State Innovation Grant Program: New York
New York State Small Business Sectors ERP Implementation Pilot Project
(2007 Competition)
ie innovation urani rrogram 10 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. Asummary of the awards by year
appears in the table below.
State Innovation Grant Program Statistics, 2002-2007
Competition Proposals Proposals Total Program
Year Submitted Selected Funding ($)
2002/2003
$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
ittD://www.eDa.aov/innovation/statear
Project Background:
The New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (NYSDEC) has the primary
responsibility for implementing and enforcing
environmental regulatory programs within the state.
Historically, due to resource limitations, NYSDEC has
had difficulty ensuring the environmental compliance
of various small business sectors with large numbers
of small pollution sources. Specifically, auto body
shops and printers are two sectors with numerous
facilities for which NYSDEC has had difficulty
providing adequate regulatory oversight. Both
printers and auto body shops handle volatile
solvents and generate hazardous wastes on a
regular basis. The Environmental Results Program
(ERP) approach has been demonstrated by several
states to be effective in bringing a greater number of
regulated facilities into regulatory compliance in a
more timely and cost-effective manner than
conventional compliance monitoring efforts.
In addition, state legislation, Article 28 of the
Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), has given
NYSDEC broader authority to promote pollution
prevention as the preferred means for achieving
environmental goals including reducing energy and
resource consumption. While maintaining and
continuing to enhance important existing regulatory
programs, this law requires the development of
incentives to foster innovation and adoption of the
safest, most sustainable production methods, work
practices, products and technologies.
NYSDEC received a 2007 US EPA State Innovation
Grant to develop and implement an ERP modeled
after the general ERP framework developed by the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection and demonstrated by other states. ERP
combines compliance assistance, self-certification,
NCE
NATIONAL CENTER FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION
-------
and statistically-based agency auditing to improve
environmental performance within a targeted sector.
For this project, NYSDEC has partnered with four other
New York State agencies to assist in its development
and implementation, and to provide sector-specific
outreach and technical assistance regarding pollution
prevention and energy efficiency practices. These
agencies are:
• New York State Department of Economic
Development (NYSDED)
• New York State Environmental Facilities
Corporation (NYSEFC)
• New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority (NYSERDA)
• New York State Office of Science, Technology
and Academic Research (NYSTAR).
Project Description
The NYSDEC ERP will be a multi-media mandatory
program and will initially focus on the auto body and
printing sectors. The project will then be expanded to
include an additional small business sector that will be
determined by NYSDEC and its project partner
agencies. The project will be completed in three
overlapping phases. Phase 1 and 2 will consist of
developing and implementing pilot ERPs for auto body
shops and printers, both exclusively in NYSDEC
Regions 4 and 9. During Phase 3, NYSDEC will begin
implementing the ERPs for these sectors in the
remaining seven NYSDEC Regions. Phase 3 will also
initiate the development of an ERP for the additional
small business sector.
NYSDEC's goals of this project are to: 1) use ERP
tools to help increase compliance and promote
pollution prevention and energy efficiency concepts
through assistance and outreach to these three
business sectors as a model for future expansion to
the state's various small business sectors and 2)
provide measurable improvement in the environmental
performance and pollution prevention and energy
efficiency practices of these three business sectors in
a more timely and cost effective manner than traditional
compliance assistance and monitoring efforts.
The project began with the award of the grant on
October 1, 2007 and will take four years to complete.
Connection to EPA's Goals:
This project has a direct link to Goals 1, 3 and 5 of the
EPA Strategic Plan. Specifically, this project seeks to
improve environmental performance through pollution
prevention and innovation, and achieve measurably
improved environmental performance through sector-
based approaches, performance-based programs,
and assistance to small business (Goal 5). It also
seeks to reduce risks from toxic air pollutants
(Objective 1.1) by reducing emissions of volatile
organic compounds as well as reducing releases to
the environment by managing hazardous wastes
properly (Objective 3.1).
-------
Project Contacts:
For more specific information on the
New York State Innovation Grant,
please contact one of the individuals
below:
Paul Counterman,
RE., Director, Bureau of Hazardous Waste Regulation
NYSDEC, 625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-7251
(518)402-8612 FAX:(518)402-9024
prcounte@gw.dec.state.ny.us
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
Jennifer Thatcher
US EPA Region 2
290 Broadway
New York, NY 10007-1866
(212) 637-3593 FAX:
thatcher.jennifer@epa.gov
Beth Termini
National Center for Environmental Innovation
US EPA Region 1
1 Congress Street
Boston, MA02114
617.918.1662
termini.beth@epa.gov
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Policy,
Economics and Innovation
(1807T)
May 2008
EPA-100-F-08-040
------- |