The Flow Of The River

Guest Blog: Tell me, no really, I want to know...

Karen Higginbotham runs EPA's Office of Civil Rights.

Within the next few weeks the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) will launch an Agency-wide survey. The purpose of the survey is to obtain statistically valid feedback from the (approx.) 17,500 people that comprise the Agency’s workforce. This is not a survey that folks in OCR created. Using the competitive procurement process, we sought out a business entity that has demonstrated experience in the development of survey instruments and is recognized for their ability to administer surveys and interpret survey results.

The survey will ask questions with respect to the (Equal Employment Opportunity) EEO process, affirmative employment, special emphasis programs, workforce diversity, and reasonable accommodation. The survey will also ask for information on the race, national origin, gender and disability status of each respondent. All information collected will be “anonymized” much like my photo has been “Simpsonized”. (Oh, alright! “anonymized” is not a real word.) All responses will be provided to the contractor. OCR will only see the survey statistics, feedback, and results.

Yes, I have a genuine interest in the results and feedback. In part, the survey results will tell me if OCR is “doing a good job.” That would be quite an affirmation; but what I really want to know is where we can improve upon our service and processes. I want to know how you perceive the work we are charged to accomplish. Do we treat employees with respect? Is the EEO process fully explained to aggrieved individuals?  Do our special emphasis observances resonate with the various constituent groups? Do these programs help to eradicate misperceptions with respect to different cultures, races, or ethnic groups? Do our diversity programs seek to create a more inclusive culture within EPA? Is the reasonable accommodation process used effectively?

This is my “science fair” project! The hypothesis is: “OCR has made incremental changes in its organizational structure and in work processes in order to deliver more effective services to EPA employees.” This survey is an “experiment.” The survey will put the hypothesis to the test. Like all good science fair projects, I will post the results of the (experiment) survey. The results will help me, the OCR management team and my senior managers to keep doing the things that work really well and to improve upon those things that are not working so well.

So when you get an email from WESTAT Inc. (the contractor) do not delete it as potential spam. Please take the time to read and respond to the survey. It’s OK to be open and honest. When it comes to OCR, like Dr. Phil, I really want to know what you have to say when asked, “So, how’s that working for ya?”

OMB vs. EPA Follow-up

In response to my last post on Tuesday I have received a number of e-mails. (You people really should be less shy about posting comments.) I’d like to share an edited version of one such e-mail with you. It demonstrates how different environmental ‘epiphanies’ can be. Nonetheless, they are all intensely personal.

“I really enjoyed your latest blog recounting your epiphanies and quoting Eiseley. I was drawn to your comment about wanting another one. So I am compelled to share mine with you.

It was about ten years ago. It was rooted in an earlier epiphany - similar to yours - and I had a deep spiritual sense of being part of the earth. The realization that the minerals and molecules comprising my body had been processed through the carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, oxygen and water cycles of the earth, and that those elements had been created in a super nova explosion, and the matter in the super nova was crafted in the mystery of the big bang of creation, was truly a moment of enlightenment that resulted in a transcendental experience. I was the earth and the universe being conscious of itself.

An EPA Sunroll

My guru in all of this is Brian Swimme, a mathematical cosmologist. His book The Universe Story is wondrous. He has helped me see the wonder of the planet not just as a planet, but as a living organism within the evolution of the entire universe.

Because of this, I no longer experience 'sunrise.' Rather it is the experience of riding on the back of a huge planet (something like a whale) that is slowly rolling over toward the sun. The next time you have the opportunity, try to feel it this way rather than thinking of the earth as fixed and the sun 'rising' (or setting). You have a much different experience.

Just as you stated, I too love working at EPA. And I’m particularly blessed to have the opportunity to work with the people and in the building that I do. I’m an early bird so most mornings I have the privilege of participating in the planet’s great “roll over” as it rotates toward the sun, and energy once again floods the face of the planet where I live. I get to meditate on the fact that the sun is this great metaphor of service and self-sacrifice, focusing on the fact that it is a gift that powers the planet and me. In time it will be gone – as will I; the difference being the sun has about 5 billion years left and I’ve got 15-20 years if nothing untoward happens.

I’ve attached a photo that I took from our building. The confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers is in the foreground. Some of that water came from the Platte. You can see why I love to come to work each day."

