Reinventing ENVIRONMENTAL Regulation REVIEW PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE ------- ------- COMMON-SENSE STRATEGIES TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH: A Progress Report on Reinventing Environmental Regulation March 29,1996 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ------- ------- COMMON-SENSE STRATEGIES TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH: A Progress Report on Reinventing Environmental Regulation Executive Summary "Do you believe we can expand the economy without hurting the environment? I do. Do you believe we can create more jobs over the long run by cleaning the environment up? I know we can. That should be our commitment. We must challenge business and communities to take more initiative in protecting the environment and we have to make it easier for them to do it." -- President Clinton 1996 State of the Union Address One year ago, on March 16, 1995, President Clinton, Vice President Gore and EPA Administrator Carol Browner issued a report, Reinventing Environmental Regulation, launching 25 high priority actions to develop and expand the Administration's common-sense strategies that protect public health and the environment. EPA has made substantial progress in meeting all of the 25 high priority actions over the past year. These reforms are strengthening the environmental protection system so it meets the challenges of the future as well as solve the problems of today. This progress report highlights many of the important accomplishments in EPA's reinvention of environmental regulation and related common-sense, cost-effective initiatives that are part of the Clinton Administration's new direction for EPA. Changes have been made in four categories: 1) Reducing paperwork and cutting red tape: To help businesses to comply with environmental laws faster and more efficiently, EPA: • is making changes to more than 70 percent of its regulations, and is working to eliminate 1400 pages of obsolete rules — some 10 percent of EPA's total regulations. • has eliminated more than 10 million hours of paperwork and red tape for large and small businesses seeking to comply with environmental laws. This reduction is the equivalent of returning a quarter-million workweeks back to the private sector to boost productivity and profits. EPA also expects to eliminate another 10 million hours of paperwork by the end of 1996. 2) Making it easier for businesses to comply with environmental laws: Because it makes more sense to prevent pollution than to clean it up after the fact, EPA is making it easier for businesses to comply with environmental regulations. While recognizing that a strong enforcement capability ensures strong public health and environmental protection, EPA also is implementing the following innovative approaches: • Under the Common Sense Compliance incentives for small business, penalties for first- time violators can be waived or reduced if the business repairs the problem and comes into compliance with the law. • EPA's Environmental Leadership Program challenges facilities to take innovative approaches — such as environmental auditing and pollution prevention ~ to enhance their ability to meet environmental requirements. ------- • EPA also has funded Small Business Compliance Assistance Centers for the metal finishing, printing, automotive repair and farming industries to help these small businesses identify low-cost compliance and pollution prevention strategies; and make compliance easier for as many as one million small businesses. 3) Using innovation and flexibility to achieve better environmental results: EPA is encouraging innovative and flexible approaches to achieve better environmental results — tapping the creativity of industry, states and local communities to increase protections for all Americans: • With Project XL -for excellence and leadership ~ EPA offers this challenge: If you can meet even higher environmental performance standards, we will provide flexibility and cut red tape so you can find the cheapest, most efficient way to do it. Twelve industry or state XL projects and one city project are now moving forward. • EPA is piloting other innovative approaches to focus on problems that pose the highest risks to public health, and help control pollution by allowing facilities to trade pollution reduction "credits" on the open market with facilities that have not made those reductions. 4) Increasing community participation and partnerships: EPA is increasing community participation and partnerships to engage states, tribes, communities and citizens in the effort to protect public health and the environment: • Community right-to-know has been strengthened and expanded, and further expansions are being considered to provide citizens with more complete information about local toxic chemical releases. In keeping with right-to-know, EPA has expanded public access to Agency information — particularly Internet access. • EPA has established Performance Partnerships that give states and tribes funding flexibility to combine federal grants to meet their environmental needs. • EPA, industry and other groups established the Partnership for Safe Drinking Water, a voluntary commitment to improve drinking water safety, with a focus on high-risk contaminants. Reinventing environmental regulation at EPA is a fundamental change in the way the Agency implements public health and environmental protection. Under the leadership of President Clinton, Vice President Gore and Administrator Browner, EPA is applying common sense, flexibility, and creativity in an effort to move beyond the one-size-fits-all system of the past and achieve the very best protection of public health and the environment at the least cost. In addition, EPA is extending these reinvention approaches from the regulatory arena to its efforts to reauthorize environmental laws, proposing responsible legislative reforms that also embody these principles. Committed to changes that make both economic and environmental sense, the Clinton Administration