ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ENVIRONMENTAL FINANCIAL ADVISORY BOARD STRATEGIC ACTION AGENDA FISCAL YEARS 2009-2010 BACKGROUND The nation has made huge investments in, and significant progress toward, controlling pollution discharges and restoring environmental quality. Much of the credit for this success is due to EPA's use of regulatory and enforcement tools, and to the transfer of significant resources from the federal government to state and local governments to help construct environmental infrastructures. Two trends challenge our ability to maintain and improve our standard of environmental quality. First, needs and expectations for environmental protection continue to grow. Second, federal deficits, tax reduction initiatives, and growing overall demands on state resources constrain traditional public sources of environmental funding. The result is an increasing tension between the costs of environmental protection and the resources available to meet those costs. To address these environmental and resource challenges in a sustainable manner, EPA will need to consider a full range of finance-related alternatives available. This effort will include traditional regulatory and enforcement tools and federal assistance programs. It will also require innovative projects and technologies, improved efficiencies, creative financing techniques, and leveraged public-private partnerships. The Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) and Environmental Finance Center (EFCN) Network look to be and integral part of this EPA effort. EFAB is chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to advise EPA on environmental finance issues, options proposals, and trends. EFAB seeks practical ways of lowering costs and increasing investments in public purpose environmental facilities and services. The EFC Network consists of nine university-based programs that deliver traditional and innovative financial outreach services to the regulated communities. EFAB is supported by EPA's Office of the Chief Financial Officer. The Chair of the Board is A. James Barnes, Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. EFAB's Designated Federal Official is A. Stanley Meiburg, Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 4 in Atlanta, Georgia. EFAB's plans and operation are aligned with the major environmental goals presented in EPA's strategic plan. ------- EPA GOALS AND EFAB ISSUES EFAB's work is organized in support of the five major goals in EPA's Strategic Plan 2003- 2008: • Clean Air and Global Climate Change: Protect and improve the air so it is healthy to breathe and risks to human health and the environment are reduced. Reduce green house gas intensity by enhancing partnerships with businesses and other sectors. • Clean and Safe Water: Ensure drinking water is safe. Restore and maintain oceans, watersheds, and their aquatic systems to protect human health, support economic and recreational activities, and provide healthy habitat for fish, plants, and wildlife. • Land Preservation and Restoration: Preserve and restore the land by using innovative waste management practices and cleaning up contaminated properties to reduce risks posed by releases of harmful substances. • Healthy Communities and Ecosystems: Protect, sustain, or restore the health of people, communities, and ecosystems using integrated and comprehensive approaches and partnerships. • Compliance and Environmental Stewardship: Improve environmental performance through compliance with environmental requirements, preventing pollution, and promoting environmental stewardship. Protect human health and the environment by encouraging innovation and provide incentives for governments, businesses, and the public that promote environmental stewardship. In its own strategic planning process, EFAB annually applies these thematic EPA goals in the context of the requirement in its charter to provide advice and recommendations on the following issues: • Reducing the costs of financing environmental facilities and discouraging polluting behavior; • Creating incentives to increase private investment in the provision of environmental services and removing or reducing constraints on private involvement imposed by current regulations; • Developing new and innovative environmental financing approaches and supporting and encouraging the use of effective existing approaches; • Identifying approaches specifically targeted to small community financing; • Assessing government strategies for implementing public-private partnerships, including privatization, operations and maintenance issues, and other alternative financing mechanisms; ------- • Improving government principles of accounting and disclosure standards and how they affect environmental programs; • Increasing the capacity of state and local governments to carry out their respective environmental