OMB vs. EPA

I spent several years working at the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Among other things, OMB produces the President’s budget request every year. People often ask me to compare OMB and the Environmental Protection Agency. I like to start by comparing their cultures. As a policy official at OMB, it’s a bit like being surrounded by a pack of eager Labrador Retrievers. They have one goal in life: to make you happy. Indeed, they need to make you happy. “Throw a stick, throw a stick! Please, please throw a stick so I can bring it back to you!!”

In contrast, EPA is a Quaker meeting. There’s less hierarchy. Everyone gets in a circle and has their say. There’s a strong desire for consensus. Everyone wants to hear what the decision is and why the decision was made the way it was.

Fortunately, these two cultures match up well to their respective missions. OMB crunches numbers on the White House campus. It needs to be incredibly responsive and reliable. EPA operates in a miasma of science, philosophy, economics, and law that sometimes borders on the reconciliation of religious beliefs. That can require a lot of meetings and process to work through.

I love both organizations. The drive at OMB to reach rational and quantifiable solutions to difficult problems under tight time constraints satisfied the “A”-type personality in me. The 500 folks at OMB routinely produce more and higher quality work than much larger organizations. What about EPA?

I love EPA because the mission of the agency touches something deep inside most people who work here. It’s why they come and why they stay. And I get that.

I’ve had three ‘environmental epiphanies’ in my life. My first one was the visceral revelation of a boy reacting to an outdoor experience on a frozen lake. My second epiphany came about two years later. No frozen landscape this time. I wasn’t even outside. I was reading a book. In 11th grade our English teacher assigned us The Immense Journey by Loren Eiseley.

Eiseley was a revelation. He fully grasped the emotional response I’d had - and never shared with anyone - two years before. He understood my fascination with the complexity, timelessness, and immensity of nature. For instance, in an essay called “The Flow of the River” he describes floating, on his back, down the Platte as it flows from the Rockies, through Nebraska, to the Gulf of Mexico:

The sky wheeled over me. For an instant, as I bobbed into the main channel, I had the sensation of sliding down the vast tilted face of the continent. It was then I felt the cold needles of the alpine springs at my fingertips, and the warmth of the Gulf pulling me southward. Moving with me, leaving its taste upon my mouth . . . was the immense body of the continent itself, flowing like the river was flowing, grain by grain, mountain by mountain, down to the sea.

That still makes me tingle.

This was an intellectual discovery. Here was someone who had put my feelings into words. I didn’t have to pursue my relationship with nature solely on a hiking trail. I could also do it from an armchair.

Or a desk.

Every day I show up at EPA part of me selfishly works on my continuing desire to reconcile the relationship of man and nature.

It’s not all selfish, of course. Eiseley also wrote:

Once in a lifetime, perhaps, one escapes the actual confines of the flesh. Once in a lifetime, if one is lucky, one so merges with the sunlight and air and running water that whole eons, the eons that mountains and deserts know, might pass in a single afternoon without discomfort.

I have been extremely fortunate. Three times in my life, I’ve experienced epiphanies. And while I crave another, what is more important is that my children have the opportunity to experience such a miraculous escape. Now, there’s a good reason to go to work in the morning.

Where I Claim a Federal Tax Credit

The wages of sin are death, but after they take the taxes out, it's more like a tired feeling, really.
~Paula Poundstone

I often point out that my job is made immensely easier because EPA has the finest, most dedicated workforce in the federal government. I can tell some people react to that statement with the thought, “Oh, yeah, well . . . he has to say that, doesn’t he?” So for those folks who aren’t already convinced, let me throw yet more proof on the pile of evidence, courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

People measure EPA’s performance in many ways but seldom have I seen anything so interesting as what the IRS sent over earlier this month. In a letter to the Administrator, the acting IRS Commissioner, Linda Stiff, pointed out that federal employees need, in particular, to comply with our tax laws because, “if the public perceives that Federal employees do not maintain the highest level of tax compliance, public confidence in government will suffer.” Ms. Stiff goes on to request the Administrator’s help in maintaining and improving tax compliance among EPA employees.

Okay, can do, Ms. Stiff.

But here is the most interesting part of the letter. First, it observes the compliance rate of federal employees (96.2 percent) is already better than that of the population at large (figure not given). That’s good. It then goes on to point out that the compliance rate of EPA personnel is 97.2 percent, a full percentage point higher than the federal employee average!

That doesn’t surprise me one bit. Want to know more about a few of these fine dedicated folks? Go to http://www.epa.gov/multimedia/epainaction.