believes that these improvements to our system of environmental regulation will strengthen public health and environmental protections. ------- Reducing Paperwork and Cutting Red Tape "The laws and regulations that brought our environment back from the brink worked well for their time. But what worked yesterday may not work today or tomorrow. We believe in higher environmental standards, but we also believe in more partnership between environmentalists and people working in the private sector. We believe in more flexibility and more focus on results instead of rule making. We know that going through Washington may not be the only road to a safer and cleaner world." - President Clinton, March 11,1996 Because every hour saved in the environmental regulatory process is an hour that can be spent better protecting public health and the environment, EPA is reducing and streamlining paperwork and red tape. Reducing regulatory red tape and paperwork will help businesses to comply, while saving money and time that can be better spent in preventing pollution and boosting productivity and economic growth. Following are some of the innovative actions EPA has already completed to reduce the unnecessary burdens and costs of environmental reporting and record-keeping: 1) Time and Paperwork Burdens Reduced: To help businesses comply with environmental and public health protections more efficiently and effectively: • EPA is making changes to more than 70 percent of its regulations, and is working to eliminate 1400 pages of obsolete rules ~ some 10 percent of EPA's total regulations. • In just one year, EPA has eliminated more than 10 million hours of paperwork and red tape for large and small businesses seeking to comply with regulations ranging from air and water pollution controls to pesticides registrations and chemical releases. This is the equivalent of returning a quarter-million workweeks back to the private sector to boost productivity and profits. • For industries that discharge wastewater into rivers, lakes and streams, EPA has streamlined monitoring and reporting, reducing the time spent on water quality monitoring by 4.7 million hours. 'EPA expects to eliminate another 10 million hours of paperwork by the end of 1996 with similar measures that increase opportunities for electronic reporting, eliminate some reporting requirements, and make forms shorter and easier to use. 2) Accountability and Efficiency Boosted Through Electronic Reporting: To increase public accountability and ensure that industries are meeting public health standards, EPA is increasing opportunities for businesses to file electronic reports on emissions and discharges in air, land and water. ------- • Over the last year, EPA successfully tested electronic reporting from reformulated gasoline producers -- an effort now being expanded to the entire petroleum industry -- on how their product meets Clean Air Act requirements for cleaner gasoline. • In addition to speeding and simplifying the reporting process, saving time and money for industry, the new system has resulted in more accurate data on clean gasoline production. In spring 1996, industry reports on discharges of wastewater into rivers, lakes and streams also will be accepted electronically. EPA is exploring additional ways to expand electronic reporting. 3) Air Pollution Permits Simplified: To better achieve reductions in harmful industrial air pollution and provide the public with better information about such pollution in their communities, EPA has taken a number of steps to streamline how industries obtain air pollution "permits" -- comprehensive controls on air pollution emissions from industrial facilities. • In August 1995, EPA proposed ways to simplify the complex procedures under which air pollution permits are issued, making it easier for industries to identify parts of their facilities that were violating air pollution standards. Companies will be better able to keep their processes up-to-date without invoking burdensome procedural requirements. • In March 1996, EPA proposed reforms that will further simplify the process by combining multiple, overlapping Clean Air Act requirements into one permit, paving the way for substantial reductions in paperwork and costs for businesses, while allowing them more time to focus on avoiding violations of air pollution controls. • These actions are expected to reduce related paperwork burdens for businesses by as much as 10 million hours over the next three years, saving about $600 million. In April 1996, EPA will propose significant revisions to streamline the permitting process for new sources of air pollution ~ reforms expected to further reduce burdens for many businesses and cutting in half the number of industrial projects that need to obtain new permits. 4) Low-Risk Pesticide Self-Certification and Exemption: As part of its efforts to focus on the highest risks to public health, EPA in March 1996 exempted 31 low-risk pesticide ingredients — which have been determined to pose little risk to public health and the environment — from registration with EPA, changing a longstanding requirement. • In addition to focusing Agency and industry efforts on higher-risk substances, this action reduces the regulatory burden for small businesses that manufacture these ingredients. • In a similar effort, in May 1995, EPA expanded ways for pesticide companies to self- certify that changes to low-risk pesticide labeling and formulations comply with EPA requirements. Previously, companies had to seek approval for even minor changes. ------- Making It Easier for Businesses to Comply with Environmental Laws "Our common-sense initiative for small business emphasizes results, not punishment. If a small business makes a mistake and is committed to fixing that mistake, we will waive the fine if they repair the problem. This new way of doing business overturns the conventional wisdom that we have to somehow choose between the health of our environment and the health of our economy." - President Clinton, March 11,1996 Because