10020013
August 13,2001
Administrator Christine Todd Whitman
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building (MC 1101 A)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Dear Administrator Whitman:
On behalf of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology
(NACEPT), I am pleased to forward the Council's report entitled Maximizing Compliance
Assistance-Recommendations for Enhancing Compliance Assistance Opportunities at EPA and
Through Other Providers. This is the second set of recommendations prepared by the
Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee (CAAC), a subcommittee under the auspices of the NACEPT.
The CAAC was initially convened for a two year term beginning in October 1999 to provide
assistance to the EPA in developing the Compliance Assistance (CA) commitments under the
Agency's 1999 Aiming for Excellence Report.
In its second year, CAAC developed recommendations to help the EPA enhance its CA program
to better address the needs of stakeholders and community members. These recommendations
are focused on six key areas that the CAAC believes are critical to an effective and robust CA
program.
Incorporating CA into the EPA's mission, goals and strategies
Institutionalizing and implementing CA through the EPA
Addressing CA through regulatory development
Strengthen the CA network
Developing and delivering CA tools
Measuring the effectiveness of CA
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The CAAC concludes that implementation of these recommendations will serve as an effective
complement to the EPA's approach to inspection and enforcement. Inspection and enforcement
have been, and will continue to be, essential components of EPA's regulatory programs.
Advances in compliance assistance must not be made at the expense of inspection and
enforcement, and must be strategically planned for and adequately funded.
The Council and I look forward to discussing these recommendations with the EPA.
Sincerely,
Robert L. Rhodes, Jr.
Chair, NACEPT
Enclosure
cc: Richard Sustich, Chair/CAAC
Joanne Herman, DFO/CAAC
Peter Redmond, DFO/NACEPT
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NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
POLICY AND TECHNOLOGY
COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MAXIMIZING COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENHANCING COMPLIANCE
ASSISTANCE OPPORTUNITIES AT EPA AND
THROUGH OTHER PROVIDERS
August 13, 2001
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 1994, EPA sought to improve the effectiveness of its compliance monitoring and en-
forcement operations at headquarters by consolidating these operations into one of-
ficethe Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). A number of Re-
gions implemented similar reorganizations. These reorganizations resulted in changes,
both in substance and structure, to EPA's enforcement and compliance assurance pro-
gram.
The National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT)
Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee (CAAC) was established within the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the NACEPT charter approved
pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by the Administrator and the
General Services Administration. The CAAC consists of representatives from state,
tribal and local governments, compliance assistance providers, regulated commercial,
industrial and federal facilities and community-based environmental organizations, and
provides a multi-stakeholder perspective to EPA regarding compliance assistance is-
sues.
The recommendations contained herein address six key areas that the CAAC believes
are essential to the development of a national program of compliance assistance. This
program will serve as an effective complement to EPA's approach to traditional inspec-
tion and enforcement. At the same time, the CAAC recognizes that enforcement has
been, and will continue to be, an essential component of EPA's regulatory programs.
As such, advances in compliance assistance must not be made at the expense of en-
forcement but rather, must be strategically planned for and adequately funded.
Incorporating Compliance Assistance into EPA's Mission, Goals and Strategic
Plan
EPA must adopt a broad, holistic approach to environmental assistance, recognizing
that compliance assistance is only part of a much larger spectrum of activities for im-
proving environmental performance. EPA's commitment to compliance assistance must
be reflected in all aspects of the Agency's strategic planning, from its Mission on down.
Institutionalizing and Implementing Compliance Assistance Throughout EPA
The Office of Compliance (OC) should be recognized as the office having the primary
authority to coordinate compliance assistance and other related outreach activities
across the entire Agency. In doing so, the office should promote consistent approaches
to implementing CA, such as sector and problem-based strategies, and facilitate a con-
tinuous exchange of information among all compliance assistance providers.
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Addressing Compliance Assistance in the Development of New Regulations
EPA's Program Offices should engage regulated entities and assess their compliance
assistance needs as early as possible in the development of all new regulations.
Strengthening the Compliance Assistance Network
EPA should strengthen the ability of State, Tribal and local agencies to provide compli-
ance assistance. EPA should also vigorously facilitate networking among all compli-
ance assistance providers, particularly community-based organizations and environ-
mental justice groups, to ensure that all parties are on a level playing field in under-
standing environmental regulations.
Developing and Delivering Effective Compliance Assistance Tools
EPA needs to develop a comprehensive approach to the development and deployment
of compliance assistance tools. This approach should: (I) engage customers to identify
their compliance assistance needs, (ii) include flexible tools that incorporate state-of-
the-art technologies/techniques, pollution prevention and beyond compliance, and (iii)
ensure that tools are universally accessible through all compliance assistance provid-
ers.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Compliance Assistance Efforts
EPA should develop and implement an Agency-wide system for accurately measuring
the outputs and environmental outcomes of its compliance assistance activities. By
having all EPA Offices and Programs use this system, they will be accountable for re-
porting their compliance assistance results to the public. EPA should simultaneously
place a priority on developing and implementing a complementary voluntary system for
States, Tribes and local government agencies to use to report on the outcomes of their
compliance assistance activities. The Agency needs to provide adequate funding to
States, Tribes and local government agencies to participate in this system. Finally, the
Agency should continue to support pilot projects on compliance assistance measure-
ment to inform the development of these national reporting systems.
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Table of Contents
Page
Introduction 1
FY 2001 CAAC Activities 2
Incorporating Compliance Assistance into EPA's Mission, Goals 3
and Strategic Plan
- Holistic approach to environmental assistance 3
- Compliance assistance in EPA's Strategic Plan 4
- Compliance Assistance Activity Plan and report 4
Institutionalizing and Implementing Compliance Assistance 5
Throughout EPA
- Agency-wide guidance on the mission of compliance assis- 5
tance
- Designation of National Compliance Assistance Coordinator 5
- Promoting sector and problem-based approaches to com- 6
pliance
- Strategies for integrating enforcement and compliance as- 6
sistance
- EPA's role as compliance assistance wholesaler 6
- Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse 6
Addressing Compliance Assistance in the Development of New 7
Regulations
- Compliance assistance in EPA's analytic blueprint 8
- Assessing compliance assistance needs in the regulatory 9
development process
- Informing the public of compliance assistance implications 9
Strengthening the Compliance Assistance Network 11
- Support for compliance assistance provider training
- Engaging non-traditional partners in delivering compliance 11
assistance
- Strengthen State, Tribal and local provider programs 12
- Pilot projects to promote community participation in compli- 12
ance assistance
Developing and Delivering Effective Compliance Assistance Tools 13
- Systematic approach to tool development 14
- Ensuring tool availability, replicabilty and delivery 16
Measuring the Effectiveness of Compliance Assistance Efforts 18
- Agency-wide compliance assistance measurement system 19
- National voluntary compliance assistance measurement 19
system
- Pilot program to assess impact of compliance assistance 21
activities
. - Ensuring data consistency and accuracy 21
Future CAAC Activities 22
Committee Membership 25
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INTRODUCTION
Authority
The National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT)
Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee (CAAC) was established within the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the NACEPT charter approved
pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by the Administrator and the
General Services Administration.
In 1994, EPA sought to improve the effectiveness of its compliance monitoring and en-
forcement operations at headquarters by consolidating these operations into one of-
ficethe Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). A number of Re-
gions implemented similar reorganizations. These reorganizations resulted in changes,
both in substance and structure, to EPA's enforcement and compliance assurance pro-
gram. EPA recently undertook a five-year review to assess how well the reorganization
improved its effectiveness. This assessment included soliciting input from EPA's state
partners and stakeholders on how EPA can further improve public health and the envi-
ronment through its compliance assurance efforts.
Charge
The purpose of the CAAC is to create a multi-stakeholder working group that can pro-
vide advice to the Administrator (through the NACEPT Council) on the design and im-
plementation of several new projects. The initial work of the CAAC centered on three
activities:
1. The development of a Clearinghouse for compliance assistance materials from
Federal, state and private sector providers;
2. The development of an annual EPA-wide compliance assistance plan (Action
Plan) that will outline EPA's priorities and commitments for compliance assis-
tance activities (first-year plan for Fiscal Year [FY] 2001); and
3. Convening a national forum of compliance assistance providers to share informa-
tion on compliance assistance activities, provide focused feedback on the Clear-
inghouse and the Action Plan, and to identify priority areas for compliance assis-
tance activities.
The CAAC conducted open meetings during November 2000, January and May 2001,
in Washington, D.C. Working with OECA, the CAAC also convened the second Na-
tional Compliance Assistance Providers' Forum 2001 in Annapolis, Maryland during
March 2001. More than 300 compliance assistance providers from around the country
attended Forum 2001, which featured presentations and feedback sessions regarding
the recommendations contained in this report.