Shadrack, NESHAP, and Around the Bend We Go

The Bible tells us Shadrack and his two friends, Meshach and Abednego, did some straight-talking to King Nebuchadnezzar one day. For that they were thrown into a fiery furnace “so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took [them] up.” Nonetheless, the three survived the inferno and the King repented.

I don’t face a fiery furnace, but let me try some straight-talk regarding ‘midnight regulations.’ Administrations often use the last months of their tenure to push additional regulations out the door. For instance, in the three months before President Bush’s inauguration in 2001, there was a 50 percent increase in the number of pages in the Federal Register compared to the average for the same three month period in a non-election year (see graph).

Source: Jay Cochran, “The Cinderella Effect,” GMU working paper; data updated by Brian Mannix.

These additional rules have been dubbed ‘midnight regulations’ and, up until now, I’ve never liked the idea. It implies rushing policy choices through the regulatory process at the expense of their quality.

My change of heart may sound convenient, but, like Shadrach, let me tell you the way I see it. I’m meeting with each senior regulatory official at EPA to identify what they want to get done in the last year. These meetings have made two things clear which shed some light on ‘midnight regulations.’

First, we have what I call the “NESHAP” (prounounced “knee-shap”) problem. Most of the rules EPA is working on have court-ordered deadlines and, this year, a surprising number of these deadlines seem to fall near the end of the Administration. For instance, EPA must finish no fewer than ten regulations related to National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) by December 15, 2008. These rules will look like a ‘midnight regulation’ splurge even though they have nothing to do with the election or transition.

Second, I find the EPA office heads have a strong desire to ‘finish the job’ on rules they have been wrestling with for years. Many of our non-deadline rules are chronically behind our internal schedules. The officials feel strong ownership of these actions and they very much want to feel the satisfaction of finishing the job.

The President’s asked EPA to ‘sprint to the finish.’ We’re doing that. The fact is the combined push to get the court-ordered work done and finish up the other actions will make things a little crazy or as one person said, “as we go into the final stretch we may find ourselves going around the bend.” Some people may also be concerned that we will be rushing rules out before they’re ready. Hopefully, like Shadrack and company, I’ve already changed their minds.

Guest Blog: It's Better than a Million Dollars

Pam Grant coordinates EPA's Volunteer Community Service initiatives.

One of the early television shows on CBS, “The Millionaire,” was a popular drama about ordinary people who received a $1 million (tax free) check from a wealthy philanthropist. Perhaps the most exciting part of the show was the reactions of the newly minted “millionaires” when they received the money. Without exception, they were surprised, excited and elated – the very same reactions that have been displayed by individuals whom Administrator Johnson has recognized with the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA). As part of the USA Freedom Corps, the PVSA is awarded to outstanding men and women across our country for their extraordinary volunteer work in improving our nation’s environment.

President Bush created the USA Freedom Corps in 2002 to build on the countless acts of service, sacrifice, and generosity that followed the September 11th attacks. In doing so, he called on all Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves by volunteering - and Americans have responded. Take, for example, 90-year-old Robert Ripberger of Syracuse, NY. Mr. Ripberger has devoted more than 50 years of volunteer service to help improve Oneida Lake, the health of the Lake’s fish and wildlife, and its surrounding wetlands. In honoring Mr. Ripberger, Administrator Johnson noted that “Dedicated volunteers like Bob are inspiring others to join them in delivering America a brighter, healthier future."

In a letter submitted to EPA after receiving the award, Mr. Ripberger wrote that for a “90 year old guy who still loves the outdoors, nature and wildlife” he has received many well wishes from friends, neighbors, fellow sportsmen and strangers alike. Mr. Ripberger is a testament to the fact that volunteering not only makes a person feel good but can provide many health benefits.

Administrator Johnson meeting with Presidential Volunteer Service Award Winner Robert Ripberger and his wife

One of the most likely groups of people to volunteer are Federal employees. In celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 27 – May 3), EPA is launching an Intranet site where EPA employees can locate volunteer opportunities by clicking on the link, entering their zip code and selecting a volunteer organization or cause that is of interest to them. For more information visit the USA Freedom Corps Website, to learn about volunteer opportunities in your neighborhood. By volunteering in our communities, and witnessing the positive impact that volunteer work has on our communities and fellow citizens, we all have the ability to feel like we’ve been handed a million dollars.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Enforcement Referrals

This blog tends to focus on EPA’s operations and how they can be improved to get better results. Six months have passed since I started blogging, enough time to go back and see how well we are doing on some of the issues I’ve written about before.