it makes more sense to prevent pollution than to clean it up after the fact, EPA is making it easier for businesses to comply with environmental regulations. EPA recognizes that preventing pollution is the most sensible approach to protecting public health ~ and recognizes that most businesses want to comply with the law. Too often, violations occur because many businesses lack the technical assistance needed to fully comply. For the first time, EPA has begun an ambitious program to simplify regulations and make it easier to comply with environmental laws. The following innovative approaches are already making progress: 1) Common Sense Compliance for Small Businesses: EPA has launched a new program to encourage common-sense compliance for small businesses in June 1995: • Under the new policy, penalties for first-time violators can be waived or reduced if the business repairs the problem and comes into compliance with the law. • The policy also provides small businesses with a grace period to correct violations without penalty as long as the violation is not criminal or does not create a serious environmental threat, and the company participates in EPA or state compliance assistance programs. 2) Achieving Compliance through the Environmental Leadership Program: To help businesses find the best ways to clean up and prevent pollution, EPA has launched the Environmental Leadership Program. • Ten companies and two federal facilities, ranging in size from large public corporations to smaller privately held businesses, are participating in the program's pilot phase. • These pilot projects are testing innovative approaches ~ such as environmental auditing and pollution prevention — to reduce costs and paperwork while enhancing their ability to meet environmental requirements. Participating facilities will demonstrate how these approaches can help other regulated businesses comply in cleaner, cheaper and smarter ways. ------- 3) Flexible Compliance Policy for Small Communities: Many small communities want to protect the health of their citizens, but lack the administrative, technical and financial capacity to ensure that their towns are complying with environmental laws. In November 1995, EPA announced a policy that promotes states' use of enforcement flexibility to provide compliance incentives for small communities. • Under the policy, states will help communities identify and prioritize their environmental compliance needs and create a reasonable schedule for communities to correct their environmental violations. • This policy promotes increased compliance by allowing communities to develop a plan that suits their individual needs -- so they can first focus on their worst environmental problems -- and assuring them that asking for help need not result in a penalty. 4) Grants Awarded for Small Business Compliance Assistance Centers: To advance small businesses' ability to protect public health and prevent pollution before it starts, EPA has funded Small Business Compliance Assistance Centers -- places where small businesses can get all the Information they need about regulations that apply to their business, and get it in plain, easy-to- understand language. The centers also provide information on how small businesses can reduce their costs by preventing pollution. The centers support state and local agencies and industry trade associations, and could assist more than one million small businesses in the following sectors: • The National Printers' Compliance Assistance Center currently offers compliance assistance and pollution prevention information to some 100 printing businesses through two Internet-based bulletin boards. • The Agriculture Compliance Assistance Center is a "one-stop shopping" source for small farms with comprehensive, easy-to-understand information about cost-effective approaches to pollution prevention and compliance. • The National Metal Finishing Resource Center will provide a one-stop, electronically linked information and technical assistance source on solving compliance and production problems, beginning in fall 1996. • The Automotive Repair Compliance Assistance Center will provide information on flexible, common sense ways to prevent pollution and comply with environmental laws to automotive service and repair shops via the Internet and telephone systems, beginning in spring 1996. S) Incentives for Self-Policing: To encourage companies to voluntarily correct pollution violations, in December 1995, EPA announced a new policy offering reduced penalties for eligible participants who quickly and voluntarily disclose violations of environmental laws and take action to correct them. ------- • In the three months since its inception, the policy has encouraged more than 50 companies to disclose environmental violations they discovered through self-policing. EPA has settled 13 of these cases, issuing 12 waivers and one greatly reduced penalty. • Among the incentives to comply provided under the policy are: 1) If a company or public agency voluntarily identifies, discloses and corrects violations according to the conditions outlined in the policy, EPA will eliminate punitive enforcement penalties; and 2) If no serious public health risk has occurred from the pollution violation, and other conditions are met, EPA will not recommend that the Department of Justice bring criminal charges against a company or public agency that acts in good faith to identify and correct those violations. 6) First Sector-Wide Enforcement Agreement: To achieve consistent corrections of recurrent environmental problems across an entire industry, EPA is pursuing sector-wide enforcement agreements. • The first industry-wide settlement, in October 1995, included 51 enforcement cases involving more than 200 natural gas processor facilities across the country, for failure to report specific information on volumes of toxic chemicals released, as required under the Toxic Substances Control Act. As part of the program, the natural gas processing industry agreed to put in place controls that will prevent these types of violations in the future. This is the first time EPA has worked with an industry association to develop a national agreement to successfully resolve multiple environmental violations at one time across a sector. 