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Status of Prior Year Recommendations
On August 18, 2000 the NACEPT transmitted the CAAC's initial report regarding com-
pliance assistance activities at EPA to the Administrator. The report provided input to
EPA on three areas:
1. Comments regarding EPA's FY 2001 Compliance Assistance Activity Plan, including
feedback received from stakeholders at the 2000 Compliance Assistance Providers'
Forum.
2. Recommendations for EPA activities to be included in the agency's FY 2002 Com-
pliance Assistance Activity Plan and beyond.
3. Issues that the CAAC .intended to study during FY 2001 and report herein.
In response to the August 18, 2000 recommendations, EPA instituted changes in its FY
2001 Compliance Assistance Activity Plan and plan development process, and initiated
a number of steps to improve compliance assistance coordination within the agency.
These activities were reported to the CAAC in a letter dated May 1, 2001 from Mr. Mi-
chael M. Stahl, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, OECA. A copy of the
letter is provided in Attachment 1.
FY 2001 CAAC ACTIVITIES
Organizational Framework
The recommendations contained herein build on previous ideas developed by the
CAAC. They are structured around an organizational framework for helping EPA de-
velop a more robust compliance assistance program that meets the needs of its
stakeholders and community members. Compliance assistance helps the agency
achieve its vision of a cleaner environment by providing the regulated community with
the tools to achieve compliance and, if they choose, go beyond just minimal require-
ments. Though the CAAC does not suggest that the definition of compliance assistance
be changed at this time, EPA's goals and strategies should more actively encourage
pollution prevention, use of environmental management systems, and compliance in-
centives that take facilities beyond compliance.
The organizational framework encompasses six key areas that the EPA must address
to optimize its compliance assistance activities.
Incorporating Compliance Assistance into EPA's Mission, Goals and Strategic
Plan
Institutionalizing and Implementing Compliance Assistance Throughout EPA
Addressing Compliance Assistance in the Development of New Regulations
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Strengthening the Compliance Assistance Network
Developing and Delivering Effective Compliance Assistance Tools
Measuring the Effectiveness of Compliance Assistance Efforts
Incorporating Compliance Assistance into EPA's Mission, Goals and Strategic
Plan
Current State
Since the issuance of the Government Performance and Results Act, EPA has placed
greater emphasis on goal setting and strategic planning to achieve its mission. As a re-
sult, EPA has developed a number of strategic planning tools, including an Agency-wide
strategic plan, regional memoranda of agreement and operating plans, and program-
specific operating plans. These planning tools set EPA's priorities and determine
budget and resource allocations.
Based on the CAAC's understanding of EPA's strategic planning process, input from
external stakeholders (e.g., regulated entities and community organizations) is not cur-
rently solicited as part of the agency's planning process.
Significance
To truly integrate compliance assistance into every part of EPA's programs, references
to compliance assistance must be featured prominently in its planning and budgeting
tools. Because these tools are used as the roadmap for future activities and form the
basis from which EPA's managers focus resources, the absence of compliance assis-
tance from them means that compliance assistance activities will lack the attention and
resources needed to help the Agency achieve its environmental results.
Recommendations
The CAAC has reviewed a number of these planning tools and offers the following rec-
ommendations for how compliance assistance could be featured more prominently,
thereby becoming more broadly integrated into EPA's activities. In addition, because
these tools drive resource allocation, we have provided recommendations that will allow
observers to better understand what resources might be needed to ensure that EPA
does not just plan for compliance assistance but actually achieves the goals and objec-
tives it sets in this area.
1. EPA must adopt a broad, holistic approach to environmental assistance, recog-
nizing that compliance assistance is part of a much larger spectrum of environ-
mental activities. EPA needs to move beyond the traditional, narrow focus of
compliance assistance in favor of a broader approach incorporating all significant
elements of environmental assistance, including traditional enforcement, techni-
cal assistance, information programs, performance-based environmental man-
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agement systems, pollution prevention and small business outreach. EPA
should review these issues and draft guidance to regulatory partners and assis-
tance providers regarding available approaches to environmental assistance and
how the approaches work together. This recommendation is in no way meant to
diminish the importance of required programs regulatory requirements and a
strong enforcement program, because compliance assistance efforts are most
successful in the presence of these other tools.
2. EPA must make an explicit, agency-wide commitment to compliance assistance
in its Strategic Plan. The goals identified by each Program Office should reflect
the agency's commitment to compliance assistance. The objectives relative to
each Program Office's goals should explicitly identify the measurable outcomes
that the Program Office intends to achieve with respect to its compliance assis-
tance activities. EPA should expand Goal 9 in its Strategic Plan to include com-
pliance assistance. The CAAC recommends the following revision: "Goal 9: A
credible deterrence and effective assistance to comply with the Law and improve
environmental performance."
Feedback from stakeholders and communities must be more widely sought
and incorporated into EPA's planning process. These groups could provide
valuable input into whether or not the goals and objectives that EPA sets for
compliance assistance are achievable and what compliance incentives are
the most appropriate. EPA may choose to use existing advisory committees
to obtain this information.
Program and Regional operating plans should address how compliance
assistance and compliance incentive objectives will be implemented. These
plans should acknowledge that compliance assistance and compliance incen-
tives are essential tools that EPA must use to meet its environmental protec-
tion mission and describe specific activities and the appropriate funding
needed to carry out these activities.
3. EPA should continue to produce its annual Compliance Assistance Activity Plan
and should use the information contained in the Plan to identify measurable in-
puts for assessing the impact of its compliance assistance activities. EPA should
ensure that the activities of State and Tribal compliance assistance providers are
adequately reflected in the Plan, both to identify duplicative activities and to en-
sure that all activities are adequately funded. EPA should also develop an
agency-wide annual report of compliance assistance activities and accomplish-
ments for agency planning purposes. EPA should use both the Compliance As-
sistance Activity Plan and the annual activity report to plan and coordinate future
compliance assistance activities across EPA Program and Regional Offices,
States and Tribes, and to inform interested parties and the public.
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Institutionalizing and Implementing Compliance Assistance Throughout EPA
Current State
EPA's business philosophy is transitioning from an .approach that places primary em-
phasis on enforcement of laws and regulatory mandates to one that effectively com-
bines traditional enforcement efforts with technical assistance, information programs,
performance-based environmental management systems and pollution prevention ef-
forts. The expectation is that this holistic, results-oriented approach will achieve supe-
rior environmental results earlier, more effectively and at lower cost.
Significance
For EPA's compliance assistance program, the implications of this transition are clear.
It must augment traditional enforcement efforts with a broader, more sophisticated pro-
gram to give all stakeholders the tools they need in order to effectively meet regulatory
requirements and other environmental objectives. To be most effective, compliance as-
sistance must be grounded on a proper balance between the "carrot" and the "stick."
The system should be driven by clearly enunciated regulatory and non-regulatory
measures that will attain optimal levels of environmental performance.
Recommendations
The CAAC believes that this balance can best be achieved by considering compliance
assistance as a two-way delivery system -- delivering to communities and regulated en-
tities the information needed to effectively control operations, meet legal requirements
and achieve performance objectives; and delivering to EPA states and tribes the infor-
mation needed to tailor programs to meet community and other stakeholder needs. For
this system to function efficiently, EPA must implement several institutional elements.
1. EPA senior management should provide specific guidance to all staff levels re-
garding the essential role that compliance assistance plays in the agency's mis-
sion. Specific training on the use of integrated strategies incorporating all forms
of environmental assistance should be provided to current staff, and should be
incorporated into new employee orientation programs.
2. Designate the Director of the Office of Compliance (OC) within OECA as the
agency-wide Environmental Assistance Coordinator. The Director of OC should
be given a clear charter and mandate to coordinate all environmental assistance
efforts (including but not limited to compliance assistance) across all EPA Pro-
gram and Regional Offices, States and Tribes, and to proactively engage regu-
lated entities and affected communities to identify environmental assistance
needs. Additionally, EPA's Program Offices and Regions should each plan and
be held accountable for accurately measuring and reporting the success of their
compliance assistance activities. Compliance assistance activities and the re-
sources allocated to them should be clearly identified by each Program Office
and Region. To accomplish this, each Program and Regional Office should des-
ignate an Environmental Assistance Coordinator. These coordinators should re-
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port the environmental assistance activities of their respective offices directly to
the Director of OC and should be tasked with ensuring that environmental assis-
tance information is exchanged among EPA, States and Tribes so that efforts are
coordinated and not duplicated, ensuring resources are used as efficiently as
possible, and obtaining end-user feedback sufficient to identify successful envi-
ronmental assistance strategies and activities.
