Atlanta

I visited the Region 4 office in Atlanta yesterday. Copying a pledge Hank Habicht made when he was Deputy Administrator, I visit each of our ten regional offices at least once a year. I want to thank everyone in the Atlanta office for their time and hospitality. Just like the Alaska office I visited a week ago, I am constantly impressed by the level of knowledge our employees have and the patience they demonstrate to show me what is happening.

Region 4 is doing at least two things that need to be mentioned. First, they are adopting and improving best practices grown elsewhere. For instance, they are now performing NEPA reviews using “NEPAssist”, a system developed in Region 2. NEPAssist allows EPA to perform reviews much more quickly and accurately. Not only has the Region adopted it, but they are improving on it. Second, they are developing exciting innovations of their own. For instance, they have developed a template for planning and monitoring multi-year projects to reduce non-point source pollution in key watersheds. You may hear more on that later.

Both traits are signs of a healthy desire to improve performance. They are improving even though that means changing the way things have always been done and even if that means the idea wasn’t ‘grown here.’