Greenversations

About the author: Karen Reshkin manages the Web site in EPA’s Chicago office. She’s been there since 1991, and can still remember life before the Internet.

A few weeks ago, I declared that I’d try to diminish my ignorance about some of the things EPA does. Turns out it’s hard to write about things you don’t know! I hope you’ll bear with me if some of this seems a bit elementary. I want to understand better how enforcement works at EPA, so I’ll start with laws and regulations.

EPA is charged with implementing federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Statutes like these are passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. They may get amended, as happened with the Clean Water Act in 1972, 1977, 1981…

Those laws look quite, um, legal to me. Why would you need regulations on top of that? Turns out the statutes usually don’t contain the details you’d need to actually enforce them (e.g. allowable concentrations of particular substances in water). EPA is a regulatory agency, which means Congress has authorized it to write regulations that explain how to implement a statute. There’s a whole process for doing that, and it generally includes an opportunity for the public to comment on a proposed rule (regulation).

The Web provides an excellent way for people to get involved in rulemaking. You can view the proposed rule online and provide comments online as well. (More traditional methods like paper mail still work, too.) The collection of documents related to a rulemaking is called a docket and it includes public comments, background reports, Federal Register notices, and other supporting documents. Dockets are accessible to the public and Regulations.gov serves as EPA’s electronic public docket and online comment system.

This didn’t really bring us to enforcement yet, but I’m getting there.

About the author: Barbara Hostage is the Director of the Policy Analysis and Regulatory Management Staff in the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. She has been with EPA for 30 years, spending most of those 30 years involved in EPA rulemakings.

Anyone who’s ever worked with a real estate agent knows that it helps to let them know what you want. For example, if you’re looking for a three bedroom ranch on a quiet street, you should say so, or else you’ll spend a lot of time driving to five bedroom colonials next to busy shopping malls. There are a lot of houses out there and a lot of factors to consider. The more guidance you provide, the more effective your search becomes.

It’s a simple idea: providing guidance early leads to more effective work. It’s a good rule to follow when working with a real estate agent, hair stylist, or mechanic. It’s also a principle that we try to incorporate into our work here at EPA.

I help EPA put this principle into practice by arranging Early Guidance Meetings for my office. Developing an action (such as a regulation) is a detailed process. At the beginning of the process, a workgroup that includes all relevant parts of EPA is formed. The workgroup then proceeds to investigate the topic and identify what may need to be done. It is during this early phase that an EPA workgroup will turn to EPA senior managers for guidance…hence the name “Early Guidance Meeting.” In these meetings, senior managers help the workgroup identify priorities and establish expectations. Getting senior managers involved early in the process helps the workgroup avoid missteps and dead ends, which leads to a quicker and more efficient process.

It’s a simple step, but I’m convinced that these meetings make us a better agency. Early Guidance Meetings save taxpayers’ money by minimizing the amount of time spent pursuing dead ends, documenting decisions in case we need to revisit them later on, and completing regulations in a timelier manner. It’s only logical: a better process produces better actions. And during the early phases of the process – when a workgroup is looking for some ”warmer/colder” advice to nudge them in the right direction – a little guidance can go a long way.