&EPA
190B12014
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Cross-Cutting Fundamental Strategy
FY 2012 Action Plan Annual Progress Report
Strategy 1: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
Engage and empower communities and partners, including those who have been historically under-represented, in
order to support and advance environmental protection and human health nationwide.
Executive Summary
The Agency is continuing its outreach and conversation to include a broader range of people and communities in its day-
to-day work and to expand its engagement with communities that have been historically under-represented in our
decision-making processes. In FY 2012, the Agency's actions centered on public access to multi-lingual communication,
interaction with media outlets that reach historically under-represented groups, improved access to and transparency of
environmental data to support community and citizen involvement in decision making, and expanding public awareness
and opportunities for involvement during all phases of the rulemaking process.
Accomplishment Highlights:
S EPA launched 12 new websites with the One EPA Web Content Development Strategy to expand engagement with
historically under-represented groups on high-priority topics such as climate change, enforcement, nutrient
pollution, hydraulic fracturing, pesticides and consumers, San Francisco Watershed, Columbia River, etc.; 40 more
websites are in development.
S The Agency launched the revamped Spanish website and a new Spanish language blog to make environmental
information more accessible to Spanish speakers. It also increased Hispanic Facebook fans by 35% to more than
2,780 and increased Hispanic Twitter followers by 33% to more than 7,480.
S EPA conducted successful Hispanic outreach campaigns on a variety of environmental health issues such as National
Poison Prevention Week (174 million people reached) and Asthma Awareness Month (14 million people reached).
S The Agency completed development of educational resources on fuel economy, conducting a chemical survey, lead
blockers, mold, mercury, and bioaccumulation for Hispanic and English-speaking audiences.
S EPA developed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the North American Association for Environmental
Education (NAAEE), Discovery Education, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and Earth Echo to expand
the reach of EPA-developed environmental education resources.
S EPA released a new data access and outreach tool, called How's My Waterway fwww.epa.gov/mywaterwav), in
mid-October 2012 for the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. It is a multi-platform website application that
helps users quickly find plain-English information on the condition of their local waters using a smart phone, tablet,
or desktop computer.
Challenges:
S The ecoAmbassadors program did not meet its goal of reaching 50 schools. We have realized through time and
research that many college environmental programs exist across the country, some of which are organized by
major environmental groups with significant funding and resources invested.
FY 2012 Annual Progress Report: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
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EPA's Office of External Affairs and Environmental Education (OEAEE) has limited expertise in house to sustain high-
caliber Spanish translations on a regular basis. OEAEE does not have the language skills in house to translate
content into Asian languages. It is largely dependent on program offices for identifying content geared towards
Asian languages as well as resources for the Asian language websites. Ongoing conversations with program and
Regional offices are needed to leverage limited resources under a contract vehicle.
FY 2012 Annual Progress Report: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
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FY 2012 Performance Summary
Strategy 1: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
FY 2012 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
= Activity Complete
1. Expand interactions with historically under-
represented groups (Supports Principles 4, 5, 6,
and 7).
Implement the One EPA Web Content
Development Strategy by developing at least 10
new websites for high-priority topics, such as
reduce/reuse/recycle, enforcement, and Puget
Sound, by the end of FY 2012.
EPA has launched more than ten new sites and is continuing
to transform high-priority topics in conformance with the One
EPA Web Content Development Strategy. New sites include
climate change, enforcement, nutrient pollution, hydraulic
fracturing, pesticides and consumers, San Francisco
Watershed, Columbia River, etc. Sites underway include
careers, Toxics Release Inventory, Hudson River PCBs, Puget
Sound, Green Chemistry, etc.
• To reach historically under-represented groups,
throughout the fiscal year, continue to develop
and implement innovative media and
stakeholder communications and engagement
plans, targeting newspapers, magazines, and
web sites; and, by the end of FY 2012, develop
a process for translating high-priority materials.
