recommendations on how to improve certain aspects of the Agency's compliance assistance program. These recommendations, which were developed by the NACEPT Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee (CAAC), have been very helpful to the agency and we especially appreciate the thought and effort that went into developing them. At the January 2001 CAAC meeting, Bruce Weddle provided a brief update of what we have been doing in response to the recommendations. At this point, I thought it would be helpful to provide you and the committee with a more complete response to each of your major recommendations.

             A number of steps have been taken to improve coordination within the Agency, thereby improving the quality and comprehensiveness of the Plan's inventory. We also have been working to strengthen the Plan's use as a strategic planning tool. To help ensure the accuracy of the final FY 2001 (FY 01) Plan, in December 2000, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) formally requested all relevant EPA headquarters and regional offices to update and revise their compliance assistance project inventories following receipt of the Agency's final FY01 appropriations. This resulted in a net increase of 69 projects and improved data quality on the already-identified projects. To further improve the quality of future Plans, EPA's March 2001 National Compliance Assistance Providers Forum hosted separate breakout sessions for each major headquarters media program office and each regional office in order to solicit stakeholder feedback on FY 2002 (FY 02) Agency priorities. In addition, the schedule for development of the FY 02 Plan has been adjusted so that it is now more closely aligned with the Agency's FY 02 planning and budgeting process. OECA also has expanded the Agency workgroup that develops the Plan to increase participation by all program offices.

            EPA has already realized some internal benefits of the Plan development process since it has helped Agency offices and regions avoid duplication of efforts and identified numerous opportunities for collaboration both within and outside the Agency. As the Plan becomes a more established part of the annual planning cycle, we expect to see more efficient use of compliance assistance resources as it becomes institutionalized across the entire Agency.

2.

Make the Plan user friendly and easy to access.

            The Agency has made several enhancements to the final FY 01 Compliance Assistance Activity Plan since the release of the draft plan in March 2000. The final Plan includes a summary of the Agency's FY 01 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) priorities not only for OECA but also for each of the major EPA programs as well (e.g., air, water, waste, etc.). It also provides an easy-to- read table displaying the inventory of compliance assistance activities by industry sector with relevant project-specific information, including a point-of-contact for each. The FY01 Plan project inventory is available electronically on the National Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse located at www.epa.gov/clearinghouse and is searchable by program and regional office. For the FY02 Plan and all future Plans, the projects will also be searchable by geographic area, environmental media, sector and other key factors. In addition, the public can request hard copies of the FY01 Plan through the National Center for Environmental Publications and Information (NCEPI) at 1-800-990-9918. Finally, a complete electronic copy of the Plan will be available on the EPA OECA web site at www.epa.gov/oeca.

3.

Develop a long range plan to sustain the quality of materials in the Clearinghouse.

            EPA is committed to providing a comprehensive collection of compliance assistance material and contact information through the Clearinghouse. EPA will employ tools to: ensure that links within the Clearinghouse are current; collect new information; and receive feedback from clients on the quality of the material included in the Clearinghouse. Currently, EPA uses an electronic program to periodically screen the links in the Clearinghouse database to ensure that all links are current. When broken links are detected by this program, EPA will identify the new URL and update the Clearinghouse database. The "Rate a Link," "Comment on a Link," and "Add a Link" features provide EPA user feedback that will help keep the content fresh and useful.

            EPA is currently working with its contractor to develop software to electronically collect new material and update the Clearinghouse database. This software, if proven successful, will substantially reduce the cost to expand the Clearinghouse database to include links to documents and sites outside of EPA. EPA is also working internally to automate the collection of new EPA links. Once these programs are in place, EPA will be able to efficiently expand the Clearinghouse database. In addition, the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) has received funding to help EPA expand the Clearinghouse content.

4.

Elicit early feedback from stakeholders in the development of future Plans.

