Greenversations

About the author: Marcus Peacock is EPA’s Deputy Administrator.

Loretta Lynn once mused — to paraphrase — while everyone wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to make the trip.

It may not be everyone’s definition of heaven, but I carry around a punch list of my goals for 2008. It comprises ten numbered items.  When a goal is reached, I punch a hole in the list next to the appropriate number.

I say it is the list of my goals, but it is really a list of goals for a large team of people at the Environmental Protection Agency.  There is nothing on this list I could do alone.  For instance, I have little idea how to establish a best practices system or create an electronic dashboard.  Nonetheless, I am able to punch items off the list because people are willing to do the hard work necessary to make EPA a better agency and better protect human health and the environment.

I sat down with some of these team members almost a year ago and went through the goals.  When I got to item number 7, there was a groan.  Number 7 seemed impossible.  It was something that no agency had ever achieved and, it seemed likely, no agency ever would achieve.  I said, “That’s okay, we’ll leave it on the list and consider it a stretch goal.”

You see, in the many years it’s been available, only two agencies have ever won the President’s Quality Award for Overall Management Excellence. Think of it as a supercharged Malcolm Baldridge Award for the federal government.  It’s not like winning an Olympic Medal.  It’s more like winning 8 gold medals all at once.  It’s possible, but very rare.  And, certainly, no agency has ever won this award two years in a row.

And yet, last night, thanks to this team of EPA employees — employees who not only wanted to go to heaven, but were willing to take the trip — I took my hole puncher and punched out item number 7.  EPA won the President’s Quality Award for Overall Management . . .again.

Of  all the Cabinet and Cabinet rank agencies, EPA is the:

• first to publish quarterly performance data;
• first to have an ongoing public blog;
• first to broadcast management meetings throughout the agency;
• first to achieve and maintain the highest possible rating on the President’s Management Agenda; and, now,
• first to receive the top award for management excellence . . . back-to-back.

Not a bad pattern to keep going.

(Find out more about how we did it at http://www.epa.gov/pqa.)

About the author: Jeffery Robichaud is a second generation scientist with EPA who started in 1998. He serves as Chief of the Environmental Assessment and Monitoring Branch in Kansas City.

The silly season is finally over for my staff. No more traveling to small towns off the beaten path. No more chatting with folks at the grain elevator or eating chicken-fried steak smothered in gravy. No more coaxing the locals (of the four hoof variety) to shift their stance to the right or to the left. We won’t be back this way for another 4 years.

No I’m not talking about the election; I’m talking about our work supporting the National Rivers and Streams Survey (NRSA). This survey helps citizens and governments measure the health of our waters, take actions to prevent pollution, and evaluate the effectiveness of protection and restoration efforts.

Next year Region 7 will be sampling larger rivers and then take a year off as the survey moves to coastal waters. We won’t see our favorite small streams until we do some recon in 2012 in preparation for visiting them again the following year. I would like to say a special thanks to all of those scientists across the country that helped to “GET OUT THE BOAT,” as part of this survey.

A bit of parting wisdom for all of you future volunteers… I guarantee you getting a cow to change its position is tougher than getting a person. Just look at how distrustful these cows were of Shawn and Bray. They just wanted them to MOOOOOOOve on. Send all requests about the NRSA to riversurvey-ow@epa.gov. Send all complaints about bad puns to robichaud.jeffery@epa.gov.

About the author: John DeLashmit began his EPA career over twenty years ago in Chicago. He spent many years working in EPA’s hazardous waste cleanup programs, and now serves as Chief of the Water Quality Management Branch in EPA’s Kansas City office.

Regional personnel are frequently asked to speak at conferences and meetings to supply information on the latest developments in the Region and Headquarters. The folks want a heads up on what’s coming next in our varied programs, particularly EPA’s “hottest” issues.

We accept as many invitations to present information as our resources allow. We recognize a prime opportunity to meet/converse with the folks that are affected by our statutes, policies, and regulations…our stakeholders. Remember, these stakeholders actually want to hear what we have to say. It’s not an ambush…they’ll gather, of their own free will, in the meeting room or auditorium to listen to us. Many of them have paid registration fees to the organizations hosting the meeting. The pressure to provide something useful is intense!

Our interaction with stakeholders reminds us of our accountability, highlights the tremendous ramifications of our actions, and underscores the fact that we have a huge financial and quality-of-life impact.

Before attending a stakeholder gathering I give my staff some pointers:

1. Show up early for the event; we’re much more effective if we get a chance to meet members of the audience one-on-one before we take the podium;
2. Talk to people… conversation will reveal (hopefully) that we’re human beings, not Code of Federal Regulation-quoting robots lacking common sense;
3. Don’t be a glutton at the table of free coffee and pastries… nothing diminishes credibility like frosting fragments stuck in the corners of your mouth or a coffee stain racing stripe down the front of your shirt;
4. Make sure to take a quick look around for boxes of rotten tomatoes and rocks, which can be used to provide emphatic negative feedback, and;
5. Just in case things go in the wrong direction, wear shoes you can run in…you don’t see Olympic sprinters in wing tips, do you?

I’m presenting at one of these gatherings in a couple of days. I’ll be in a room with a couple hundred people, many of them listening raptly to me…I hope. I must admit that I’ve been a little worried since I had The Nightmare. When The Nightmare begins, I’ve just made a dramatic point, pausing in my presentation to look out at the room. Looking up, I see a room of bowed heads. I suddenly realize that they’re not saying an early grace for that rubber chicken lunch; they’re staring down into their laps at their Blackberries! Just before I wake, I realize that I’ve lost my audience to…email!

About the author: Alan J. Steinberg is the Regional Administrator for the New York Regional Office.

I might just be the biggest baseball fan in the world, and, you might say, I am also a major fan of the planet Earth. This year, I had the chance to truly combine business and pleasure, and I’m proud to share my story as the first contributor to a new Agency-wide blog.

As a baseball “nut,” I’ve been blessed. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh and rooted for the Pirates of Roberto Clemente. I also had great affection for a bunch of “Bums” from Brooklyn, including the courageous Jackie Roosevelt Robinson. In my adult years, I became a New York Mets fan. All’s right in my world when baseball is being played at Shea.

Next year, Shea Stadium will give way to the new Citi Field. Recently, I had the pleasure of announcing that our “green team,” a multi-discipline group of EPA staffers focused on pollution prevention, had hit a virtual homerun with the signing of an agreement with the Mets calling for many outstanding green practices at their new ballpark.

The agreement underscores the team’s innovative and comprehensive commitment to sustainable development, spelling out design, construction and operational principles that will ensure that the stadium meets the highest environmental standards. The Mets are building the new ballpark with 95% recycled steel. They’re installing a green roof to decrease energy needs. Water conserving measures, such as hands-free faucets and automated flush valves, will save millions of gallons of water every year.

When Citi Field is fully operational, the Mets plan to join EPA’s WasteWise program and Energy Star. And, that just scratches the surface of the many planned, environmentally friendly features of the new ballpark. Citi Field will be a model for other sports arenas (hint, hint…Yankees).

As I announced the agreement from Shea Stadium, I couldn’t help but think that the New York Mets had hit a grand slam, converting a “field of dreams” into a “field of green.”

And, what better time is there to be green than the start of baseball season and the Earth Day celebration? I hope you all do right by the planet, and I encourage you to keep reading this blog as staffers from across the Agency share their stories. Happy Earth Day everyone!