Description of Collaboration With the Environmental Council of the States Regarding National Environmental Performance Track and State Performance-Based Environmental Leadership Programs, 44921-44923 [05-15438]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 149 (Thursday, August 4, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44921-44923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15438]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7948-2, OA-2005-0003]


Description of Collaboration With the Environmental Council of 
the States Regarding National Environmental Performance Track and State 
Performance-Based Environmental Leadership Programs

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice describes and seeks public comment about a 
collaborative effort between EPA and the Environmental Council of the 
States (ECOS). This effort seeks to integrate performance-based 
environmental leadership programs into standard operating procedures 
for states and EPA in order to identify, develop, and implement 
incentives for top environmental performers that are part of state and 
federal performance-based environmental leadership programs. EPA will 
convene a public meeting on October 19, 2005, in Chicago, Illinois, to 
solicit stakeholder input on the preliminary results of these 
collaborations.

DATES: A public meeting will be held on October 19, 2005. EPA will 
accept comments until October 31, 2005. EPA encourages those interested 
in attending the public meeting to reply to EPA via the docket with 
their intent by October 4, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted to: Office of Administrator 
Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC, 20460. Attention Docket ID No. OA-2005-0003. Comments 
may also be submitted electronically or through hand delivery or 
courier, see details in section I.B.1 of the Supplementary Information 
Section of this notice. The public meeting will be held in Chicago, 
Illinois at the Hilton Chicago Hotel, 720 South Michigan Avenue, from 9 
a.m. to 12 p.m. CDT.
    EPA asks you to submit your information electronically, by mail, or 
through hand delivery/courier; simply follow the detailed instructions 
as provided in Unit I.B.1 of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Sachs, Office of Policy, 
Economics, and Innovation. Phone: 202-566-2884; E-mail: 
sachs.robert@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. How Can I Get Copies of Related Information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
action under Docket ID No. OA-2005-0003. The official public docket is 
the collection of materials that is available for public viewing at the 
Office of Administrator Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA 
West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA 
Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number 
for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744.
    2. Electronic Access. An electronic version of the public docket is 
available through EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, 
EPA Dockets. You may use EPA Dockets at https://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to 
submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the 
contents of the official public docket, and to access those documents 
in the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the 
system, select ``search,'' then key in the appropriate docket 
identification number.
    When a document is selected from the index list in EPA Dockets, the 
system will identify whether the document is available for viewing in 
EPA's electronic public docket. Although not all docket materials may 
be available electronically, you may still access any of the publicly 
available docket materials through the docket facility identified in 
Unit I.B of this notice. EPA intends to work towards providing 
electronic access to all of the publicly available docket materials 
through EPA's electronic public docket.
    For public commenters, it is important to note that EPA's policy is 
that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, 
will be made available for public viewing in EPA's electronic public 
docket as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment 
contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment 
containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that 
material in the version of the comment that is placed in EPA's 
electronic public docket. The entire printed comment, including the 
copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket.
    Public comments submitted on computer disks that are mailed or 
delivered to the docket will be

[[Page 44922]]

transferred to EPA's electronic public docket. Public comments that are 
mailed or delivered to the Docket will be scanned and placed in EPA's 
electronic public docket. Where practical, physical objects will be 
photographed, and the photograph will be placed in EPA's electronic 
public docket along with a brief description written by the docket 
staff.