            In response to this recommendation, the Agency revised the schedule for developing the FY 02 Plan and redesigned its outreach efforts in order to receive stakeholder input prior to preparing future draft Plans. EPA's outreach has included using the National Compliance Assistance Providers Forum, held in March 2001, as a means to receive feedback on proposed compliance assistance activities and priorities prior to drafting the FY 02 Plan. In addition, EPA regional offices and certain program offices have been meeting with compliance assistance providers and other stakeholders to receive feedback on compliance assistance needs. The Agency is committed to engaging stakeholders in the development of all future Plans and will continue to refine and expand its outreach efforts.

5.

Develop guidance and tools which go beyond the current "economically significant" criteria used for selecting areas for compliance tools development.

            In addition to the compliance guides developed as new rules are promulgated, other compliance assistance tools are developed as part of integrated strategies to address sector-specific problems. Over the past few years, EPA has selected sectors for compliance assistance based on evidence of environmental compliance problems, with a focus on small to medium-size entities. The ten national Compliance Assistance Centers are good examples of tools which emphasize compliance assistance approaches. By eliciting stakeholder input earlier in the planning process, the Agency will be better able to identify areas where compliance assistance is most needed. The Agency will continue its commitment to preparing compliance assistance guides for economically significant rules and rules impacted by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. However, the Agency recognizes that the need for compliance assistance extends beyond those criteria. We will continue to work closely with the Agency's media program offices and encourage them to develop compliance assistance tools for other important rules and national program priorities.

            OECA has also been working with the CAAC Tools Workgroup which has been considering models that will help the Agency and other compliance assistance providers to develop and deliver tools that are more based on customer needs. We look forward to the CAAC's recommendations, as we work to better direct our compliance assistance efforts.

6.

Provide specific guidance to ensure that enforcement and compliance assistance are complementary (not competing) functions.

            Over the past several years, EPA and the states have begun to use integrated strategies to improve compliance with environmental requirements. For its FY 02-03 planning cycle, OECA is developing integrated strategies for all appropriate Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) priorities. OECA also is developing a set of principles to guide the development of these integrated compliance assurance strategies to ensure they consider the appropriate use of compliance assistance, compliance incentives, compliance monitoring and enforcement to address compliance problems. As you are aware, integrated strategies were a substantive issue discussed at the Compliance Assistance Forum and included a presentation on the CAAC's draft integration model. We look forward to receiving the CAAC workgroup's recommendations related to integration.

7.

Revisit the definition of compliance assistance and determine whether a broader definition would help institutionalize compliance assistance across the Agency.

            As you requested, we did examine the definition of compliance assistance that the Agency has been using to develop its Compliance Assistance Activity Plan and other tools. We recognize that pollution prevention and other innovative approaches to environmental management can help improve compliance and environmental performance. The use of such approaches remains an important component of the environmental assistance that EPA provides to the regulated community. Our definition allows for these approaches to be considered as compliance assistance as long as they have a regulatory compliance objective associated with them. This definition also is now being used by EPA's Comptroller to track and account for the use of all Agency compliance assistance resources for annual reporting to Congress. We have made the decision to continue using this definition following internal discussions across the agency and with Congressional staff as well. The following is the full text of the Agency's definition of compliance assistance:

"Compliance Assistance includes activities, tools or technical assistance which provide clear and consistent information for 10 helping the regulated community understand and meet its obligations under environmental regulations; or 2) compliance assistance providers to aid the regulated community in complying with environmental regulations. Compliance assistance may also help the regulated community find cost-effective ways to comply with regulations and/or go "beyond compliance" through the use of pollution prevention, environmental management practices and innovative technologies, thus improving environmental performance. At least one objective of the activity or project must be related to achieving or advancing regulatory compliance."

            The CAAC's recommendations have challenged and encouraged us to improve the Agency's compliance assistance program. While we have done much in response, there remains more that we can accomplish. Your continued assistance will greatly improve our efforts. We have enjoyed working together with the CAAC to address these challenges, and look forward to receiving further input and recommendations from you in the future.

Sincerely, Michael M. Stahl, Director Office of Compliance

 

cc:	Compliance Assistance Advisory Council Members
	Rob Rhodes Chair NACEPT Wilma Subra Vice-Chair NACEPT Gwen Whitt DFO, NACEPT Sonya Alteri DFO. NACEPT

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