7) EPA Policy to Support Risk-based Enforcement: To target pollution violations that pose the highest risks to'public health and the environment, EPA has initiated a sweeping initiative to focus enforcement resources on violations that are likely to pose the highest risks. • In September 1995, EPA issued a new policy on the frequency of inspections of wastewater discharges under the Clean Water Act's National Pollution Discharge System. The new policy will allow inspectors to reduce their visits to facilities that handle lower risk materials and have good compliance track records, so that resources can be targeted to more serious compliance and health risk problems. EPA also is providing enforcement inspectors with risk assessment tools so they can set enforcement priorities based on the level of public health risk. 7 ------- ------- Innovation and Flexibility to Achieve Better Environmental Results "What I see in Project XL is a real paradigm shift ... The new system envisioned by Project XL is to work cooperatively and focus on the results: a cleaner environment; a faster, less costly system; with more input from the local community . . . Just think of the environmental gains we could make if we tap into the creativity that put 5.5 million transistors on a chip the size of your thumbnail!" -- Gordon Moore, Chairman of the Board Intel Corporation EPA is encouraging innovation and flexibility to achieve better environmental results ~ tapping the creativity of industry, states and local communities to increase protections for all Americans. Using incentives and flexibility, EPA is encouraging businesses, states, tribes, and local communities to achieve better environmental results in ways that are cleaner, cheaper and smarter. Among the innovative approaches now in motion are: 1) Going Beyond Compliance to Achieve Excellence and Leadership: To encourage regulated entities to go beyond compliance with environmental laws, Project XL ~ for excellence and leadership - offers business, states and communities this challenge: If you can meet even higher environmental performance standards, EPA will provide flexibility and cut red tape so that you can find the cheapest and most efficient way to do it. An integral part of pilot XL projects is the involvement of local citizens, community groups, businesses, and state and local . governments in the process of achieving better results. Ten companies and two state agencies are currently using this flexibility in the following ways: • HADCO, a manufacturer of printed wiring boards, will create a market for recycling waste from electronic facilities by streamlining hazardous waste rules at facilities in New Hampshire, California and New York. • Intel Corporation will build a new facility designed to achieve better environmental results from the start, through an environmental "contract" with EPA and the State of Arizona. • Merck & Company will use a comprehensive single permit approach to control air pollution from its Elkton, Va., facility. • 3M Company will take a "one-stop" approach to permitting by developing a single, comprehensive permit for air, water and waste at facilities in Minnesota, Illinois, and California. • Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. will set a single environmental bottom line target for air, land and water pollution that result from its operations in Jacksonville, Fla. ------- • AT&T's Lucent Technology will take an innovative approach to monitoring water pollution at its Allentown, Pa., facility by utilizing outside auditors. • Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will pilot Project XL across the state to reduce air, land and water pollution. • California's South Coast Air Quality Management District will work with area companies to reduce air pollution from commuting trips. • Union Carbide will use a plant-wide, stakeholder-driven process to improve environmental performance at its Taft, La., petrochemical plant. • Weyerhaeuser will operate its Flint River, Ga., plant as a "Minimum Impact Mill," a comprehensive approach to minimize the overall impact of the mill on the environment. • IBM will biologically treat its wastes at its Essex Junction, N. Y. facility, rather than shipping them off site for incineration. • Berry Corporation will work with EPA and the state of Florida to combine multiple environmental permits into a single, comprehensive operating plan at an orange juice processing facility in La Belle, Fla. 2) Alternative Strategies for Communities -- Anaheim, California: To encourage communities to achieve better results in areas where they are facing persistent environmental problems, EPA announced a Community XL project in Anaheim, California, in February 1996. Anaheim proposes to work with all businesses, industries, schools and other stakeholders in the community to develop and implement a plan to prevent contamination of groundwater near the public water supply wells. 3) Prioritizing Resources to Address Areas of Highest Risk: To ensure that Agency actions address the highest risks to public health and the environment: • EPA has reorganized its research and development program to focus on high- risk health effects, exposures, and risk management. • A new system for planning, budget and accountability will help ensure that sound science is used in prioritizing Agency resources to address high-risk problems. 10 ------- • New Agency-wide policies for peer review and risk characterization -- as well as a new policy to consider children's health and environmental risks consistently in Agency actions - also are ensuring that the best scientific knowledge is applied in actions to protect public health and the environment. EPA also has asked its independent Science Advisory Board to revise and update its landmark report on Reducing Risk, so that the best and most current knowledge can be employed to lower public health risks from environmental hazards wherever possible. 