B. How and To Whom Do I Submit Comments?

    You may submit comments electronically, by mail, or through hand 
delivery/courier. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, identify the 
appropriate docket identification number in the subject line on the 
first page of your comment. Please ensure that your comments are 
submitted within the specified comment period. Comments received after 
the close of the comment period will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not 
required to consider these late comments.
    1. Electronically. If you submit an electronic comment as 
prescribed below, EPA recommends that you include your name, mailing 
address, and an e-mail address or other contact information in the body 
of your comment. Also include this contact information on the outside 
of any disk or CD ROM you submit, and in any cover letter accompanying 
the disk or CD ROM. This ensures that you can be identified as the 
submitter of the comment and allows EPA to contact you in case EPA 
cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties or needs further 
information on the substance of your comment. EPA's policy is that EPA 
will not edit your comment, and any identifying or contact information 
provided in the body of a comment will be included as part of the 
comment that is placed in the official public docket, and made 
available in EPA's electronic public docket. If EPA cannot read your 
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment.
    i. EPA Dockets. Your use of EPA's electronic public docket to 
submit comments to EPA electronically is EPA's preferred method for 
receiving comments. Go directly to EPA Dockets at https://www.epa.gov/
edocket, and follow the online instructions for submitting comments. To 
access EPA's electronic public docket from the EPA Internet Home Page, 
select ``Information Sources,'' ``Dockets,'' and ``EPA Dockets.'' Once 
in the system, select ``search,'' and then key in Docket ID No. OA-
2005-0003. The system is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means 
EPA will not know your identity, e-mail address, or other contact 
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment.
    ii. E-mail. Comments may be sent by electronic mail (e-mail) to 
oei.docket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID No. OA-2005-0003. In contrast 
to EPA's electronic public docket, EPA's e-mail system is not an 
``anonymous access'' system. If you send an e-mail comment directly to 
the Docket without going through EPA's electronic public docket, EPA's 
e-mail system automatically captures your e-mail address. E-mail 
addresses that are automatically captured by EPA's e-mail system are 
included as part of the comment that is placed in the official public 
docket, and made available in EPA's electronic public docket.
    iii. Disk or CD ROM. You may submit comments on a disk or CD ROM 
that you mail to the mailing address identified in Unit 1.A.1. These 
electronic submissions will be accepted in WordPerfect or ASCII file 
format. Avoid the use of special characters and any form of encryption.
    2. By Mail. Send your comments to: Office of Administrator Docket, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC, 20460 Attention Docket ID No. OA-2005-0003.
    3. By Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to: Office of 
Administrator Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room 
B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC., Attention Docket ID 
No. OA-2005-0003. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's 
normal hours of operation as identified in Unit 1.A.1.

II. Background

    On June 26, 2000, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
launched the National Environmental Performance Track program 
(Performance Track). The program is designed to recognize and encourage 
top environmental performers who go beyond compliance with regulatory 
requirements to attain levels of environmental performance and 
management that benefit the environment. The program design was 
published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2000 (65 FR 41655). On 
April 22, 2004, EPA published a final rule that established certain 
regulatory incentives for Performance Track members (69 FR 21737). On 
May 17, 2004, EPA published a number of changes to the program, 
including the creation of a Corporate Leader designation (69 FR 27922). 
Additional information on Performance Track, including up-to-date 
member information and program criteria, can be found at https://
www.epa.gov/performancetrack.
    The program's current membership includes about 345 members from 46 
states and Puerto Rico and represents virtually every major 
manufacturing sector as well as public-sector facilities at the 
federal, state, and local levels. Since the inception of the program, 
Performance Track members report that they have collectively reduced 
their water use by more than 1.3 billion gallons--enough to meet the 
water needs of New York City's 8 million inhabitants for a day. In 
addition, members have cut their generation of solid waste by nearly 
600,000 tons and have decreased their energy use by more than 8.4 
trillion British Thermal Units (BTUs), enough to power more than 80,600 
homes for a year. In 2003 alone, Performance Track members reported 
collective reductions in energy use of 5.3 trillion BTUs; reductions in 
water use of 566 million gallons; and reductions in solid waste 
generation of 300,000 tons.
    In addition to EPA, more than 20 states have active state-level 
performance-based environmental leadership programs, and an additional 
five states are currently developing programs. Nine states established 
programs before 2000, with the first program being implemented in 1995. 
The combined number of participants in these state programs is greater 
than 800. Many of these programs include dual membership with 
Performance Track at some level, while some exceed the federal 
program's requirements.
    The fundamental goal of performance-based environmental leadership 
programs is to achieve environmental results greater than those 
achieved through traditional regulatory approaches. As such, these 
programs tend to focus on environmental outcomes such as reduced 
emissions, generating fewer tons of hazardous waste, or lower 
discharges of toxics to water, rather than operationally-based output 
measures such as the number of inspections or permits issued. These 
programs are designed to provide operational flexibility for the 
purpose of allowing high performers to focus their resources on 
improving their environmental performance beyond regulatory 
requirements. They also provide opportunities for state and federal 
regulators, as well as the regulated community, to more strategically 
target their financial and human resources in order to produce better 
overall environmental results.

[[Page 44923]]

III. ECOS Report

    The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) is the national non-
profit, non-partisan association of state and territorial environmental 
agency commissioners (for additional information on ECOS, visit https://
www.ecos.org). At the request of former EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt, 
ECOS prepared a report dated January 13, 2005 describing the level of 
support among states for Performance Track and state performance-based 
environmental leadership programs and recommended a number of actions 
states believe EPA should take to improve these programs' value and 
effectiveness. ECOS' recommendations are based on interviews with 
environmental commissioners and senior managers from 40 state 
environmental protection agencies, as well as with representatives of 
the Performance Track Participants Association (PTPA). The PTPA is a 
non-profit organization of Performance Track members (for additional 
information on PTPA, visit https://www.ptpaonline.org). The ECOS report 
is available in the docket for today's notice (OA-2005-0003) and at the 
Performance Track Web site at https://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/
downloads/ECOS_Report_Final_01-13-05.pdf.
    In its report, ECOS recommended several actions that can be 
undertaken to strengthen both Performance Track and state performance-
based environmental leadership programs and make them core elements of 
the environmental protection system in the U.S. These recommendations 
fall into the following four main areas:
     Support state programs and state efforts to work with 
Performance Track;
     Assure program support from all EPA program offices;
     Provide better incentives to participants faster; and
     Conduct more strategic marketing and education of the 
program.