Let’s start with my blog on July 31, 2007 regarding enforcement. At that point, data for fiscal year 2006 showed that EPA referred a huge number of civil enforcement cases to the Department of Justice in the fourth quarter compared to other quarters (seven times as many). This ‘wave’ of work created a backlog of cases at Justice that could delay our ability to go after bad guys. I indicated we were going to see if we could start ‘leveling’ the workload throughout the year so that we could reduce the delays and get action on cases faster. So how’d we do?

In FY 2007, the fourth quarter slug of work actually increased compared to FY 2006 (see graph). Almost 57 percent (158) of all the cases in 2007 went over to Justice in the fourth quarter compared to about 53 percent (152) in 2006.

I’ve been discussing this with the enforcement folks and there are two explanations for the continuing binge in FY 2007:

• We didn’t start considering how to level the workload until well into fiscal year 2007. Indeed, my blog entry occurred late in the third quarter of FY 2007.
• Some of the annual backloading is impossible to avoid because the inspections of some facilities (e.g., large farms), which can ultimately result in enforcement actions, have to wait until spring or summer when operations and other conditions (snowmelt or rainfall) are right. Thus some of the slug of enforcement work is dictated by nature.

To their great credit the enforcement office thinks they have a chance to flatten out some of the workload in FY 2008. If we look at the FY 2007 data on a region-by-region basis, there are indications that some regions are making progress to avoid a peak in the fourth quarter. For example, Regions 2, 4 and 10 all had fewer referrals in the fourth quarter of FY 2007 than in the fourth quarter of FY 2006. So, EPA has set up a workgroup including staff from regional offices to try and move more cases earlier in the year.

That said, we just got the results for the first quarter of 2008. There were 27 referrals. That’s 5 more than in the first quarter of FY 2006 but 12 fewer than in the first quarter of FY 2007.

I fear the ‘wave’ machine may be just cranking up.

Shewhart's Cycle

My New Year’s resolution – to replace TV watching with book reading - is fraying. I was firm in January and February, but now I find myself increasingly enticed out of my reading chair. I spend more and more time standing in the doorway of our family room watching swatches of American Idol or Dirty Jobs, pretending I’ll return to my book any minute.

What I’m reading, a rather dry book on management, doesn’t help. For instance, it includes a very long description of the “Shewhart Cycle.” I think I can describe this cycle in less than 100 words.

Shewhart’s Cycle says that if you want to continuously improve what you are doing you need to follow a loop of:

Planning out your objectives and how to reach them.
Doing what you planned to do.
Checking to see if doing your plan gets the results you wanted.
Acting on what you learned so you get even better results next time.

This cycle is often shortened to ‘Plan – Do – Check – Act” or PDCA.

This process is not brain surgery. Nonetheless, since the 1950s application of this cycle (and its permutations) has resulted in huge improvements in countless systems from manufacturing cars to distributing food aid.

EPA uses this cycle, both explicitly and implicitly, in many programs. However, I want to make sure we are using it at the highest, corporate, level. We now have tools in place to perform all four phases of the cycle agency-wide but they need to be improved and better connected in a lot of places.

This blog can be one small way to help us make better connections. Therefore, in the weeks ahead I will periodically revisit some of the initiatives I’ve discussed in previous entries and review how we are doing in improving our performance, regardless of whether it’s good, bad or ugly. In my next post I’ll close the loop on how we’ve done in fixing a problem regarding our enforcement workload.  (Hint: it isn’t good.)

Shewhart’s Cycle is not a technique for self-flagellation. It’s a way to learn and get better. For instance, after reviewing my New Year’s resolution I changed my original plan. This weekend I picked up the latest Sue Grafton thriller. “N” is for “No more boring books.”

Calling All Photographers

I’ve got just a short announcement today. For this coming Earth Day EPA is sponsoring an environmental photo contest. If you think you have (or can take) good candidates in any or all of the following categories, then send’em in:

• enjoying the environment;
• protecting the environment; and/or
• nature and wildlife

Entries are due March 24. Winners will be announced on Earth Day (April 22). Other details, such as how to enter, are on EPA's Website.

Not to discourage anyone, but I’ve already entered this inquisitive Columbian ground squirrel in the last category.