4) Removing Barriers to Recycling: To encourage recycling of household hazardous wastes, such as discarded batteries, thermostats and pesticides, EPA revised its rules to help stores and businesses to collect these items for recycling ~ an effort that was not being fully pursued because of the regulatory burden involved. • In April 1995, EPA issued a new regulation which eases the burden by as much as a half-million work hours on participating retail stores and businesses. • Approximately 90,000 businesses will benefit from this burden reduction, saving as much as $70 million annually. 5) Focusing on High Risk Hazardous Waste: To advance EPA's commitment to target the highest risks to public health and the environment, in November 1995, EPA proposed a new hazardous waste identification rule that will dramatically refocus the regulatory program on high risk wastes. • This rule will exempt wastes that do not pose a significant public health threat from the hazardous waste management regulatory system — resulting in substantial savings to businesses handling these low-risk wastes and allowing more time for both government and industry to focus on greater risks to public health and the environment. • About 6,000 facilities would benefit from this burden reduction, saving as much as $75 million annually. 6) Open Market Air Emissions Trading: To achieve reductions of smog-causing industrial air pollution, EPA proposed in August 1995 a model rule for "emissions trading" of smog-creating pollutants. • This policy allows a facility that exceeds pollution reductions the opportunity to sell its "surplus" reductions (or "credits") to facilities that find credits a more cost- effective way to comply with these requirements. 11 ------- Once in a state plan, companies may freely engage in trades without prior approval as long as reporting and public health standards are being met. This program provides states and industries another innovative compliance option to cost-effectively and efficiently meet their public health goals for reducing the health impacts of harmful smog. 7) Promoting effluent trading in watersheds: To achieve reductions of industrial and other water pollution in our rivers, lakes and streams, EPA announced in January 1996 a new policy to encourage the use of effluent trading within watersheds. • This policy creates an economic incentive for pollution sources to exceed requirements for water pollution reductions, through the opportunity to sell "surplus" reduction credits to facilities that find credits a more cost-effective way to comply with these requirements. • These changes benefit facilities that go beyond compliance while helping other facilities come into compliance. 8) Alternative Strategies for Department of Defense: To assist Department of Defense facilities achieve better public health and environmental results, EPA and the Department of Defense agreed in November 1995 on a framework for XL pilot projects at Defense facilities across the country. The projects, with broad community participation, will couple cost-effective, innovative ways to improve environmental performance at Defense facilities, with more flexibility and reduced red tape in the compliance process. These projects will combine pollution prevention, compliance and technology research projects. 12 ------- Increasing Community Participation and Partnerships "...Think about what your ordinary day is like. Think about the information that. keeps you and your family safe and healthy. Think about what your child might see that might change his or her behavior - a stop sign, a label that tells you what's in the food you buy for your family, the warning on a pack of cigarettes. This and other things are simple things that we take for granted because their cost is minimal, but their value is priceless. The silent threat posed by pollution is as real and dangerous as the threat of a speeding car to a walking child. We've known for a long time that what we can't see can hurt us." - President Clinton, August 8,1995 EPA is increasing community participation and partnerships to engage states, tribes, communities and citizens in environmental protection. Recognizing that citizens affected by environmental problems have a central role to play in environmental protection, EPA is encouraging local participation and partnerships through policies and regulatory changes that move environmental decisions closer to the problem. The following innovative community-focused initiatives are underway: 1) Funding Flexibility through State and Tribal Performance Partnerships: To help states and tribes solve their most pressing environmental and public health problems, EPA established in May 1995 a landmark program that gives states and tribes flexibility to meet their environmental goals. • States with strong environmental programs will be given a stronger role in setting environmental and public health priorities, along with the ability to direct federal resources to meet the greatest environmental needs. This allows EPA to focus on assisting those states and tribes that need more help in solving persistent public health and environmental problems. • EPA also is developing a program to allow states and tribes funding flexibility, to combine several program grants into a single grant that meets their specific needs, as long as they are consistent with environmental requirements. This program is expected to reduce administrative burdens and improve environmental performance. While EPA awaits Congressional approval to move forward with this program, five states have already signed "Performance Partnership" agreements with EPA -- including Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, North Dakota, and Utah. 13 ------- 2) Expanding Community Right-to-Know About Toxic Chemical Releases: For nearly a decade, Americans have had an important right: the right to know about what dangerous chemicals are being