3. Encourage sector-based and problem-based approaches to compliance. EPA
should facilitate development of sector-specific databases and compliance assis-
tance materials, including performance benchmarking and cataloguing of envi-
ronmental "best practices," and work to provide understandable information re-
garding performance requirements and expectations to entities in the sector and
to affected communities. EPA should collect and analyze information on emerg-
ing environmental risks and compliance problems to determine whether sector-
based or problem-based compliance assistance approaches are appropriate. To
best utilize the resources of existing EPA infrastructure, the agency should de-
velop a compendium of types of environmental assistance services and pro-
grams currently being provided along with an examination of how they work to-
gether. EPA should evaluate sector-specific compliance efforts, including the
Compliance Assistance Centers, to ensure that there is adequate funding and
staffing to carry out their missions.
4. Develop integrated targeting strategies that incorporate all environmental assis-
tance approaches. EPA should analyze environmental compliance data and
other available information and develop criteria to determine whether particular
sectors (or facilities) should be targeted for compliance assistance. The CAAC
has developed a model that describes how various environmental assistance ap-
proaches might be integrated in a systematic way. It is included as Attachment
2.
5. EPA should develop operational guidance defining the Agency's role as a com-
pliance assistance "wholesaler." and the roles of States. Tribes, communities and
private sector providers as "retailers" in the compliance assistance network. The
guidance should also identify those circumstances when it is appropriate for EPA
to maintain a "retailer" role (e.g., federal-only regulations, non-delegated pro-
grams, federal facilities).
6. The Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse should continue to be the focal point
for compiling information and should be expanded to include other Federal.
State. Tribal and private sector compliance assistance information, to the extent
practical. It also should be expanded to include all proposed and in-progress
compliance activities with anticipated completion dates.
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Addressing Compliance Assistance in the Development of New Regulations
Significance
The most effective approach for EPA to ensure that appropriate and effective compli-
ance assistance tools are developed and delivered for new regulations is to incorporate
the compliance assistance needs evaluation into the regulatory development process.
Current State
EPA operates a well-defined process through which most new regulations are devel-
oped. The development process for new regulations is depicted in the following chart
entitled Regulatory Development Process. Within the process, the critical activities may
be described as follows:
1. Working Group develops Analytic Blueprint for regulatory development, including:
Risk analysis
Economic analysis
Statutory and Executive Order requirements
2. Working Group collects relevant data, analyzes data, and develops regulatory
options.
3. Working Group prepares Action Memorandum, Preamble, Rule and Supporting
documents
Alternatively, new regulations may be developed through a process of negotiated rule-
making, where those entities potentially subject to a new regulation actively work with
EPA in the development of the regulation.
The CAAC's review of these processes revealed that compliance assistance is not ex-
plicitly addressed at any point in the current regulatory development process. We rec-
ognize that economic analyses relative to a new regulation often consider the costs to
the regulated community for attaining compliance with the proposed regulation; however
the methods by which compliance assistance can and should be delivered to the regu-
lated community are generally not contemplated until the regulation is finalized and
adopted.
Recommended State
EPA has fully incorporated environmental assistance into the regulatory development
process to more accurately assess the true cost of new regulations, to ensure imple-
mentation of effective compliance assistance plans and to facilitate the most efficient
compliance efforts among regulated entities.
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Recommendations
The CAAC recommends that EPA incorporate three specific compliance assistance-
related actions into the regulatory development process:
1. In the Analytic Blueprint for each new regulation. EPA should include a compli-
ance assistance analysis. Prior to convening the Working Group for the pur-
poses of data collection, data analysis and options selection, Senior Manage-
ment from the Program Office proposing the regulation should be required to re-
view and approve the compliance assistance analysis.
In an ideal world, EPA would be expected to develop and deliver new, rule-
specific compliance assistance tools for each new regulation. However, the
CAAC recognizes that not all regulations require the same level of compliance
assistance. EPA has already committed to assessing compliance assistance
needs and developing compliance assistance tools under the Small Business
Regulatory Flexibility and Relief Act and for economically significant regulations.
EPA should consider the following additional factors when assessing compliance
assistance needs for new regulations:
Regulated Community - Does the proposed rule impact a small number of
regulated entities that are reasonably expected to be familiar with the regula-
tory environment and/or have access to existing compliance assistance re-
sources, or does the rule impact a larger number of entities with varying de-
grees of prior regulatory experience and access to compliance assistance re-
sources?
Regulatory Complexity / Novelty - Is the proposed rule concise and easily
understood by the regulated community? Does the proposed rule mirror ex-
isting, familiar regulatory approaches, or does it embody new or novel con-
cepts to which existing compliance assistance concepts or activities are inap-
propriate or ineffective?
Financial Capacity of Regulated Community - While EPA already analyzes
the compliance costs of proposed regulations and their impacts on the eco-
nomic health of the regulated community, EPA does not presently identify and
facilitate access to avenues for addressing financial capacity barriers to com-
pliance activities.
Capacity and Willingness of Regulated Communities and Others to Develop
CA Tools - In many cases, the regulated community will have the ability and
be willing to assist EPA in developing compliance assistance tools. Given
that regulated communities best understand the processes and activities sub-
ject to a rule, their expertise should be tapped where available. Guidance
should be provided to enable unions and other members of the public to par-
ticipate if interested. This could also reduce substantially EPA's cost of de-
veloping tools.
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2. As an integral part of its activities, the Workinq Group should be required to per-
form an assessment of the compliance assistance needs associated with the
various regulatory options, including an assessment of the resources needed for
implementation. Where compliance assistance needs are identified, EPA should
develop compliance assistance tools concurrent with regulatory development.
Where a new regulation is developed under the negotiated rulemaking process,
EPA and the regulated community should include the compliance assistance as-
sessment in the initial steps of negotiation.
3. In preparing the Rule for Federal Register publication, the Workinq Group should
be required to include a description of the compliance assistance tools that will
be developed for the selected regulatory option. If no tools are to be developed,
the Federal Register notice should include a discussion of why EPA determined
that compliance assistance tools were not required for the regulation. Tools
should be developed and delivered within 90 days of the effective rule date.
Where EPA establishes a dedicated compliance period prior to the final compli-
ance date for a regulation, EPA, states and tribes should proactively engage
regulated entities through delivery of compliance assistance. Failure of a regu-
lated entity to avail itself of available compliance assistance during this period
should be considered a potentially aggravating factor in determining appropriate
remedies in a subsequent enforcement action, where such noncompliance could
clearly have been avoided through the compliance assistance offered to the
regulated entity.
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Regulatory Development Process
Lead AA: Agency-wide circulation of
Start Action Notice. Interested offices
designated Working Group (WG) members.
iarly Guidance
from Senior
Management
WG prepares Analytic
Blueprint
Risk analysis
Economic analysis
Compliance assistance analysis
Statutory & Executive Order requirements
enior Manageme
pproves Bluepri
WG: Data collection, analysis, options development,
compliance assistance options
WG: Prepare Action Memo, Preamble,
Rule, Supporting documents.description of anticipated
compliance assistance activities
OMB Review
Administrator's Signature
Federal Reg/sterpublication
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Strengthening the Compliance Assistance Network
Significance
To maximize the effectiveness of compliance assistance activities, it is important that all
stakeholders share an understanding of why a regulation or rule is important, exactly
what is required, when and where action is expected, and how much it will cost to im-
plement. Each constituency affected by environmental regulations, including regulated
parties as well as the people who are impacted by their activities, has a role to play in
enhancing compliance assistance, and environmental performance in general.
Current State
Compliance assistance today is developed and delivered by a wide range of organiza-
tions, ranging from federal, state and tribal environmental regulatory agencies to regu-
lated entities and their voluntary associations, and private sector consultants. Some of
these stakeholders bring a great deal of expertise to the table. Others bring unique per-
spectives. Among the participants in the "compliance assistance network" there is a
great deal of variability in resources and experience.
Though the residents of affected communities frequently play a role in enforcing envi-
ronmental regulations, they rarely take part in compliance assistance programs.
Recommended State
The compliance assistance network provides a level playing field, in which all
stakeholders participate. In particular, representatives of affected communities -
particularly environmental justice communities - are provided assistance to play an
effective, constructive role in the design and conduct of compliance assistance pro-
grams.
Recommendations
1. EPA should continue to support the development and delivery of training tools to
ensure that all stakeholders understand regulations and their enabling statutes.
have access to information systems, and are aware of the technologies and
management systems needed to provide environmental assistance. EPA should
work with other stakeholders to create venues (workshops, forums, etc.) that put
different constituencies on the same page. If necessary, representatives of
groups that traditionally have not been able to participate in such training events
should be eligible for logistical support.