For FY 2012, OEAEE focused on Spanish for the translations of
materials designed for Hispanic audiences. However,
translations of press releases and relevant web content have
been limited to key priority items. OEAEE does not have the
language skills in house to translate content into Asian
languages. Ongoing conversations with program and Regional
offices are needed to leverage limited resources under a
contract vehicle. This dialogue was initiated with some
program offices in FY 2012. For FY 2013, the translations
roadmap and resources have to be identified.
2. Improve environmental awareness and
stewardship through implementation of the One
EPA Environmental Education initiatives (Supports
Principles 3 and 6).
Launch the ecoAmbassadors program in fifty
(50) colleges and universities during the
academic year September 2011 - May 2012.
The Office of Environmental Education (OEE) launched
ecoAmbassadors programs at 25 colleges and universities in
FY 2012. Through time and research, we have learned that
many college environmental programs already exist across
the country, some of which are organized by major
environmental groups with significant funding and resources
invested.
FY 2012 Annual Progress Report: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
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FY 2012 Performance Summary
Strategy 1: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
FY 2012 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
= Activity Complete
Increase the integration of environmental
education activities into Agency programs and
expand the creation and distribution of
educational resources for a range of target
audiences.
o National Program Managers (NPMs) and
the Office of Environmental Education (and
Regions as appropriate) will collaborate to
complete development of educational
materials for at least 5 of the most
significant environmental and public health
programmatic areas by September 30,
2012. Issues will be selected by the
Administrator's office with input from the
NPMs.
o The Office of Environmental Education, in
collaboration with the NPMs, will cultivate
and establish 3 national and 5
regional/local partnerships to leverage both
new and established distribution and
outreach channels during FY 2012 to
expand the reach of environmental
education resources.
OEE created six new educational resources with three more
ready for internal Agency review. The six new resources
posted on the EPA website are: fuel economy, conducting a
chemical survey, lead blockers, mold, mercury, and
bioaccumulation. Resources ready for review must go
through internal program office and Agency-wide review to
ensure a high quality and technically accurate product.
OEE developed MOUs with four national organizations to
enhance EPA relationships with leading partners. The
building of relationships, agreement over joint products, and
the completion of MOUs, including a careful legal review, can
often be a time-consuming and detailed process.
3. Improve communication of environmental
sampling results to the public in environmental
emergency situations and at contaminated sites by
using new communication methods to improve
community engagement (Supports Principles 2, 3,
4, 6, and 7).
Evaluate the effectiveness of the color-coding
methodology to explain sampling results being
piloted at Superfund remedial and removal
sites selected in FY 2011 in all 10 Regions, and
develop an interim report on the results of the
pilots by the end of FY 2012. The results could
help us determine the potential for expanded
use of this methodology in FY 2013 and beyond.
Report documenting findings, challenges, and
recommendations has been completed. Color coding can be
a successful and effective tool for communicating data in a
meaningful way to the public. However, it is not the right tool
for every situation.
4. Improve access to and transparency of EPA's
environmental data to support community and
citizen involvement in decision-making (Supports
Principles 1, 2,3, 5, and 7).
FY 2012 Annual Progress Report: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
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FY 2012 Performance Summary
Strategy 1: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
FY 2012 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
= Activity Complete
By the end of FY 2012, publish an additional 20
datasets and 20 data tools from the EPA's
national programs in Data.gov to improve
access to the EPA's data in support of
community and citizen involvement in
environmental decision making.
EPA has added 162 new raw datasets and 28 data tools to
Data.gov, exceeding our targets.
By the end of FY 2012, establish and implement
a process to collect public input on the types of
data that are most useful to the public, our
partners and stakeholders and use this input to
create a formal process to identify and
prioritize environmental data sets for
publication.
EPA's Developer's Forum provides access to existing EPA data
resources and provides the ability to identify applications
(with associated data) that individuals would find useful. For
more information, see http://epa.gov/developer/index.html.
The Office of Environmental Information (OEI) is currently
evaluating methods and resources necessary to expand these
functions in the future.
Use the expanded capability of the
Environmental Dataset Gateway to create an
inventory and dashboard to facilitate discovery
and use of the EPA's data sets by the end of
September 2012.