programs under current Federal tax laws; • Increasing the total investment in environmental protection of public, and private environmental resources to help ease the environmental financing challenge facing our nations; and • Removing barriers and increasing opportunities for the U.S. financial services and environmental goods and services industries in other nations; Based on these goals and objectives and input from the Agency, EFAB develops its Strategic Action Agenda describing the workgroup structure and listing completed, ongoing, and new projects. Given the number, scope, and nature of the issues, workgroups take the lead in developing projects for consideration and approval by the Full Board. CURRENT EFAB WORKGROUPS SRF Investment Options: Chaired by George Butcher, ButcherMark Financial Advisors LLC, New York, NY Innovative Financing Tools: Co-Chaired by Michael Curley, The International Center for Environmental Finance, Towson, MD and Langdon Marsh, National Policy Consensus Center, Portland State University, Portland, OR Financial Assurance Mechanisms: Chaired by Mary Francoeur, Assured Guaranty Corporation, New York, NY Commercial Insurance: Co-Chair, Justin Wilson, Waller Lansden, Nashville, TN Cost Estimation: Co-Chair, Kelly Downard, Louisville Metro City Council, Louisville, KY Water Loss Reduction (Leaky Pipes): Chaired by Terry Agriss, TAgriss Advisory Services, New York, NY Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Chaired by Jim Tozzi, Multinational Business Services, Washington, DC ------- STATUS OF EFAB PROJECTS I On-Going Projects FY 2009 I 1. Innovative Use of Assessments and Special Districts in Air Pollution and Non- Point Water Pollution EPA Strategic Goals: Clean Air and Global Climate Change; Clean and Safe Water; and Healthy Communities & Ecosystems Primary Customer: Office of Water 2. Financial Assurance Mechanisms: Commercial Insurance EPA Strategic Goals: Land Preservation and Restoration and Compliance and Environmental Stewardship Primary Customers: Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 3. Financial Assurance Mechanisms: Cost Estimation EPA Strategic Goals: Land Preservation and Restoration and Compliance and Environmental Stewardship Primary Customers: Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 4. SRF Investment Options EPA Strategic Goal: Clean and Safe Water Primary Customer: Office of Water 5. Carbon Capture and Sequestration EPA Strategic Goals: Clean and Safe Water and Clean Air and Global Climate Change Primary Customers: Office of Water and Office of Air and Radiation 6. Water Loss Reduction EPA Strategic Goal: Clean and Safe Water Primary Customer: Office of Water ------- Completed Projects FY 2008 ^^^^^^^^^^m 1. Innovative Finance Programs for Air Pollution Reduction, November 2007 EPA Strategic Goal: Clean Air and Global Climate Change Primary Customer: Office of Air and Radiation 2. Environmental Management Systems and the Use of Corporate Environmental Information by the Financial Community, May 2008 EPA Strategic Goal: Cross-Cutting Strategy: Innovation Primary Customer: Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation 3. Public-Private Partnerships in Water and Wastewater Services, May 2008 EPA Strategic Goal: Clean and Safe Water Primary Customer: Office of Water 4. Relative Benefits of Direct and Leveraged Loans in State Revolving Funds (SRF) Programs, August 2008 EPA Strategic Goal: Clean and Safe Water Primary Customer: Office of Water 5. Public-Private Partnerships in Water and Wastewater Services: The Canadian Experience, August 2008 EPA Strategic Goal: Clean and Safe Water Primary Customer: Office of Water This Strategic Action Agenda is a flexible planning tool and it will be updated during the fiscal year as needed. All revisions will be shown on the Board's home page at: http://www.epa.gov/efmpage/efab. htm The spring meeting of the full board will he held March 16-17, 2009 in Washington, DC. The primary purpose of this meeting is to hear from informed speakers on environmental finance issues, proposed legislation, Agency priorities, and to discuss progress with current workgroup projects. The summer meeting of the full board will be held August 10-11, 2009 in San Francisco, CA. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss progress with current work projects and to develop an action to direct the Board's future ongoing and new activities. EFAB members also contribute their time to assisting other EPA initiatives, most notably the Environmental Finance Center (EFCN) Network. The EFC Directors serve as expert witnesses to the Board and provide key assistance to EFAB. The home page for the EFC Network is: http://www.epa.gov/efmpage/efc.htm. Your comments are important and welcome. Please call or e-mail Vanessa Bowie, Center for Environmental Finance at (202) 564-5186 or bowie.vanessa.bowie@epa.gov. ------- |