[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 11, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47929-47930]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23218]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5608-5]


Regulatory Reinvention (XL) Pilot Projects

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Solicitation of proposals for and request for comment on 
Project XL.

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SUMMARY: EPA is today augmenting its continuing solicitation of 
proposals for the Project XL (excellence and leadership) program with a 
specific request for proposals that feature innovative environmental 
technologies.

DATES: The period for submission of proposals began on May 23, 1995 
with the publication of a solicitation in the Federal Register at (60 
FR 27282) [FRL-5197-9]. It is an open solicitation with no set end 
date, and project proponents may submit more than one project proposal. 
The period for submission of comments on aspects of the program 
discussed here shall extend for at least sixty (60) days from the date 
of publication of this notice. However, as the issues discussed in this 
notice will not necessarily be resolved by these comments, the docket 
will remain open to additional comments until further notice.

ADDRESSES: Project proposals and all comments should be sent to: 
Regulatory Reinvention Pilot Projects, FRL-5197-9, Water Docket, Mail 
Code 4101, US EPA, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20460. The docket 
accepts no faxes. Project proponents should submit four (4) copies of 
all materials sent to the docket. In addition to providing general 
information about the proposed project, project proponents are 
encouraged to comment on the relationship of their proposals to the 
criteria for project selection described in the Federal Register on May 
23, 1995 [FRL-5197-9] and on November 1, 1995 [FRL-5322-9]. Proponents 
of projects are invited, but by no means required, to submit other 
useful materials in paper or other audio/visual or electronic formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For information on projects featuring environmental technology, contact 
Pasky Pascual. For information on Project XL and all other aspects of 
this notice contact Christopher Knopes. Both can be reached at the 
following address: Emerging Sectors and Strategies Division; United 
States Environmental Protection Agency; 3202 Mall; 401 M Street, S.W.; 
Mail Code 2129; Washington, DC 20460. The telephone number for the 
Division is (202) 260-2220. The facsimile number is (202) 401-6637. 
Additional information on Project XL, including documents referenced in 
this notice, other EPA policy documents related to Project XL, regional 
XL contacts, application information, and descriptions of existing XL 
projects and proposals, is available via the internet at ``http:/
www.epa.gov/ProjectXL'' and via an automated fax-on-demand menu at 
(202) 260-8590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Since publication of the Clinton Administration's Bridge to a 
Sustainable Future in April, 1995, the Federal government has been 
committed to strengthening incentives for technological innovation 
within its regulatory, permitting, compliance and enforcement programs. 
EPA's regulatory reinvention efforts--replacing prescriptive 
regulations with performance-based environmental management strategies, 
building partnerships, setting priorities based on sound science, 
cutting red tape, improving access to environmental information, 
ensuring better accountability, compliance and enforcement--are part of 
this commitment. Project XL, created by President Clinton on March 16, 
1995, as part of his Reinventing Environmental Regulation initiative, 
provides a limited number of companies and other regulated entities an 
opportunity to test performance-based alternatives to current 
requirements that achieve superior environmental performance, cost 
savings, and greater accountability to the local community. EPA has 
committed to implement a target of 50 XL projects in four categories: 
XL for Facilities, XL for Sectors, XL for Federal Facilities and XL for 
Communities. Solicitation of proposals in the first three XL categories 
was announced in the Federal Register on May 23, 1995 [FRL-5197-9]. A 
similar notice for XL for Communities proposals appeared on November 1, 
1995 [FRL-5322-9]. EPA has received over 50 XL proposals, has selected 
15 for project development, and on July 8, 1996, approved its first XL 
Final Project Agreement.
    In an effort to improve the potential demonstration value of XL 
projects, EPA is for the first time issuing an XL ``request for 
proposals'' (RFPs) of a specific type--in this case proposals that 
encourage innovative environmental technologies. The Agency will 
periodically issue additional XL RFPs for other kinds of projects that 
in more specific ways address the basic XL criteria laid out in the May 
23, 1995, Federal Register. XL RFPs should provide a sense of the types 
of proposals that are of greatest interest to EPA and other 
participants in national dialogue on the future of environmental 
policy. With this notice, EPA brings together more formally its 
commitment to strengthen incentives for innovative environmental 
technologies and its commitment to test alternative environmental 
management strategies in Project XL. This notice solicits proposals for 
the demonstration of innovative technologies in the XL program.

Areas of Greatest Interest

    Environmental technologies include any technology that helps 
control, monitor, reduce, or remediate the environmental impact 
associated with economic activity. This definition covers products used 
for exclusively environmental purposes as well as infrastructural 
changes or products that ultimately minimize the impacts of industry 
and federal facilities on the environment. Examples of such 
technologies include:
     Equipment that controls, mitigates, or remediates 
environmental pollution;
     Tools that improve the ability to monitor environmental 
conditions, emissions and discharges more accurately and more 
frequently and that make this information available and understandable 
to communities and the general public;
     Information systems that facilitate the collection, 
analysis, and distribution of environmental data in a way that 
optimizes economic and environmental performance; and
     operational or process changes that reduce material 
inputs, reduce the use of toxic substances, or reduce energy use while 
maintaining equal or better productivity levels and environmental 
protection.

