. *.'.. it Environmental Permitting Permits I mprovement Team &EPA Customer Service Plan ------- ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITTING Permits Improvement Team Pilot Customer Service Plan Mission The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) protects human health and the environment through several approaches. One of these is the issuance of environ- mental permits that regulate activities, including waste disposal and discharges into the air and water. Many environmental laws provide for delegation of permit issuance to the states. USEPA has made such a delegation to many states for one or more of the permitting programs. Combined, USEPA and the states have issued over one million permits to businesses and individuals. Permits set forth conditions that, when complied with, will adequately protect human health and the environment. In situations where noncompliance occurs, the permit must be enforceable so that actions can be taken to bring the regulated activity into compliance. Service to Our Customers The issuance of environmental permits provides benefits to two groups. Citizens, the primary beneficiaries of environmen- tal permits, can enjoy safe air and drinking water, since regu- lated activities must not adversely affect these resources. Those regulated by permits compose the second customer group. Recognizing that through permit compliance these • customers are the actual providers of environmental protection, USEPA and the states must strive to clearly communicate permit requirements. It is equally important for the issuing 1 agency to make permit decisions within a defined time frame to accommodate business planning. Actions to Improve Service USEPA and the states have taken a number of actions to improve the delivery of environmental permits. However, most ------- of these have focused on individual permit programs. In order to improve all permits, the USEPA has recently created a. Permits Improvement Team (PIT). PIT members include state agency representatives, as well as USEPA personnel from headquarters and the regional offices. They will focus on paperwork reduction, providing for better public participation, and removing barriers to pollution prevention and innovative technologies. The PIT will be implementing ways to improve the environ- mental permitting processes while maintaining high quality enforceable permits. Many recommendations have already been made on how to accomplish this and more will be devel- oped through ongoing initiatives. The PIT will seek input regarding improvements to the permitting process from com- munity groups, environmental organizations and those regu- lated by environmental permits. : Customer Service Standards — Proposed Areas i How to measure the success of environmental permitting is an important aspect that must be addressed. With two cus- tomer groups, what is a success for one group may not be so ------- o o o CD S O Zi S1 Q. o Ol ^ CO "0 5' ^- CD < co a> co CD" co CD o 2. CO O. CD -o m cz 1 i i-- 3 ^ CD -§ ™ Ejf g CO T3 CD § 2 3. CD "0 ~ CD1 O S 03 ^ 03 3 > = CQ •a o O o Tl rn -a O 3> m Oc 'Z. -^ • p > TI i 2 sj- Ol T3 ------- c for the other. The PIT will develop standards that can be jused to measure customer satisfaction with the permitting process. Some possible standards include: ! Obtaining favorable community reaction to the permit- ting process as determined by surveys conducted after a permit has been issued. Defining the estimated time frame to issue various permits. This may require the use of state/EPA grant requirements. : Establishing the number of resubmittals it will take to get a complete application. If all deficiencies are! clearly identified, it should only take one resubmittal. Mibre than that may indicate a problem that needs to be addressed. . Establishing a goal to measure the level of understand- , ing of permit conditions, possibly by counting the number of facilities out of compliance. j Closely monitoring the number and source of pejrmil: appeals. i , Questions, Comments or Complaints We want to hear your ideas on how to improve our piermit- ting process. The Permits Improvement Team is Co-Chaired by Elliott Laws, Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response and Jeanne Fox, Regional Administrator for Region 2. Please contact the Team's Executive Director, Lance Miller, with any questions, comments or suggestions. He can be reached by phone at either (908) 321-6782 or (703) 308-8847 or by mail at: ' i U.S. EPA, Permits Improvement Team 2890 Woodbridge Ave. (Mail Stop 100) \ Edison, NJ 08837 ------- ------- |