I'm a Weasel

I’m trying to get other federal officials to blog. One official fretted to me about being called names. They noted that another blogger had called me a ‘weasel.’ Big deal. Every senior EPA appointee since 1970 has taken all kinds of criticism from all corners. It’s understandable. EPA’s work touches deeply held convictions regarding everything from property rights to the morality of contaminating nature.

Some people organize these criticisms into ‘narratives.’ Narratives are simple stories that people who don’t necessarily like dealing with the complexities of life may swallow. Historically, EPA narratives spin off of two different themes. We are either:

• an agency of wild-eyed zealots that regulate at the drop of a hat and persecute honest people, businesses, and localities without regard to their rights or ultimate economic ruin; or
• an ineffective stymied bureaucracy, captured by corporations, that spends a lot of time doing little to protect human health and the environment.

What people outside of Washington DC may not appreciate is there are professionals whose full-time job is to nurture and perpetuate these narratives in order to serve their own agendas. They take anything EPA does, or doesn’t do, or was rumored to have done, and try and use it to support their narrative. If it fits, or they can somehow twist it to fit, they slot it in. If it contradicts their narrative, they ignore it.

These narratives are always out there, but they blossom in big election years. The number and outlandishness of the half truths, innuendo, and personal attacks go up several notches. I see the early stirrings already. The ‘narrative’ I use when I really want to know what EPA is doing is our Quarterly Management Report. It doesn’t cover everything going on, but it’s a good start. And it’s based on facts.

Perhaps the most important thing, amidst the coming sturm and angst, senior EPA managers can’t get distracted. We must continue to: make sure dangerous chemicals are kept off the shelves; clean up contaminated yards; prevent raw sewage from going in our waters; continue our research on the affects of climate change; reduce the toxicity of solid waste; inspect animal feedlots; remove mercury switches from cars; help people conserve energy; and on and on.

As for the folks preparing to prop up their warped views of EPA this year, may I, in futility, suggest taking a cue from Jean Conder Soule:

Never tease a weasel
Not even once or twice
The weasel will not like it
And teasing isn't nice.

Guest Blog: Up the Creek with a Paddle

It's a great sign when large organizations have informal groups of young aspiring leaders who are thinking ahead, about themselves and the organization.  EPA is lucky to have this one: the Emerging Leaders Network.

Stop for a moment and imagine you are walking through the woods and you come upon a peaceful trickling stream.  Exploring a little more, you come across another stream and another!  Pretty soon you discover that all streams and creeks lead to a river.  However small they may be, streams, creeks and tributaries have a major impact on our nation’s rivers and ecosystem.  Obstruct the creeks and the river suffers.  Implement sustainable programs and the river benefits. 

ELNers on a hike in Sky Meadows State Park

In organizations like EPA, staff are the most valuable resource.  Help the staff achieve their full potential and you get a strong and effective agency.  Much has been written about federal agencies facing workforce challenges in the near future.  Alarming statistics, like the one recently quoted in this blog that 92% of EPA’s senior managers will be eligible for retirement in 2013, point to what some call a “retirement tsunami”. 

Yet, EPA is in a unique position.  Every year, many highly qualified and enthusiastic professionals join the agency, drawn by its inspiring mission of protecting human health and the environment.  The challenge is retaining this skilled workforce, continuing to recruit top talent, and enhancing the workplace where these aspiring professionals can further develop their knowledge and skills. 

The Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) is an employee-driven, voluntary organization and is helping to strengthen EPA by providing a “paddle” in the form of professional development and networking opportunities for EPA’s emerging generation of leadership.  ELN hosts seminars, workshops, offering its members the opportunity to gain a holistic perspective of the often inter-related environmental issues.  ELN also organizes roundtable discussions to foster knowledge sharing.  These professional development activities have included discussing climate change, the relationship between EPA and OMB, understanding the budget process, and promoting sustainability.  ELN also organizes social activities, including trips to national and state parks to help build a culture of collegiality.  One of the unique aspects of ELN is that members have the opportunity to discuss the latest environmental issues while walking through a park or sitting around a campfire.

ELN membership is open to any EPA employee or intern.  Since 2006, ELN has developed into a 400-strong community that bridges offices and experience levels.  To support communication and collaboration among its members, ELN will soon have access to a community on the EPA Portal.  This tool will further enhance ELN by facilitating springs of good ideas online.

Think back to that peaceful trickling stream, and how it took you on a journey from the woods to a large river.  Will your stream of creativity and enthusiasim help add to the flow of the river?