Laws, Regulations, Guidance and Dockets

Companies sometimes argue that, by mandating specific solutions, EPA regulations stifle innovation that could lead to better environmental results. By pursuing innovative approaches and insisting on strong accountability for results, we are finding ways to build more flexibility into regulations.

One way we do so is by using performance-based approaches that emphasize the end result we want to achieve. For example, an air quality regulation directed heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses to cut sulfur emissions by 95 percent. The regulation did not specify how refiners and engine manufacturers must achieve this goal, but it did give them significant time to decide for themselves.

In other instances, EPA has offered companies extra time to comply with a new requirement if those companies were willing to invest in more advanced technologies than required. The goal of this approach is to achieve better protection for the environment and more flexibility in making environmental investment decisions.

EPA works with states, businesses, and other organizations with environmental interests to test approaches that can lead to more flexible regulations. The objective is to find more efficient and effective ways of achieving environmental goals and to then apply those approaches on a scale that produces the greatest possible benefits.

For example, we have been working to encourage lean manufacturing practices, which help companies to improve their environmental performance by reducing waste and increasing the efficiency of their processes. EPA and some state environmental agencies have even begun to incorporate lean practices to help streamline administrative and regulatory processes.

Visit EPA's Innovations page for more information.

 

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