2. EPA should strengthen the ability of State. Tribal and local agencies to provide
compliance assistance. In order to provide effective compliance assistance to the
regulated community state and local agencies need additional support and re-
sources. This includes base funding and tasks specifically for compliance assis-
tance in media core grants and other funding sources to state and local pro-
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grams. Another important area is better networking opportunities and communi-
cations between assistance providers, regulatory programs and EPA.
3. Compliance assistance communications mechanisms should better target con-
stituencies that have not traditionally participated in compliance assistance activi-
ties. For example, EPA's Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse should open an
"affected communities portal" to provide community members with easily under-
stood compliance information regarding federal regulations, informational
sources for accessing State, Tribal and/or local environmental regulations, and a
"roadmap" for accessing information on current compliance assistance activities
within their communities.
4. EPA should promote the role of community-based organizations, including envi-
ronmental justice groups, in the provision of compliance assistance by sponsor-
ing pilot community-based compliance assistance projects. Such pilots should
be coordinated with EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and may include train-
ing, logistical support, and the provision of independent technical assistance -
that is, the funding of technical experts hired and directed by the community
groups - to communities that seek to play a constructive role in the achievement
of compliance and other improvements in environmental performance in their
communities.
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Developing and Delivering Effective Compliance Assistance Tools
Significance
A successful compliance assistance effort is dependent on the development and deliv-
ery of high quality and effective tools.
Current State
EPA develops a wide assortment of compliance assistance tools as shown in the FY-01
Activity Plan. However, the current system of compliance assistance tool development
is rather chaotic. There is no agency-wide cross-media policy on when materials should
be developed, who should develop them, how they should be developed, what should
be developed or how they are to be delivered. Finally, funds for development and de-
livery of the needed materials are limited.
State and Tribal programs in some ways mirror the federal model. Federal directives
and funds are mainly single-media focused and address permitting and enforcement.
There are no real incentives given for compliance assistance development and delivery.
Thus there is limited emphasis on the development of compliance assistance tools and
their effective delivery.
Examples of Compliance Assistance tools
Fact sheets
Manuals and Guidance Documents
(hard and electronic - CD/Web)
E-mail lists and discussion boards
Training videos and CD's
On-site training
Technology demonstrations
Technology development and verifica-
tion
One-on-one assistance
Workshops
Expert Systems
Incentive programs
Conferences
Videoconferences
Web sites
Library of technical information
Educational materials/curriculums
Newsletters
Mentoring
Councils/workgroups
Check-lists
Environmental Management System training
Compliance audits
SEP's / negotiated agreements
Partnerships
Recommended State
EPA will have developed a systematic approach to the development and deployment of
compliance assistance coordinated between OECA, Program and Regional Offices,
States and Tribes, pollution prevention and small business assistance providers. This
approach will use a standard process to identify the needs of the customers, develop
appropriate tools and ensure effective delivery mechanisms. All tools address pollution
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prevention and beyond compliance approaches. Delivery systems through States and
Tribes are in place, working with a variety of stakeholders, to ensure that the materials
are delivered in an effective manner. Tool design and delivery continue to be innovative
and use state-of-the-art technologies and techniques, yet provide easy access to all end
users of the service.
Recommendations
1. EPA should establish a systematic approach to the development of compliance
assistance tools. This effort must be coordinated between OECA, Program and
Regional Offices, States and Tribes, and all interested stakeholders. Within
EPA, the effort should draw on the resources, on-going activities and expertise of
the media programs, OPPTS, OPEI and ORD. It must use a standard process
to identify the needs of the customers and develop appropriate tools. A two-step
process is summarized below:
a. Pre-design phase
This phase will ensure that an effective and efficient process is undertaken.
The following steps are critical and required prior to any tool development:
i) Identity and state very specifically the intended outcomes of the
prospective tool.
ii) Establish an advisory group made up of affected stakeholders and ob-
tain their partnership in designing any prospective tools.
iii) Spend adequate time identifying and documenting existing tools or
those currently under development. Work with the advisory group to
see if any of these tools meet their needs and the outcomes identified
in step 1. If so, make any necessary updates or modifications and dis-
tribute these tools. If not, use the information collected as input to the
next phase.
b. Design and Development phase
i) Information collection
A protocol must be developed to identify and characterize end users. Input
from the advisory group should be utilized. This will allow effective tools to
be developed and delivered. This protocol should use broad sampling
techniques to:
Identify the financial resources, technical ability and demographics of
the end user community
Develop an understanding of the motivation and driver for the users
Establish the important environmental impacts
14
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Understand the language of the end users
Identify community and regional needs
This effort should be coordinated across all media program areas.
ii) Prioritize end user needs
An end user-focused process must be established that develops tools that
have high environmental impact and are also most likely to be utilized.
The process should categorize users and their needs based on the infor-
mation collected in step 1.
iii) Categorize users
Identify users with the highest level of technical need, those having lim-
ited resources, and the ones most likely to use tools.
Work with users, through the advisory group to identify the type of tool
and the format and delivery mechanism that would be most effective.
This could vary within the user group.
Identify local community needs.
iv) Categorize users' assistance needs
Identify the compliance problems and significant environmental im-
pacts of the user community.
Identify areas that, if addressed, will have the greatest environmental
impact.
Prioritize the areas for tool development that have the most impact.
v) Develop Compliance Assistance Tools
The analysis performed in step 2 along with input from both compliance
assistance providers and end users will ensure the development of effec-
tive compliance assistance tools. Any development must be coordinated
across the entire compliance assistance community and across regulatory
media programs. Because the level of expertise of both providers and end
users should determine the type and format of the tools, different types
and formats may have to be developed. The tools should take advantage
of the latest technologies; yet keep the needs of the users in mind.
vi) Compliance assistance design principles
User considerations
The tools must be simple, easy to understand, address user problems,
provide adequate guidance and solutions, and give sources for further
assistance. The tool must be in a form that meets the needs of the us-
15
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ers. When possible the tools should use the vocabulary of the user
community. They must be in a form that can be easily accessed and
used. A series of tools may be used to address a range of problem ar-
eas or levels of sophistication.
Retailer considerations
The tools must be flexible, easy to modify or amend, cost effective to
duplicate or distribute, and convenient to deliver. The training needs for
tool delivery must be identified and if possible minimized through good
design. The ease and resources needed to deliver the tool must be
kept in mind during development.
Design considerations
The tools must address "beyond compliance" approaches including
pollution prevention. They should have multiple uses to minimize other
development costs. They should exist in a broad range of formats tai-
lored to the user community including training, fact sheets, manuals,
Web-based, etc. Consider cost of development and implementation
during early development stages. Provide training and guidance for
community access and use. Consider local and regional sensitivity dur-
ing tool selection and development.
c. Quality Assurance and Quality Control
A quality assurance and quality control program needs to exist to ensure
that tools are effective and easily used, address the needs of the user and
provider community, and contain accurate material. Compliance assis-
tance coordinators must assure adequate legal review. The tools must be
field-tested and, if necessary, modified prior to release. A process must be
developed to update and correct the tools. Resources must be made
available to implement this process.
2. EPA should establish a system to ensure all tools are easily available, accurate.
replicable and delivered in an effective manner. The tools should also be avail-
able on the Internet. Recommendations on who will distribute the tools, how they
will be delivered and quality assurance are given below:
a. Who will distribute the tools
The State or Tribal regulatory agencies and/or compliance assistance pro-
viders act as both "wholesalers" and "retailers" of compliance assistance
information developed by EPA. These include regulatory programs, pollu-
tion prevention programs, small business ombudsmen programs, and
other compliance assistance agencies. They may directly deliver the ma-
terials to the regulated community or deliver them though a wide range of
16
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public and private organizations, such as local agencies, trade associa-
tions, universities, business groups, vendors, consultants, citizen groups
and environmental organizations.
A plan must be put into place to make the different organizations aware of
the availability of the tools. This must be an ongoing effort to ensure the
organizations are aware of all available tools.
b. How the tool will be delivered
A plan for the most effective tool delivery approach must be developed
based on the user community and assistance providers. Some items this
plan should address includes:
Effective and efficient marketing tool availability
Training and technical support for assistance providers
Resource and funding support for tool delivery
Identification of the most effective distribution organizations and provid-
ing them with the tool.
c. Quality assurance
An aggressive quality assurance program must exist to ensure the tools
are effective, delivered in a timely fashion, and contain accurate material.
This program must receive feedback from both the provider and user
community, and have a process to update and correct the tools. Re-
sources must be made available to implement this process.