How Can An XL Project Help?

    An XL project can spur the development of innovative environmental 
technology by.
     Removing a specific regulatory or other barrier to the 
development, testing or deployment of a technology;
     Creating a general regulatory climate for a facility 
(e.g., a performance-based system with ambitious targets) that provides 
incentives for innovation;
     Fostering a test-bed for monitoring requirements that go 
beyond or are different from conventional requirements that favor 
existing measurement concepts;

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     Creating cost savings through regulatory efficiency that 
are reinvested in innovative technology development and deployment.
    XL provides the climate in which technical innovation can thrive 
and flourish. A company or federal facility seeking to develop 
processes that minimize the impact of its activities and products or 
other technologies that help in the monitoring of these impacts may be 
thwarted by a legal requirement, regulatory infrastructure, policy or 
other procedure that treats individual environmental problems in 
isolation, or that imposes a particular solution based on prior 
technological constraints. Project XL can provide an innovative 
industrial or federal facility with the site-specific flexibility 
needed to surmount these barriers.
    By facilitating discussions among various stakeholders during 
project development, Project XL provides the innovative industrial or 
federal facility with a forum to dialogue with technology suppliers, 
regulators, users and customers to exchange information and generate 
ideas that simulate new approaches to environmentally-responsible 
manufacturing.
    EPA is soliciting proposals that prototype technological 
applications that lower compliance costs, that minimize the risk of 
environmental liability, or that enhance operational flexibility. By 
demonstrating the competitive advantage that facilities obtain through 
the use of innovative environmental technologies, Project XL can 
strengthen the demand for those technologies while allowing the 
collective wisdom or individual facilities to determine which 
technology options best optimizes the twin objectives of economic and 
environmental performance.

Procedures for Application

    Basic procedures for submission and review of an XL for Facilities, 
Sectors, or Federal Facilities proposal and for submission of an XL for 
Communities proposal are contained in the May 23, 1995, and November 1, 
1995, Federal Register, respectively. Additionally, project proponents 
are encouraged to state why they believe the projects they are 
submitting are particularly innovative. EPA intends to work 
cooperatively with project proponents to develop and refine acceptable 
approaches. At the same time, the Agency and its partners in the State 
and Tribal environmental agencies must retain the ultimate authority to 
select projects based on a qualitative consideration of the project 
relative to XL selection criteria. Moreover, given the limited and 
pilot nature of XL, projects that satisfy many or all of the criteria 
may nonetheless not be selected if, in the Agency's judgment, other 
proposed projects better serve the objectives of the program. Moreover, 
no person is required to submit a proposal or obtain approval as a 
condition of commencing or continuing a regulated activity. 
Accordingly, there will be no formal administrative review available 
for proposals that are not selected, nor does EPA believe there will be 
a right to judicial review.

Supplementary Information on Process Streamlining

    Project XL, since its inception on March 16, 1996 by President 
Clinton, has been implemented by a process developed by EPA with the 
help of potential sponsors, stakeholders, and state and tribal 
environmental agencies. This process was outlined in the May 23, 1995, 
Federal Register and further explained in EPA's December 1, 1995, draft 
Principles for Development of Project XL Final Project Agreements. That 
process has five stages: solicitation, selection, development, 
implementation and evaluation. Today EPA is announcing its intent to 
revise the process to respond to many concerns voiced during the 
initial round of project negotiations. While the Agency is not yet 
prepared to provide a detailed account of these changes, EPA believes 
is important to signal our willingness to make some mid-course 
corrections designed to streamline and improve the XL process. These 
changes will be aimed at several different aspects of the process, but 
will include:
     Improving the quality of XL project proposals by asking 
project proponents to include a clear statement how the proposal meets 
the XL criteria, including a discussion of the regulatory flexibility 
requested, the environmental benefits to be achieved, and the proposed 
plan for stakeholder involvement;
     Defining some principles of superior environmental 
performance to consider when developing proposals;
     Defining some principles for including local community 
members and other stakeholders in the project development process;
     Management of the XL program and the project development 
process;
     Strengthening internal EPA management of the XL program 
and the project development process;
     Promoting internal cultural change among regulators toward 
a new, more participatory approach to environmental protection; and
     Providing national and local level stakeholders with 
expanded opportunities for participation and input through greater 
access to information and resources.

    Dated: September 6, 1996.
Jon Kessler,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Policy, Planning, and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 96-23218 Filed 9-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M