Laws, Regulations, Guidance and Dockets

Soliciting Comments from Stakeholders

Many individuals outside the government are affected by and interested in environmental regulations. These stakeholders often provide valuable comments on EPA's proposed regulations. Stakeholder comment can illuminate issues that EPA has not yet considered, allowing us to benefit from the knowledge and experience of the concerned public and leading to better regulations.

When we propose a regulation in the Federal Register, the Agency includes information about how the public can comment. Options include sending comments via regular mail, e-mail, or fax, or submitting comments online via Regulations.gov. We encourage stakeholders to tell us where they stand on a proposed regulation and to send information and data that support their position.

For most regulations, EPA saves public comments in a docket. The docket organizes information related to each regulation, including background reports, Federal Register notices, and other supporting documents. Each docket is accessible to the public. Visit our page on How to Get Involved if you would like to browse EPA's dockets or learn more about how to comment on our regulations.

Consulting Federal Advisory Committees

Federal advisory committees also provide EPA with advice and recommendations. Sometimes we will establish a federal advisory committee to get advice on a particular regulation. However, we convene the following committees on a routine basis to get advice on issues that cut across EPA programs:

• The EPA Science Advisory Board provides EPA with feedback on the scientific underpinnings of its decision-making.
• The National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology advises EPA on ways to improve our domestic and international environmental management policies, programs, and technologies.
• The Environmental Financing Advisory Board provides EPA with advice on how regulations should be paid for once they go into effect.

For more information, see a full list of EPA's FACA committees page or read "Collaboration and FACA at EPA" (4 pp, 164K, About PDF).

Other Opportunities for Public Involvement

EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment. To achieve that mission, we need to continue to integrate, in a meaningful way, the knowledge and opinions of others into our decision-making processes. Effective public involvement can both improve the content of our decisions and enhance the deliberative process. Public involvement also promotes democracy and civic engagement, and builds public trust in government.

Visit our Public Involvement Web site to learn more about the many opportunities EPA provides for public input into our decisions. Furthermore, you may wish to visit the multi-agency Cooperative Conservation Public Engagement site, which describes many ways that federal agencies engage the public in environmental protection and conservation.

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