17
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Measuring the Effectiveness of Compliance Assistance Efforts
There are currently four levels of data/measurement on compliance assistance activities
that are important to track and communicate:
Data on program inputs, including staffing and funding resources dedicated to
assistance
Data on program activities or outputs, including the number of entities reached by
assistance providers through workshops, publications, on-site assistance and
other activities
Data on the behavioral and compliance-related outcomes of those activities
Data on the environmental impacts of compliance assistance activities
Significance
Measuring the results of compliance assistance is important for a number of reasons:
It provides the justification for targeting program resources
It helps programs to identify the best, most cost effective methods for delivering
compliance assistance
It enables compliance assistance providers to determine the extent to which their
activities are helping entities make environmental improvements
Current State
Compliance assistance is a relatively new activity at EPA. As a result, measuring its
effectiveness is in its infancy and presents new challenges. EPA has a system to track
its compliance assistance activities, called the Reporting Compliance Assistance Track-
ing System (RCATS). RCATS has historically tracked OECA and related regional
activities but has not included compliance assistance activities of EPA program offices.
EPA has upgraded RCATS to incorporate some outcome measures in FYOIand is inte-
grating RCATs into its Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS).
Although RCATs is beginning to store outcome measurement information, there is cur-
rently no comprehensive and cohesive system for measuring the results of compliance
assistance activities that are underway at EPA and in the States. There are a number
of pilots and other efforts underway in Regions and States to test various measurement
approaches. However, there is currently no consistency in the measures that are being
utilized by assistance providers around the country.
Measuring compliance assistance activities requires funding. Currently, there is not
adequate funding available within EPA and for States, Tribes and local governments for
those entities to implement their compliance assistance activities and to measure the
outcome of those efforts.
EPA provides some grant and contract support to states, tribal entities and local gov-
ernment agencies to support compliance assistance measurement activities. Entities
18
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that receive these grants report to their project officers on the activities they conducted
with the funds. However, there is no system available to aggregate these reports on
these federally funded projects. Many of these grants/contracts are awarded in rela-
tively small amounts (less than $75,000 per year). In general there is not adequate
funding available in such small awards to ask entities to provide data on the outcomes
of those activities.
Recommended State
EPA will have developed an effective Agency-wide system for accurately measuring the
outputs and outcomes of its compliance assistance activities. EPA will have also im-
plemented a complementary and compatible voluntary national system for tracking the
outputs and outcomes of environmental assistance activities conducted by states, tribes
and local governments. EPA will have provided adequate funding for the ongoing de-
velopment, implementation, and improvement of these systems. EPA is able to aggre-
gate the data from its internal system and the voluntary national system and provide
public reports on the outcomes of compliance assistance activities in the U.S.
Recommendations
1. OECA should develop and implement an Agency-wide system for accurately
measuring compliance assistance performance across all EPA programs. As a
first step, OECA should assess whether RCATS will meet EPA's .future needs
with regard to measuring compliance assistance performance. If necessary, the
Office of Environmental Information should provide technical resources and fund-
ing for improvements to RCATS to serve as the agency-wide compliance assis-
tance measurement system, or develop and implement a suitable alternative
data management system. OECA and Program and Regional Offices should re-
port all compliance assistance activities in the Agency-wide reporting system.
Each Office should plan, fund and be held accountable for reporting its respec-
tive compliance assistance activities in the reporting system. In the near term,
OECA, and Program and Regional Offices should identify all anticipated compli-
ance assistance activities in the Annual Compliance Assistance Activity Plan and
use the Plan to identify input to the EPA's compliance assistance measurement
system.
To enable EPA to more effectively collect compliance assistance outcome data,
the agency should strive to eliminate any barriers that inhibit the collection of
data measuring the effectiveness of compliance assistance activities. A key ex-
ternal barrier to this data collection includes Office of Management and Budget
Information Collection Request requirements under the Paperwork Reduction
Act. Furthermore, the Agency should examine some of the internal and institu-
tional barriers within EPA to collecting systematic measurement data, including
the lack of commitment on the part of Program and/or Regional Offices, commu-
nication barriers between Offices, and data incompatibility between data man-
agement systems used by the various EPA offices.
19
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EPA should place a high priority on the development of a voluntary national
compliance assistance providers' measurement collection system for States.
Tribes, local government and private sector providers that complements and is
compatible with its Agency-wide internal measurement system. The software
used for this national voluntary system may or may not be same as the system
that EPA develops for the new version of RCATS/ICIS. The Agency needs to
evaluate whether there should be one national reporting system that combines
EPA and State/Tribal/local government/private sector data or two separate sys-
tems that address the different measurement and data needs of the various lev-
els of providers. If the Agency finds that there is a need to develop a separate
data management system for State/Tribal/local government and private sector
reporting, at a minimum, this system should be designed so that it complements
EPA's internal data system and allows the Agency to develop a single, national
report that aggregates data from both systems.
The national voluntary system for States/Tribes/local governments and the pri-
vate sector should make available an "easy to use" system for providers to volun-
tarily input compliance assistance measures information. EPA's compliance as-
sistance tracking system or the National Compliance Assistance Clearinghouse
should be considered as a foundation for a compliance assistance measures col-
lection system.
The national system should ensure that compliance assistance activity results
are shared with all stakeholders, including Congress, policy makers, businesses,
assistance providers, and community groups.
Collecting reliable and useful performance and environmental outcome meas-
urement data is challenging and requires ongoing efforts in the Agency. EPA
should develop and make available a menu of environmental, public health, and
compliance assistance outcome measures. The National Compliance Assis-
tance Clearinghouse should be considered as a mechanism to share the "meas-
ures menu" with compliance assistance providers, businesses and communities.
To start this effort, EPA should examine examples of existing compliance and
environmental data reporting systems in the States, Tribes and other government
entities to understand their applicability for measuring compliance assistance
outcomes on a national level.
a. Where compliance assistance is provided to a regulated entity, a request
should be made for that entity to provide follow-up information to the compli-
ance assistance provider regarding resulting impacts on environmental per-
formance (e.g., waste/emissions/discharge reductions).
b. Recipients of EPA funding should be held accountable for demonstrating the
effectiveness of their compliance assistance activities. For small EPA grants
and contracts (those under $75,000 per year), EPA should create a simple
and easy to use system that EPA Project Officers can implement with their
grantees that could enable EPA to provide some useful data on those proj-
ects to the national voluntary measurement system. Compliance assistance
20
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contracts, cooperative agreements and grants over $75,000 per year of EPA
funding should include requirements for measuring and reporting the effec-
tiveness of such activities to the national system. The CAAC believes that re-
cipients of awards over $75,000 per year would have some capacity to build
into these projects an effective way to report to the national system. The
measurements used by the funding recipients can include quantitative and
subjective elements, but must be of sufficient detail to capture the true effec-
tiveness of the compliance assistance activity.
3. EPA should continue to test systems and approaches for assessinq the impact of
compliance assistance. These case studies should be designed to assess
whether compliance assistance is effective in bringing about compliance and/or
environmental improvements at the targeted entities.
Pilot programs should test approaches for facilitating reporting of compliance as-
sistance outcome data by both compliance assistance providers and regulated
entities.
EPA has already funded a number of pilot projects in Regions and States to de-
velop and test compliance assistance measurement tools, techniques, and sys-
tems. The agency should evaluate those projects to identify those that can be
implemented in other parts of the country. The agency should compile and pres-
ent the lessons learned from these pilots.
EPA's "Guide For Measuring Compliance Assistance Outcomes" should be used
by those implementing the pilot projects and the survey tools covered in the
Guide should be tested in those projects. Additionally, the Guide should be
augmented to more fully address the spectrum of compliance assistance meas-
ures, particularly outcome measures. Currently, the document provides valuable
guidance on developing and implementing surveys to evaluate specific compli-
ance assistance projects (e.g., workshops, documents, on-site visits). The
document should be updated to include, at a minimum, guidance on assessing
the outcomes of compliance assistance programs and on developing surveys
that collect statistically relevant data.
EPA should also develop guidance for compliance assistance providers on avail-
able and effective methods for tracking and measuring compliance assistance
workshops, web site tools, on-site assistance and other techniques.
4. Accurate compliance assurance data must be available in a comprehensive, co-
herent and end-user-friendlv format. This data is critical to measuring compli-
ance and compliance assistance outcomes, and is vital for sector targeting
strategies. EPA should ensure that the data collected (e.g., inspections, en-
forcement activities, Standard Industrial Classification codes, Toxic Release In-
ventory data) are consistent, complete and accurate.
21
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FUTURE CAAC ACTIVITIES
With the completion of this report, the CAAC recognizes that it's role in advising EPA
will naturally shift from theory to practice, and that the CAAC's future activities should
focus on implementation of the recommendations contained herein. Following this
shift, the CAAC proposes to address the following activities over the next year:
Facilitate implementation of the CAAC's recommendations. The recommendations
contained herein will require substantive action on the part of EPA for full implemen-
tation. The CAAC intends to actively facilitate EPA's implementation of its recom-
mendations, and to provide additional comment and/or clarification of its recommen-
dations as may be sought by EPA.
