JvEPA   State   Innovation  Grant  Program:    Massachusetts
                   Implementing a States Common Measures Project for Improving ERP
                   Compliance Strategies (2005 Competition)
In 2002 EPA introduced the State Innovation Grant Program to support
efforts led by state environmental agencies to test innovative approaches for
achieving better environmental results and improved efficiency in permitting
programs. Between 2002 and 2007, the State Innovation Grant program
competition awarded over six million dollars to support 35 state projects that
test permitting innovation for a variety of regulated entities including several
small business sectors. A summary of the awards by year appears in the
table below.
   State Innovation Grant Program Statistics, 2002-2007
I Competition   Proposals  Proposals
    Year      Submitted   Selected
  2002/2003  I     9Q     i    fi
Total Program
 Funding ($)
   $618,000
                                       $1.425 Million
                                       $1.479 Million
 Cumulative
                                       $1.243 Million
                                       $1.611 Million
                                       $6.376 Million
"Innovation in Permitting" has been the theme of the State Innovation Grant
competition since its inception. In the last three competition cycles states
received awards for projects in the following three categories:
•  The Environmental Results Program (ERP) is an innovative
  approach to improving environmental performance based on a system
  of the interlocking tools of compliance assistance, self-certification
  (sometimes, where permissible, in lieu of permitting), and
  statistically-based measurement to gauge the performance of an entire
  business sector. The program utilizes a multimedia approach to
  encourage small sources to achieve environmental compliance and
  pollution prevention. (See: http://www.epa.gov/permits/erp/)
•  Environmental Management System (EMS) is a system involving a
  continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing and improving the
  processes and actions that an organization undertakes to meet its
  business and environmental goals. EMSs provide organizations of all
  types with a structured system and approach for managing environmental
  and regulatory responsibilities to improve overall environmental
  performance and stewardship. (See: www.epa.gov/ems/info/index.htm)
•  Performance Track is a partnership that recognizes top
  environmental performance among participating US facilities of all types,
  sizes, and complexity, both public and private.
  (See: http://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/)
NCEI has provided awards also for projects testing watershed-based
permitting, and for permit process streamlining in past competitions. For
more information on the history of the programs, including information on
solicitations, state proposals, and project awards, please see the EPA State
     tion Grants website at httD://www.eDa.aov/innovation/state
Project Background:

 A number of states are testing a variety of innovative
 approaches to ensure environmental compliance, including
 various adaptations of the Environmental Results Program
 (ERP) initially implemented by Massachusetts for the dry
 cleaning and printing  sectors. These initiatives involve
 experimenting with combinations of regulatory and non-
 regulatory tools to improve compliance and environmental
 performance within  specific business sectors.  Although
 state agencies currently collect information about business
 sector activities and  their general performance, complete
 information is rarely available to assess group performance.
 Adopting a common  approach  to  measuring  the
 environmental performance of specific business sectors
 can  enable states to  compare the effectiveness and
 efficiency of differing state strategies for improving
 compliance and environmental performance for a given
 sector or group of facilities.

Project Description

 The Massachusetts Department  of Environmental
 Protection  (MA-DEP), along with its partners,  the
 Northeast Waste Management Officials  Association
 (NEWMOA) and State environmental agencies from
 California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire,
 New York, New jersey, Rhode Island,  and Vermont, is
 working to identify reliable, accurate, and common
 environmental performance measures. The  project is
 intended to promote:
 •  the broad use of ERP-type indicator performance
    measurement to inform decisions  about
    environmental program priorities and resource
    allocation;
 •  the use of ERP-type measurement within and across
    state programs to help inform the most effective and
    efficient environmental performance improvement
    strategies for the regulated community.
 This project, funded by a US EPA State Innovation Grant,
 will provide guidance for all states in the application of
 performance measures for existing and new environmental
 programs. The  goals of the project  are to  develop a
 common set of ERP-hke  performance metrics  that
                                                NCEI
                                                NATIONAL  CENTER FOR
                                                ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION

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 participating states  can use to evaluate the compliance/
 performance of regulated facilities, and then to use those
 metrics to compare  the  effectiveness  of different
 approaches that states are using to improve the compliance
 of those facilities. For each  sector selected, the states will
 quantify environmental performance based on the
 indicators selected. An environmental performance index
 score will  be  established and states will measure sector
 environmental performance and, potentially, changes within
 the sector over time. The compliance assurance  and
 performance  enhancement strategies employed in the
 project states  will be reported and compared to the index
 scores.  The  project will assess the  effectiveness  and
 efficiency of different state compliance assurance strategies
 within the same sector.

 Project goals:
 • Improve the ability of state environmental agencies to
   develop, implement, and analyzeinnovative
   environmental performance measures forvanous
   business sectors.
 • Improve the ability of state environmental agencies to
   develop and implement innovative compliance strategies,
   including ERR
 • Develop and test a common core set of
   performance measures for business sectors on a
   multi-state basis.
 • Promote the implementation of innovative compliance
   strategies, including ERP, in the states in the Northeast
   that have not yet begun these initiatives.
 • Develop a  comparative assessment of the
   environmental outcome data that is  collected from the
   states using the core performance measures for at least
   one business sector and analyze and present the results.
 The project will also enable participating states to better
 focus their limited  resources on specific problem areas
 and to use those strategies that achieve the greatest
 demonstrated environmental results improvements for the
 future.
 Project start  date is May 22, 2006, and is planned for
 completion in May, 2009.
 For more information on the Massachusetts State
 Innovation Grant, please  visit the  Northeast Waste
 Management  Officials'   Association  at:  http://
 wwwnewmoa.org/hazardouswaste/measures
              Connection to EPA's Goals
                This States Common Measure Project meets EPA's Strategic
                Goal (Goal 5) by supporting the development of a multi-
                state  approach to implementing and  analyzing strategies
                that  effectively  combine multi-media compliance
                improvement and pollution prevention on a sector basis.


                Project Contacts:

                Steven A. DeGabriele
                Director, Business Compliance Division,
                Bureau of Waste Prevention,
                8th Floor, One Winter St.
                Boston, MA 02108
                (617) 556-1120, FAX (617) 556-1063
                steveii.degabriele@state.ma.us

                Marge Miranda
                US Environmental Protection Agency — Region 1
                1 Congress Street, Suite 1100
                Boston, MA 02114
                (617)918-1825
                miranda.marge@epa.gov

                Scott  Bowles
                US Environmental Protection Agency
                Washington, DC 20460; MC (1807T)
                (202) 566-2208; FAX (202) 566-2220
                bowles.scott@epa.gov
                Program Contact:
                Sherri Walker
                State Innovation Grant Program
                U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                Washington, DC 20460 (MC1807T)
                (202)-566-2186; FAX (202) 566-2220
                walker.sherri@epa.gov
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Policy,
Economics and Innovation
(1807T)
    October 2007
EPA-100-F-07-037

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