released into their communities. Armed with Community Right-to-Know information, citizens around the country are taking action to solve local environmental problems that affect their health and safety. Since the inception of these laws in 1986, reported releases of toxic chemicals have declined by 43% nationwide. EPA's Toxics Release Inventory is an annual inventory of the amount of toxic chemicals that industries have released into the environment, organized by zip code. Citizens have easy access to these reports through local libraries, state and federal environmental offices, online electronic networks, and EPA's toll-free hotline. • EPA has acted to strengthen and expand the public's right to know about local pollution by requiring Federal facilities and government contractors to report on chemical releases, by considering expansion of information reported to include industries beyond manufacturing and broader information about chemicals, and by making it easier for small businesses to report right-to-know information. 3) Providing Safer Drinking Water: To improve the safety of the nation's drinking water — particularly from new microbial contaminants like cryptosporidium — EPA has established the Partnership for Safe Drinking Water with industry associations, drinking water systems and community groups nationwide. • Under this voluntary initiative, participating water systems must have a third party assess water operations, implement system improvements identified by the assessment, and communicate water safety information to their customers. Since last fall, 122 drinking water systems serving 63 million people have joined the partnership. 4) Brownfields Program Removing Barriers to Cleanups and Development: A significant problem for American communities are brownfields ~ abandoned, contaminated industrial or commercial properties that are less toxic than Super-fund sites, but still face barriers to their redevelopment. • With seed money from the Administration's Brownfields Action Agenda, cities across the nation are participating in pilot projects to redevelop brownfields and return them to productive community use. • Forty Brownfields pilots are moving forward to restore abandoned sites to new uses, thereby creating jobs, economic growth, increased property values, and tax revenues ~ and protecting the environment by encouraging development on existing sites, rather than in undeveloped areas. EPA's FY 1997 budget request calls for expanding pilots in additional U.S. cities. 14 ------- • In Cleveland, Ohio, for example, $3.2 million has been leveraged in environmental cleanup and property improvements to a bankrupt and abandoned site. The site is now home to several businesses that employ 171 new workers. Payroll tax base improvements alone have netted more than $1 million for the local economy. • The new Clinton Administration Brownfields Tax Incentive for developers who clean up and redevelop these properties will make available $2 billion over seven years, and is expected to spur some $10 billion in private cleanups, and return to productive use as many as 30,000 brownfields properties. 5) Expanding Electronic Access to Agency Information: In keeping with the Clinton Administration's commitment to community right-to-know about local pollution, EPA has expanded public access to Agency information about public health and environmental problems and solutions. • Citizens, businesses and1 other interested groups can more easily access new EPA rules on the Internet, as well as submit their comments electronically on pending environmental and public health rules the Agency is considering. • The Agency's electronic ENVIROFACTS also provide public access to information about environmental issues at local facilities. • In February 1996, nearly one-half million people accessed EPA's Internet home page. 6) Allowing States and Tribes Flexibility in Municipal Landfill Permits: To increase local flexibility in handling environmental issues, in January 1996, EPA proposed a rule which provides flexibility to states and tribes to implement performance standards for municipal solid waste landfill permits. The performance-based approach sets goals to ensure that public health and environment protections are achieved. Most states and many tribes have already opted to use this new flexibility in setting their standards. 7) Chemical Industry Challenged to Prevent Pollution, Create Safer Chemicals: To encourage the chemical industry to prevent pollution ~ particularly through safer manufacturing processes ~ and to encourage the development of safer chemicals, EPA and industry partners issued a "Green Chemistry Challenge" in October 1995. • The Challenge -- a new awards program that recognizes and promotes fundamental breakthroughs in chemical production processes that prevent pollution — has received over 70 nominations, and the first awards will be announced in April 1996. 15 ------- 8) Community-Based Environmental Protection: To help communities to become more actively involved in managing environmental problems, EPA's Community-based Environmental Protection program encourages local citizens -- neighborhoods, cities, and watersheds or other ecosystems ~ to work together to identify and set priorities and find innovative solutions to environmental problems. • EPA offices around the country are providing communities with technical assistance and information to foster these community-based solutions and to encourage citizens, local and state governments, and business to work together on consensus-based approaches. 9) Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program: To reduce the health and environmental risks posed by agricultural pesticide use, EPA is working with the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and commercial users of pesticides in a voluntary partnership to reduce pesticides risks. To date, approximately 40 pesticide user groups — representing growers and other industries that use large quantities of pesticides ~ have joined the program. 16 ------- |