Act as an issues forum/advisory board regarding compliance assistance implemen-
tation across EPA. As in any large organization, EPA is expected to experience
"growing pains" as the agency moves forward with implementation of the CAAC's
recommendations and its own compliance assistance initiatives. Because of its di-
verse stakeholder representation and independence from EPA, the CAAC can serve
as an informed but neutral forum/advisory board to which EPA can turn for advice in
addressing issues related to compliance assistance.
Assist EPA in planning and hosting the 2002 Compliance Assistance Providers' Fo-
rum. Following up on the success of the 2000 and 2001 Compliance Assistance
Providers' Forum, the CAAC strongly urges EPA to continue to host this invaluable
information exchange opportunity for compliance assistance providers. While the
first two forums focused on engaging providers within EPA and in the States and
Tribes, the business of delivering quality compliance assistance to end-users lies
primarily with "retail" providers, including industry trade associations and private sec-
tor consultants. The CAAC will assist EPA in identifying and encouraging these ad-
ditional providers in the 2002 Compliance Assistance Providers' Forum, and in en-
suring that the forum content addresses their needs.
Assist EPA in assessing the current state of compliance assistance performance
measurement and the design and testing of performance measurement pilot projects
to demonstrate the effectiveness of compliance assistance activities. Very clearly,
EPA needs to proceed expeditiously with the development and implementation of
performance measurement systems that demonstrate the effectiveness of compli-
ance assistance activities. The CAAC has recommended in this report that EPA ex-
amine the state of its current performance measurement capabilities and those of
State, Tribal, local government and other compliance assistance providers, and de-
velop a long-range plan to implement a comprehensive, nationwide performance
measurement system. The CAAC is planning to work with EPA on the following ad-
ditional activities:
- Assess whether RCATS/ICIS can meet EPA's future needs with regard to meas-
uring compliance assistance performance, particularly the outcomes of the
Agency's compliance assistance activities. The CAAC will advise EPA on the
22
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trade associations and private sector consultants), to identify gaps in the compli-
ance assistance "retailer" network.
Gathering and providing feedback from end-users (regulated entities) to assess
(1) network utilization, (2) assistance delivery gaps, (3) product quality and use-
fulness and (4) future compliance assistance needs.
-------
- Assisting EPA in engaging compliance assistance providers to address service
gaps identified through this interactive process.
Encourage and facilitate the assessment of compliance assistance capabilities of
other Federal agencies (e.g., United States Department of Agriculture. Department
of Commerce. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Small Business Administration) to
complement and enhance EPA's compliance assistance activities. Other Federal
agencies play key roles in providing technical assistance to entities regulated under
their programs. Through coordination with EPA, the technical assistance networks
of these other agencies could be mobilized as additional delivery systems for com-
pliance assistance. In addition to assessing delivery capabilities of these other
agencies, the CAAC would assist EPA in identifying institutional barriers that may
impair use of these alternative delivery systems.
Assist EPA in promoting compliance assistance with community-based organiza-
tions including an EPA-sponsored pilot project. EPA needs to work with communi-
ties that seek to play a constructive role in the achievement of compliance bv provid-
inq traininq and loqistical support and fundinq technical assistance directed bv com-
munity groups. The CAAC would assist EPA in developing design specifications
and criteria for evaluating and selecting a community-based compliance assistance
pilot project proposal for implementation and/or funding.
24
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NACEPT Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee Members
Name
Organization
Address
Phone/Fax/E-mail
Richard Sustich (Chair)
City of Chicago, Metropolitan Wa-
ter Reclamation District of Greater
Chicago
111 East Erie Street
Chicago, IL 60611
P-312-751-3030
F-312-894-1180
Rich-
ard.sustich@mwrdgc.dst.il.us
Richard DeSanti
Mobil Corporation
3225 Gallows Road
2D2106
Fairfax, VA 22307
P - 703-846-5867
F - 703-846-5872
Rich-
ard Desanti@email.mobil.com
Gordon Arbuckle
Patton Boggs, LLP
Attorneys At Law
2550 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
P - 202-457-6090
F-202-457-6315 Gar-
buckle@pattonboggs.com
Robert Barkanic
State of PA, Department of Envi-
ronmental Protection, Office of
Pollution Prevention and Compli-
ance Assistance
PO Box 2063
400 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063
P-717-783-0540
F-717-783-0546
barkanic.robert@dep.state.pa.us
Sue M. Briggum
Waste Management
601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
North Building, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20004
P-202-639-1219
F - 202-628-0400
sbriggum@wm.com
25
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Daniel V. Cardenas
City of San Antonio
114 West Commerce Street, 6th
Floor
San Antonio, TX 78205
OR
PO Box 839966
San Antonio, TX 78283-3966
P-210-207-8021
F-210-207-4406
Sanedrac@aol.com
Pamela Christenson
Wl Small Business Assistance
Program
PO Box 7970
Madison, Wl 53707
or
201 West Washington Avenue
BDAC
Madison, Wl 53703
P - 608-267-9214
F - 608-267-0436
pchristen-
son@commerce.state.wi.us
Diana Eichfeld
Environmental Compliance Serv-
ices
520 Eagleview Blvd.
PO Box 636
Exton, PA 19341
P-610-458-0570
or
800-327-1414X2615
F-610-458-8667
EichfelD@ecsinc.com
Terri Goldberg
Northeast Waste Management
Officials' Association
129 Portland St., Suite 602
Boston, MA 02114-2014
P-617-367-8558, ext.302
F-617-367-0449
tgoldberg@newmoa.org
Phil Huber
Office of Deputy Assistance Sec-
retary of the Army for Environ-
mental Safety and Occupational
Health
110 Army Pentagon
Room 2D566
Washington, DC 20310-0110
P- 703-614-9555
F- 703-614-5442
huberip@hqda.army.mil
Gary Hunt
State of NC, Division of Pollution
Prevention and Environmental
Assistance
1639 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1639
P-919-715-6508
F-919-715-6794
gary hunt@p2pays.org
26
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Rick Koelsch
Department of Biological Systems
Engineering, University of Ne-
braska
213 L.W. Hall
Lincoln, NE 68583-0726
P - 402-472-4051
F - 402-472-6338
rkoelsch1@unl.edu
Monty Matlock
Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma
(DECS)
P.O. Box 470 (Corner of Beck Dr.
and Morris Rd.)
Pawnee, OK 74058
P-918-762-3655
mmatl7661@aol.com
Dave Ouimette
State of Colorado, Department of
Public Health and Environment
4300 Cherry Creek Drive South
Denver, CO 80246-1530
P-303-692-3178
F - 303-782-0278
David.Ouimette@state.co.us
Richard Person
Solid Waste & Recycling Pro-
grams
City of St. Paul
25 W. 4th Street, #600
St. Paul, MN 55102
P-651-266-6122
F-651-298-4559
rick.person@ci.stpaul.mn.us
Debra Ramirez
Citizens Against Contamination
1313 6th Avenue
Lake Charles, LA 70601
P- 337-433-0449
debraramirez777@hotmail.com
Lenny Siegel
Center for Public Environmental
Oversight
222B View Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
P-650-961-8918 or
650-969-1545
F-650-968-1126
lsieqel@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
Madeline Sten
Pacific Northwest Pollution Pre-
vention Resource Center
513 W First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98119-3925
P - 206-352-2050
F - (no fax yet)
msten@pprc.org
27
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Tom Van Arsdall
Richard Wasserstrom
John Whitescarver
Dorothy Wyatt
Alternates:
Charles Atherton
(Alternate for Debra
Ramirez)
Betty Barton (Alternate
for Gordon Arbuckle)
Gordon Hannah (Alter-
nate for John Whites-
carver)
National Council of Farmer Coop-
eratives
American Forest and Paper Asso-
ciation
National Stormwater Center
Consultant
Patton & Boggs, LP
Director, Center for Environmental
Compliance, Inc.