The expansion of this service has significantly improved the
data quality of EPA datasets, eliminating multiple duplicate
records and complying with required data standards. It has
also made it easier for data stewards to share their datasets,
and for analysts and the public to discover and access them.
5. Expand public awareness and opportunities for
involvement in advance of and throughout the
development of rules and regulations through
social media tools including regulations.gov,
rulemaking gateway, Greenversations, webinars
and other tools (Supports Principles 3, 4, 6 and 7).
Continue the expanded use of the Exchange
tool and other social media tools to support
programs such as the Toxics Release Inventory
(TRI) in soliciting public input regarding the
expansion of industry sectors covered under
the Emergency Planning and Community Right-
to-Know Act (EPCRA) section 313 during the
pre-proposal stage. The TRI is one of the most
versatile and widely used data resources for
understanding industry impacts on the
environment and any modifications to the
reporting base are seen as very significant,
making this an extremely appropriate topic for
early public engagement.
OEI is evaluating changes to the Exchange tool to increase
participation and foster increased citizen involvement. In
October 2011, the TRI Exchange served as an initial public
discussion forum for the potential TRI Sectors Expansion. The
Sectors Expansion action is still under regulatory
development. At this time, the TRI home page refers to the
TRIExchange at
http://exchange.regulations.gov/topic/trisectorsrule/, which
continues to provide public access to the background
information on this action.
FY 2012 Annual Progress Report: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
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FY 2012 Performance Summary
Strategy 1: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
FY 2012 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
= Activity Complete
The OpenGov initiative will continue to seek out
and support efforts that extend public
participation, transparency, and collaboration
from across the Agency by promoting the
efforts through the Agency's OpenGov website
and via quarterly progress reports that are
often picked up by external parties and noted
as leading examples of engagement.
EPA has consistently posted updates to its OpenGov site on a
quarterly basis. These updates have been an important tool
in communicating the innovative activities that promote
transparency and increased public access to the Agency's
information. In addition to recognizing OpenGov-related
projects Agency-wide, these updates have described the
progress of the many flagship efforts that were included in
the Agency's initial OpenGov plan, such as Urban Waters and
the Office of Solid Waste's Community Engagement Initiative.
More recently, EPA's OpenGov 2.0 plan released in April 2012
identified a number of new efforts that will be tracked as they
mature-among them is a recently released multi-agency
Freedom of Information Act solution, called FOIAonline.
6. Transform Public Access and Communication of
Environmental Data. The EPA will seek
opportunities to leverage the creativity of the
public to address environmental or human health
problems. The EPA will invite the public to build
environmental applications or suggest ways to
improve environmental protection. Such efforts
enhance governmental effectiveness by using the
creativity and energy of the public (Supports
Principles 3, 4, 6, and 7).
FY 2012 Annual Progress Report: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
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FY 2012 Performance Summary
Strategy 1: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
FY 2012 Action Plan Activity
Status/Explanation
= Activity Complete
Building on the momentum created by the
Software Applications Development Challenge
(the Apps Challenge) event in November 2011,
promote use of EPA data in outside applications
and recommend approaches to encourage
development of additional environmental
software applications and make them
accessible to the public by the end of FY 2012.
Explore approaches to obtain applications for
EPA mission-related work.
Apps for the Environment/Developer Central: EPA's first
developers challenge to members of the public asked for
applications that use EPA data to promote public health and
environmental awareness.
• The "Apps for the Environment" Challenge harnessed the
innovation and technical expertise of the software
developer community to create applications that enable
the public to access and make use of EPA's vast
information assets.
• EPA received 100 ideas for new applications and 38 mobile
apps entries, which ranged from dashboards to consumer-
based information products and even games.
• This effort culminated in November 2011 with a formal
celebration recognizing the creative efforts of participants
and announcing the challenge winners.
• In June, 2012 EPA launched the Developer Central website,
a "how-to" guide for using EPA data and Web services for
application development.
• Developer Central promotes well-documented data and
Web services in a central location, making it easier for
developers to locate, understand, and access EPA data.
FY 2012 Annual Progress Report: Expanding the Conversation on Environmentalism
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