United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Innovative
Technology
Council
EPA 238-F-96-001
September 1997
vvEPA Environmental Technology
Initiative: FY94-FY95 Projects Report
ETI Investments
Reduce Barriers to
Technology Innovation
The Environmental Techno-
logy Initiative (ETI) was
announced by President Clinton
in his 1993 State of the Union
address. The ETI was an inter-
By promoting
the development
and use of
innovative
environmental
technologies,
we can both
strengthen our
economy and
improve
environmental
quality...
Carol M. Browner
agency effort led by the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) to remove barri-
ers to developing and using
innovative technologies that pro-
tect public health and the envi-
ronment.
As part of this effort, EPA
issued a report, Environmental
Technology Initiative: Removing
Barriers to Innovations that
Protect Public Health and the
Environment, describing the
275 technology innovation pro-
jects that the Agency invested in
during Fiscal Year 1994 and
Fiscal Year 1995.
The report identifies four
major barriers to achieving the
public health and environmental
benefits of technology innova-
tion:
• Regulatory barriers, such as
permit procedures that can
increase the risk of using
innovative technologies;
• Institutional barriers, such as
lack of coordination among
local, state, and federal regu-
lators to approve the use of
innovative monitoring, pro-
cess, and pollution controls;
• Information barriers, such as
a lack of credible data on
what works and reduces
costs; and
• A lack of incentives for
companies and communities
to move "beyond compli-
ance" and achieve even
greater environmental results,
because current approaches
focus on using "tried and
true" technologies to control
pollution, source-by-source,
pollutant-by-pollutant.
The ETI report highlights
several examples of public part-
nerships that are overcoming
these barriers by:
• Developing flexible air quali-
ty permitting, fostering inter-
state regulatory cooperation,
and streamlining the
approval process for using
innovative technologies —
such as using constructed
wetlands to meet federal and
state water quality standards;
• Cutting compliance costs and
preventing pollution by using
innovative technologies in
food processing, manufactur-
ing printed wiring boards,
metal finishing and printing;
• Launching ten pilot techno-
logy verification programs to
provide third-party, credible
technology cost and perfor-
mance data; and
• Increasing U.S. environmen-
tal technology exports via
international training and
technical assistance pro-
grams.
EPA's homepage on the
Internet provides an ETI
website that also describes the
275 projects that were funded
in FY1994 and FY1995.
The website address is:
http://www.epa.gov/eti.
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The website provides the
name of, and contact informa-
tion for, each EH project offi-
cer. The website also provides
an e-mail address to obtain fur-
ther information on EPA's envi-
ronmental technology programs,
such as the Environmental
Technology Verification (ETV)
program. For further informa-
tion on the ETV program,
please call: 202-260-2600 or
visit the ETV website on
http://www.epa.gov/etv.
The ETI FY94-FY95 Projects Report
may be obtained from the:
Government Printing Office
732 North Capitol Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20401
Phone: 202-512-1800
Fax orders to: 202-512-2255
To order Environmental Technology Initiative:
Removing Barriers to Innovations that Protect
Public Health and the Environment, please
request stock number 055-000-00-561-3.
The document costs $15.00.
GPO accepts VISA, Mastercard, & Discover cards.
Or Mail a Check or Money Order to the following Address:
Superintendent of Documents
P.O. Box 371954
Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954
*Please make checks or money orders payable to the: Superintendent of Documents
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