50 F. Street, NW
Suite 900
Washington, DC 20001
1111 1 9th Street, NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
7000 SE Federal Hwy
Suite 205
Stuart, FL 34997
7925 Inverness Ridge Road
Potomac, MD 20854
1660 Lincoln Street
Suite 1975
Denver, CO 80264
7000 SE Federal Hwy.
Suite 205
Stuart, FL 34997
P - 202-879-0821
F - 202-626-8722
tvanarsd@ncfc.orq
P - 202-463-2582
F - 202-463-2052
rich wasserstrom@afandDa.orq
P- 561 -288-6852
F- 56 1-288-99 14
stormwater@aol.com
P- 301 -299-2744
wvattdk@msn.com
P- 337-625-761 3
P -303-830-1 776
F - 303-894-9239
Bbarton@pattonboqqs.com
P- 561 -288-6852
F- 561-288-9914
stormwater@aol.com
28
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Blair Henry
(Alternate/replacement
for Madeline Sten)
Pacific Northwest Pollution Pre-
vention Resource Center
513 W First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98119-3925
P - 206-352-2050
F - (no fax yet)
bhenry@pprc.org
Sharon M. Johnson
(Alternate for
Gary Hunt)
NC Division of Pollution Preven-
tion and Environmental Assis-
tance
1639 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1639
P-919-715-6509
F-919-715-6794
sharon.m.iohnson@ncmail.net
Lee Merrell
(Alternate for Phil Huber)
Chief of Compliance
Commander US Army Environ-
mental Center
Attention: SFIM-AEC-EQC
5179HodleyRoad
Aberdeen, MD 21010-5401
P-410-436-7069
F-410-436-1675
lee.merrell@ace.army.mil
Rosemary O'Brien (Al-
ternate for
Tom Van Arsdall)
CF Industries
1401 Eye Street, NW
Suite 340
Washington, DC 20005
P-202-371-9279
F-202-371-9169
Jesus Peralta
(Alternate for
Tom Van Arsdall)
CF Industries
1401 Eye Street, NW
Suite 340
Washington, DC 20005
P-202-371-9279
F-202-371-9169
iperalta@cfindustries.com
Loren Sweatt
(Alternate for
Diana Eichfeld)
The Associated General Contrac-
tors of America
333 John Carlyle Street
Suite 200
Alexandria, VA 22314
P-703-548-3118
F-703-548-3119
sweattl@agc.org
29
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Interested Par-
ties:
Jamie Conrad
American Chemistry Council
(Formerly: Chemical Manufac-
turer's Association)
1300 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22209
P-703-741-5166
F-703-741-6094
J3;
mie conrad@americanchemistr
y.com
Marci Kinter
Screen Printing and Graphic
Imaging Association
10015 Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22031
P-703-359-1313
F-703-273-2870
marcik@sgia.org
Subroto Mitro
U.S Navy
Building 212
901 M Street, SE
Washington, DC 20374
P - 202-685-3297
F-202-433-7018
smitro@efaches.navfac.navv.mil
Charlotte Read
Save the Dunes Council
444 Barker Road
Michigan City, In 46360
P-219-879-3937
F-219-872-4875
char@savedunes.org
30
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Attachment 1
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
MAY 1,2001
Mr. Richard C. Sustich
Co-Chair, Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
111 East Erie Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Mr. Richard Desanti
Co-Chair, Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee Mobil Business Resources Corporation
3225 Gallows Road 2D2106
Fairfax, VA 22037
Dear Messrs. Sustich and Desanti.
On August 18, 2000, the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Tech-
nology (NACEPT) provided the EPA Administrator with a series of recommendations on how to
improve certain aspects of the Agency's compliance assistance program. These recommenda-
tions, which were developed by the NACEPT Compliance Assistance Advisory Committee
(CAAC), have been very helpful to the agency and we especially appreciate the thought and ef-
fort that went into developing them. At the January 2001 CAAC meeting, Bruce Weddle pro-
vided a brief update of what we have been doing in response to the recommendations. At this
point, I thought it would be helpful to provide you and the committee with a more complete re-
sponse to each of your major recommendations.
1. Institutionalize the Compliance Assistance Activity Plan (the Plan) within all EPA program
offices and regions..
A number of steps have been taken to improve coordination within the Agency, thereby
improving the quality and comprehensiveness of the Plan's inventory. We also have been work-
ing to strengthen the Plan's use as a strategic planning tool. To help ensure the accuracy of the
final FY 2001 (FY 01) Plan, in December 2000, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance As-
surance (OECA) formally requested all relevant EPA headquarters and regional offices to update
and revise their compliance assistance project inventories following receipt of the Agency's final
FYOI appropriations. This resulted in a net increase of 69 projects and improved data quality on
the already-identified projects. To further improve the quality of future Plans, EPA's March
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2001 National Compliance Assistance Providers Forum hosted separate breakout sessions for
each major headquarters media program office and each regional office in order to solicit
stakeholder feedback on FY 2002 (FY 02) Agency priorities. In addition, the schedule for de-
velopment of the FY 02 Plan has been adjusted so that it is now more closely aligned with the
Agency's FY 02 planning and budgeting process. OECA also has expanded the Agency work-
group that develops the Plan to increase participation by all program offices.
EPA has already realized some internal benefits of the Plan development process since it
has helped Agency offices and regions avoid duplication of efforts and identified numerous op-
portunities for collaboration both within and outside the Agency. As the Plan becomes a more
established part of the annual planning cycle, we expect to see more efficient use of compliance
assistance resources as it becomes institutionalized across the entire Agency.
2. Make the Plan user friendly and easy to access.
The Agency has made several enhancements to the final FY 01 Compliance Assistance
Activity Plan since the release of the draft plan in March 2000. The final Plan includes a sum-
mary of the Agency's FY 01 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) priorities not only for OECA
but also for each of the major EPA programs as well (e.g., air, water, waste, etc.). It also provides
an easy-to- read table displaying the inventory of compliance assistance activities by industry
sector with relevant project-specific information, including a point-of-contact for each. The
FYO I Plan project inventory is available electronically on the National Compliance Assistance
Clearinghouse located at www.epa.gov/clearinghouse and is searchable by program and regional
office. For the FY02 Plan and all future Plans, the projects will also be searchable by geographic
area, environmental media, sector and other key factors. In addition, the public can request hard
copies of the FYO I Plan through the National Center for Environmental Publications and Infor-
mation (NCEPI) at 1-800-990-9918. Finally, a complete electronic copy of the Plan will be
available on the EPA OECA web site at www.epa.gov/oeca.
3. Develop a long range plan to sustain the Quality of materials in the Clearinghouse.
EPA is committed to providing a comprehensive collection of compliance assistance mate-
rial and contact information through the Clearinghouse. EPA will employ tools to: ensure that
links within the Clearinghouse are current; collect new information; and receive feedback from
clients on the quality of the material included in the Clearinghouse. Currently, EPA uses an elec-
tronic program to periodically screen the links in the Clearinghouse database to ensure that all
links are current. When broken links are detected by this program, EPA will identify the new
URL and update the Clearinghouse database. The "Rate a Link", "Comment on a Link", and
"Add a Link" features provide EPA user feedback that will help keep the content fresh and
useful.
EPA is currently working with its contractor to develop software to electronically collect
new material and update the Clearinghouse database. This software, if proven successful, will
substantially reduce the cost to expand the Clearinghouse database to include links to documents
and sites outside of EPA. EPA is also working internally to automate the collection of new EPA
links. Once these programs are in place, EPA will be able to efficiently expand the Clearing-
house database. In addition, the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) has re-
ceived funding to help EPA expand the Clearinghouse content.
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4._ Elicit early feedback from stakeholders in the development of future Plans.
In response to this recommendation, the Agency revised the schedule for developing the
FY 02 Plan and redesigned its outreach efforts in order to receive stakeholder input prior to pre-
paring future draft Plans. EPA's outreach has included using the National Compliance Assis-
tance Providers Forum, held in March 2001, as a means to receive feedback on proposed compli-
ance assistance activities and priorities prior to drafting the FY 02 Plan. In addition, EPA re-
gional offices and certain program offices have been meeting with compliance assistance provid-
ers and other stakeholders to receive feedback on compliance assistance needs. The Agency is
committed to engaging stakeholders in the development of all future Plans and will continue to
refine and expand its outreach efforts.
5. Develop guidance and tools which go beyond the current "economically significant" criteria
used for selecting areas for compliance tools development.
In addition to the compliance guides developed as new rules are promulgated, other com-
pliance assistance tools are developed as part of integrated strategies to address sector-specific
problems. Over the past few years, EPA has selected sectors for compliance assistance based on
evidence of environmental compliance problems, with a focus on small to medium-size entities.
The ten national Compliance Assistance Centers are good examples of tools which emphasize
compliance assistance approaches. By eliciting stakeholder input earlier in the planning process,
the Agency will be better able to identify areas where compliance assistance is most needed.
The Agency will continue its commitment to preparing compliance assistance guides for eco-
nomically significant rules and rules impacted by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act. However, the Agency recognizes that the need for compliance assistance extends
beyond those criteria. We will continue to work closely with the Agency's media program of-
fices and encourage them to develop compliance assistance tools for other important rules and
national program priorities.
