United States
                     Environmental Protection
                            Office of the
                            Administrator
EPA-100-F-00-006
February 2002
  Project XL:  Louisville and
Jefferson County
 Metropolitan  f
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WHAT IS
PROJECT XL?
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 SUMMARY OF
 THE PROJECT
SUPERIOR
ENVIRONMENTAL
PERFORMANCE
  FLEXIBILITY
 Project XL, which stands for "excellence and Leadership," is a national
 initiative that tests innovative ways of achieving better and more cost-
 effective public health and environmental protection.  The information and
 lessons learned from Project XL are being used to assist EPA in
 redesigning its current regulatory and policy-setting approaches through a
 collaborative process. Project XL encourages local public sector and
 community organizations to test new ideas that demonstrate community-
 designed and directed strategies for achieving greater environmental
 quality consistent with community economic goals. It also requires
 substantial involvement by stakeholders, i.e. the people and organizations
 affected by EPA's decisions. EPA  hopes that these projects will provide
 opportunities for everyone to think "outside the
 box" of our current system and to find solutions to obstacles that limit
 environmental performance.
 Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) have
 signed Phase 1 of a two-phase agreement with the EPA. The Agreement
 spells out MSD and EPA's intentions to achieve greater environmental
 gains by redesigning MSD's waste water pre-treatment program,
 developing performance measures, and collecting data to gauge
 progress. Using the new information, MSD plans to move toward a more
 holistic watershed protection strategy for the Chenoweth Run watershed,
 whose current level of pollution is not meeting the State's water quality
 standards for aquatic life. MSD will redesign the pretreatment program to
 reduce key pollutant loadings and identify areas where resources can be
 shifted to achieve greater environmental benefits.  The Phase 1 Project
 Agreement, EPA's 18th XL project, was signed on January 31,  2000.

 MSD plans to reduce the amount of pollutants being released into the
 watershed by using pollution prevention measures and changing
 pretreatment program requirements. These changes will allow local
 industry to save on operating costs and shift funds to nontraditional water
 quality controls, such as reducing erosion and storm water runoff,
 improving stream banks, and planting trees.

 Under the current proposal, MSD is not requesting regulatory flexibility
 from EPA.  MSD's Phase I Agreement describes a process to collect
 data, develop pretreatment performance measures, and to redesign and
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 STAKEHOLDER
 INVOLVEMENT
APPROACH TO
BE TESTED
CONTACTS
implement an improved pretreatment program . The proposal does outline
areas that may require regulatory flexibility once all data has been
collected. These areas include, but are not limited to: significant
noncompliance; monitoring and inspections; reporting; and the definition
of significant industrial user (SIU).

MSD held public meetings to request input on the project. These
meetings were publicized through local newspapers and/or personal
contacts. Comments on the project and EPA's response are on EPA's
website and will be attached to the Final Project Agreement.

Can MSD build a bridge between the pretreatment program and
watershed management programs and use new and existing mechanisms
to involve stakeholders and citizens in this project?
                    EPAHQ:        Ted Cochin       202-566-2181
                    State Contacts:        Allan Bryant        502-564-2225, x521
                    Project Sponsor:       Sharon Worley      502-540-6464
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