IV. EPA/ECOS Collaboration

    EPA and ECOS are committed to actively implementing the 
recommendations in the January 2005 report. State environmental 
commissioners and EPA senior leaders will collaborate to focus on three 
specific areas: state support and EPA strategic planning (a combination 
of the first two recommendations); incentives; and recruitment and 
marketing. During spring 2005, EPA and ECOS convened workgroups related 
to the first two areas. EPA is working informally with states to 
coordinate recruitment and marketing efforts. The EPA/ECOS workgroups 
are planning to work through the fall of 2005 to accomplish the tasks 
outlined below.
    Workgroup 1: Support State Performance-Based Environmental 
Leadership Programs and State Efforts to Work with Performance Track.
    Workgroup 1 (or the Integration Workgroup) seeks to find ways to 
integrate Performance Track and state performance-based environmental 
leadership programs into current federal and state approaches for 
achieving environmental protection. The Integration Workgroup is 
investigating ways to obtain support from State and EPA Program and 
Regional offices to ensure these programs are recognized among the 
Agencies' planning priorities. The workgroup's tasks are as follows:
     Assess how to recognize and provide credit for 
environmental and compliance outcomes achieved through Performance 
Track and state performance-based environmental leadership programs.
     Develop guidance for including State performance-based 
environmental leadership programs in State/EPA environmental agreements 
(e.g., performance partnership agreements and grants).
     Develop language for FY '07 National Program Managers 
Guidance (and other appropriate Agency guidance) on how performance-
based environmental leadership programs should be recognized and 
credited for their contributions to national program goals.
    The Integration Workgroup's members represent four state 
environmental protection agencies; four EPA regional offices; four EPA 
media program offices; and several EPA headquarters offices (including 
the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
Workgroup 2: Provide Better Incentives to Participants Faster
    Workgroup 2 (or the Incentives Workgroup) seeks to revitalize the 
system for identifying, developing, and implementing effective 
incentives while minimizing transaction costs. This work is intended 
modify and to build on existing processes the agency and states use 
currently. The workgroup's tasks are as follows:
     Develop and implement a revitalized system for 
identifying, developing, and implementing incentives for Performance 
Track and state performance-based programs.
     Evaluate several specific ideas for incentives that may be 
of significant value to current and potential program members.
     Work with ECOS to evaluate potential regulatory and 
statutory options for improving and streamlining the incentives 
implementation process.
    The Incentives Workgroup's members represent six state 
environmental protection agencies; three EPA regional offices; four EPA 
media program offices; and EPA's enforcement and general counsel 
offices.

V. Notice of Public Meeting

    In order to provide an opportunity for stakeholder input on the 
EPA/ECOS workgroups, EPA will convene a public meeting on October 19, 
2005 in Chicago, IL. The meeting will be held at the Hilton Chicago 
Hotel, 720 South Michigan Avenue, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The purpose of 
the meeting is to solicit feedback on the workgroups' preliminary 
recommendations. The meeting will include brief presentations on 
Performance Track and representative state programs, a discussion of 
the workgroups' recommendations, and ample time for questions, answers, 
and comments. EPA welcomes comments now from interested parties 
regarding the charge and tasks of each workgroup.
    Draft documents from workgroups 1 and 2 will be available in the E-
Docket in September 2005, and on EPA's Performance Track website. EPA 
encourages the public to respond to the Docket to indicate interest in 
these issues, and intent to participate or attend the public meeting in 
Chicago in October. If possible, EPA encourages potential attendees to 
respond to EPA by October 4, 2005 through the Docket to indicate 
interest in attending the public meeting. EPA also seeks comment from 
interested parties about the draft documents that workgroups 1 and 2 
will produce prior to the meeting. Comments may be sent to EPA as 
indicated in Unit 1.B. EPA will accept comments until October 31, 2005.

    Dated: July 28, 2005.
Charles Kent,
Director, Office of Business and Community Innovation.
[FR Doc. 05-15438 Filed 8-3-05; 8:45 am]
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