OECA has also been working with the CAAC Tools Workgroup which has been consid-
ering models that will help the Agency and other compliance assistance providers to develop and
deliver tools that are more based on customer needs. We look forward to the CAAC's recom-
mendations, as we work to better direct our compliance assistance efforts.
6. Provide specific guidance to ensure that enforcement and compliance assistance are com-
plementary (not competing) functions.
Over the past several years, EPA and the states have begun to use integrated strategies to
improve compliance with environmental requirements. For its FY 02-03 planning cycle, OECA
is developing integrated strategies for all appropriate Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) priori-
ties. OECA also is developing a set of principles to guide the development of these integrated
compliance assurance strategies to ensure they consider the appropriate use of compliance assis-
tance, compliance incentives, compliance monitoring and enforcement to address compliance
problems. As you are aware, integrated strategies were a substantive issue discussed at the
Compliance Assistance Forum and included a presentation on the CAAC's draft integration
model. We look forward to receiving the CAAC workgroup's recommendations related to inte-
gration.
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7. Revisit the definition of compliance assistance and determine whether a broader definition
would help institutionalize compliance assistance across the Agency.
As you requested, we did examine the definition of compliance assistance that the
Agency has been using to develop its Compliance Assistance Activity Plan and other tools. We
recognize that pollution prevention and other innovative approaches to environmental manage-
ment can help improve compliance and environmental performance. The use of such approaches
remains an important component of the environmental assistance that EPA provides to the regu-
lated community. Our definition allows for these approaches to be considered as compliance
assistance as long as they have a regulatory compliance objective associated with them. This
definition also is now being used by EPA's Comptroller to track and account for the use of all
Agency compliance assistance resources for annual reporting to Congress. We have made the
decision to continue using this definition following internal discussions across the agency and
with Congressional staff as well. The following is the full text of the Agency's definition of
compliance assistance:
" Compliance Assistance includes activities, tools or technical assistance which provide clear and consis-
tent information for 1) helping the regulated community understand and meet its obligations under envi-
ronmental regulations,- or 2) compliance assistance providers to aid the regulated community in comply-
ing with environmental regulations. Compliance assistance may also help the regulated community
find cost-effective ways to comply with regulations an/or go "beyond compliance" through the
use of pollution prevention, environmental management practices and innovative technologies,
thus improving environmental performance. At least one objective of the activity or project must
be related to achieving or advancing regulatory compliance. "
The CAAC's recommendations have challenged and encouraged us to improve the
Agency's compliance assistance program. While we have done much in response, there remains
more that we can accomplish. Your continued assistance will greatly improve our efforts. We
have enjoyed working together with the CAAC to address these challenges, and look forward to
receiving further input and recommendations from you in the future.
Sincerely,
Michael M. Stahl, Director
Office of Compliance
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Attachment 2
Strategic and Tactical Coordination of Environmental Assistance
ApproachesA Conceptual Model
Environmental regulators and compliance assistance providers have developed a vari-
ety of approaches for eliciting improved environmental performance from regulated enti-
ties. These approaches range from traditional, command-and-control regulations
backed by enforcement action and penalties, to voluntary technical assistance pro-
grams, to market-based performance incentives. Experience suggests that no single
approach is appropriate for the variety of environmental issues being addressed at the
national, regional, state and local levels. The critical challenge facing regulators and
compliance assistance providers is determining the most efficient and effective combi-
nation of these approaches to achieve the desired environmental performance im-
provement.
Strategic Coordination
At the national, regional, and often state (wholesale) levels, assistance approaches are
directed toward commercial or industrial sectors, or aggregate communities facing one
or more common environmental issues. These may include issues such as new media
or multi-media regulations that impact a target sector (e.g., new effluent limitations and
guidelines) or common issues that impact multiple sectors (e.g., ozone non-attainment
areas).
At the strategic level, decision makers need to assess the noncompliance characteris-
tics of the entire target population when determining the appropriate assistance ap-
proach.
The following figure depicts a decision matrix for strategic coordination of traditional en-
forcement, compliance assistance and market-based incentives. The three axes in the
matrix are described below.
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Widespread
High
Low
Is
>lated
SNC
Compliance
Optimal
Performance
Environmental Performance
X = Environmental Performance
The range for this element is "significant noncompliance" through "compli-
ance" to "optimal performance."
Y = Environmental Impact
The range for this element is "low" to "high."
Z = Prevalence
The range for this element is "isolated" to "widespread" within the target
sector or community.
It is presumed that this element provides insight into the need for, and ef-
fectiveness, of wholesale compliance assistance. Where noncompliance
is isolated, it is presumed that the regulatory requirement is easily under-
stood and relatively easy to comply with, or the regulated community has
access to compliance assistance sufficient to effectively respond to the
regulatory requirement. Conversely, widespread noncompliance is pre-
sumed to be indicative of the need for wholesale compliance assistance,
due either to the complexity of the regulation and/or the difficulty of achiev-
ing compliance.
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Six examples of strategic decision-making using this type of matrix are presented be-
low.
1. Significant noncompliance, high environmental impact, isolated occurrence
This scenario suggests that wholesale compliance assistance is already
effective at reaching the majority of the regulated community. Additional
efforts at compliance assistance will not substantially improve the situa-
tion, and the high environmental impact indicates that traditional enforce-
ment action against non-compliers is warranted.
2. Significant noncompliance, low environmental impact, isolated occurrence
This scenario suggests that wholesale compliance assistance is already
effective at reaching a majority of the regulated community. Low environ-
mental impact would allow opportunity for retail compliance assistance ac-
tivities aimed at the isolated non-compliers, as a precursor or in coordina-
tion with formal enforcement action.
3. Significant noncompliance, high environmental impact, widespread occurrence
This scenario suggests that wholesale and retail compliance assistance
have been ineffective at reaching a majority of the regulated community.
High environmental impact indicates that quick, effective enforcement ac-
tion is also warranted. This situation would best be addressed through
formal enforcement action coordinated with follow-up compliance assis-
tance.
4. Significant to occasional noncompliance, low environmental impact, widespread
occurrence
This scenario suggests that wholesale and retail compliance assistance
have not been effective at reaching a majority of the regulated community.
Low environmental impact would allow opportunity for wholesale and retail
compliance assistance efforts, with coordinated follow-up enforcement.
5. Compliance or beyond-compliance, high environmental impact (not represented
on diagram)
This scenario suggests that the existing regulation is inadequate to
achieve the necessary level of environmental protection, and should be
revisited.
6. Compliance or beyond-compliance, low environmental impact (not represented
on diagram)
This scenario represents the end-point of the traditional regulatory ap-
proach, in which the majority of the regulated community is in compliance
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and the environment is protected. Traditional command-and-control ap-
proaches cease to be a driver for improved environmental performance, and
further gains in environmental performance can only be achieved through
voluntary participation programs or market-based incentives.
Tactical Coordination
At the tactical (retail) level, decision makers can use a similar matrix approach to
assess the compliance assistance needs of an individual regulated entity. Here,
it is the noncompliance characteristics of the individual entity that are evaluated,
rather than the characteristics of the larger regulated community.
The following figure depicts a decision matrix for tactical decisions at the retail level.
The three axes in the matrix are described below.
Preventable
I ic idental
High
Low
SNC
Compliance
Environmental Performance
Optimal
Performance
X = Environmental Performance
The range for this element is "significant noncompliance" through "compli-
ance" to "optimal performance."
Y = Environmental Impact
The range for this element is "low" to "high."
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Z = Root Cause
The range for this element is "incidental" to "preventable."
It is presumed that this element provides insight into the degree to which
the individual entity can control the circumstances contributing to noncom-
pliance, and therefore both the entity's culpability and the likely effective-
ness of compliance assistance. Where the entity has adequate prevention
measures in place, it is presumed that the noncompliance is incidental,
while noncompliance events resulting from a lack of adequate prevention
measures should be considered preventable.
Several examples of decision-making at the retail level are discussed below.
1. Significant noncompliance, high environmental impact, preventable
This scenario suggests that the regulated entity is highly culpable formal
enforcement action is warranted.
2. Significant noncompliance, high environmental impact, incidental
This scenario suggests that the regulated entity may not have received
adequate compliance assistance or may lack adequate technical capacity
to have prevented the noncompliance. High environmental impact indi-
cates that immediate action is warranted and enforcement action may be
warranted. This situation would best be addressed through prompt com-
pliance assistance coordinated with follow-up enforcement action if non-
compliance is not promptly mitigated.
3. Occasional noncompliance, low environmental impact, incidental
This scenario suggests that the regulated entity is willing to comply with its
obligations but may lack adequate technical capacity. Low environmental
impact would allow opportunity for compliance assistance aimed at the
specific noncompliance issue, as a precursor to enforcement action.
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