State Innovation Grant  Program: Washington
                       Washington State's Lean and Green Assistance Program (2009 Competition)
The  State  Innovation Grant  Progran
  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  2009, the State Innovation
  Grant program competition awarded over eight million dollars to
  support 40 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, 2002-2009
I  Competition  Proposals  Proposals
      Year      Submitted   Selected
   2002/2003        9Q         fi
   Cumulative
Total Program
 Funding ($)
                                          $618,000
                                         $1.526 Million
                                         $1.528 Million
                                         $1.355 Million
                                         $1.644 Million
                                           $830,000
                                          $590,000
                                         $8.091 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)
 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 Innovation Grants website at http://
Project Background:
 The Washington State Department of Ecology
 (Ecology) is proposing a lean manufacturing and
 environmental assistance demonstration program.
 The program's goal is to improve environmental and
 operational performance of industrial and commercial
 entities.

 Ecology, Washington Manufacturing Services (WMS)
 and other partners conducted three Lean and
 Environmental Pilot Projects in 2007-2008 that saved
 businesses over $1.5 million, reduced pollution by over
 800,000 pounds, and avoided two major permits.  The
 Pilots also confirmed EPA's research findings that
 environmental considerations and tools can be
 effectively integrated into lean methods  to reduce
 wastes, improve operational efficiency, and support
 continual improvement efforts at facilities. Ecology
 and WMS jointly delivered lean and green services to
 three manufacturing facilities; lean and environment
 training,  value stream mapping events, and several
 kaizen events to implement process changes and
 measure results.

 The Lean and Green Assistance Program will use the
 lessons learned from the initial pilot projects, other
 recent lean and green projects, and EPA's Lean
 Toolkits to support the "next generation" of
 demonstration projects. These streamlined and
 strategic lean and green projects that will allow
 Ecology and its partners to develop a framework for
 self-sustaining, efficient, and  effective lean and
 environmental technical assistance program
 infrastructure. It is anticipated that these
 demonstration projects and the associated program
 infrastructure will be more readily scalable and
 transferable than were the initial pilot projects.
                                                 NCEI
                                                 NATIONAL CENTER  FOR
                                                 ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION

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Project  Description
 This request for federal funding is to develop and
 implement a lean manufacturing and environmental
 technical assistance program to improve environmental
 and operational performance for industrial and
 commercial entities. The goal is to build on already
 successful Lean and Environment Pilot Projects and
 create an on-going, self-sustaining "Lean and Green"
 service that produces measurable environmental and
 business-operational results. Integrated lean and
 environmental technical assistance offers a compelling
 way to deliver significant, sustainable environmental
 results, improve operational efficiency, and foster a
 continual improvement culture focused on eliminating
 waste. Activities will include conducting lean and green
 program development; training, marketing and
 recruitment of facilities; testing and refining lean and
 environment integration approaches; integrated, site-
 specific lean and environmental service delivery; and
 measurement, documentation,  and dissemination of
 results.

 To accomplish project goals, programmatic and project-
 specific objectives have  been formulated. Programmatic
 objectives include improving the partnerships and quality
 and effectiveness of joint services and to recruit and
 complete at least 3-4 lean and green projects per year
 for three years.  Project-specific objectives are geared
 towards helping facilities identify and address their
 current and future environmental compliance and
 permitting requirements, and maximize operational and
 environmental benefits for the facilities and the public.

 Ecology estimates that the 9-12 lean and green projects
 with small to medium sized manufacturing facilities
 would result in the following total cost  and environmental
 savings:

   •   $1-2 million cost savings to businesses

   •   250,000-500,000 pounds of hazardous
       substances used

   •   100,000-200,000 pounds of hazardous waste

   •   200,000-400,000 gallons of water used
    •   200,000-400,000 pounds of air emissions

    •   4,000-8,000 tons greenhouse gases

    •   100-200 million cubic feet of natural gas

 For all completed lean and green projects, Ecology will
 measure and report the estimated and actual amount of
 financial savings, wastes, and pollution reduced.
 Baseline data will be collected before and during the
 current state value stream mapping event and at the
 start of lean implementation events. Ecology staff will
 work with lean facilitators and facility staff to analyze
 performance data at the end  of each kaizen event for
 the report-out presentation and the facility will complete
 a NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)
 survey one year after the end of the project.
Connection to EPA's Goals:
 The Lean and Green Assistance Program support EPA's
 Strategic Plan, including Goal 5: Compliance and
 Environmental Stewardship, with an emphasis on
 pollution prevention, sustainability and business
 assistance. Ecology's multi-media approach addresses
 all five goals included in EPA's Strategic Plan.  Multi-
 media aspects are incorporated into the Lean  and Green
 Assistance Program, including (i) using  lean and  green
 assistance to improve compliance and  multi-media
 environmental performance (ii) encouraging lean and
 green implementation as a path to reduce multi-media
 permitting and other regulatory requirements, and (iii)
 developing methods that encourage participant facilities
 to incorporate sustainability into their operations.

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 Project Contacts:

  For more specific information on the
  Washington State Innovation Grant,
  please contact one of the individuals
  below:

  Hugh O'Neill
  Lean and Green Project Supervisor
  P.O. Box 47775
  Olympia, Washington 98504-7775
  Phone: 360.407.6354 Fax 360.407.6305
  Email:  hugh.oneill@ecy.wa.gov

  Jack Boiler
  EPA Grant Project Officer
  US EPA Region 10
  Seattle, Washington 98101
  Phone: 216.553.2953
  Email:  Boller.Jack@epa.gov

  Dave De Marco
  NCEI Technical Liaison
  National Center for Environmental Innovation
  US EPA Region 10
  Seattle, Washington 98101
  Phone: 216.553.4978
  Email:  Dellarco.Dave@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)
 December 2009
EPA-100-F-09-053

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