[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 92 (Tuesday, May 13, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26304-26305]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12477]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5824-9]


Schedule of Stakeholders/Regulatory Partners Meetings on the 
National Performance Measures Strategy for Enforcement and Compliance 
Assurance

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: As part of its National Performance Measures Strategy, EPA has 
completed two public meetings and held briefings with relevant House 
and Senate staff. The two public meetings were held in Washington, D.C. 
on February 3, 1997, and in San Francisco, California on March 17, 
1997. At these meetings, a wide variety of stakeholders and regulatory 
partners offered their ideas, and suggestions about measuring the 
performance of EPA's enforcement and compliance assurance program. In 
addition to comments EPA received at these presentations, EPA also 
received suggestions from various stakeholders through independent 
submissions. This stakeholder input has helped EPA identify broad 
principles to guide development and implementation of enhanced 
performance measures, as well as identify specific performance measures 
for further consideration. As part of the next phase of the strategy, 
EPA will hold a series of public meetings with its regulatory partners 
and the stakeholder groups to further discuss and examine suggested 
enforcement and compliance performance measures. These meetings will be 
held through July. A final capstone conference is planned for 
September. A proposed schedule of these meetings is provided in this 
notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James McDonald, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, 401 
M Street, SW (2201A), Washington, DC 20460; telephone (202) 564-4043, 
fax (202) 501-0701 or via the INTERNET at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    For many years, EPA has counted annual enforcement outputs (e.g., 
inspections conducted, number of civil and criminal cases, penalties 
assessed) as the predominant measure of performance for the enforcement 
and compliance assurance program. While these outputs will continue to 
be used as an important measure of environmental enforcement, EPA seeks 
additional measures to assess the status and trends of regulatory 
compliance, as well as environmental improvements resulting from 
enforcement and compliance assurance activities. This need was 
recognized during EPA's enforcement reorganization in 1993, and a 
commitment was made during that process to develop additional measures. 
In addition, the requirements of the Government Performance and Results 
Act (GPRA) offer an opportunity to review and improve performance 
measures.
    For almost three years, the Office of Enforcement and Compliance 
Assurance (OECA) has been taking steps to improve its performance 
measures for enforcement and compliance assurance activities. During 
that time, OECA: (1) Convened a Measures of Success Work Group 
comprised of EPA and Regional officials, (2) developed and implemented 
a Case Conclusion Data Sheet (CCDS) to gather new types of information 
about completed cases, (3) developed and implemented a reporting 
measure for compliance assistance activities, and (4) realigned single-
media databases to enable reporting of enforcement data by industry 
sector.
    Through these steps, OECA has made progress in developing an 
enhanced set of performance measures. Specifically, OECA is now able to 
supplement traditional enforcement output measures with other measures, 
including: (1) Actions taken by violators to return to compliance, (2) 
quantitative environmental impact and qualitative environmental benefit 
of those actions, (3) types, amounts, and impact of compliance 
assistance activities, and (4) industry-specific compliance rates. 
These elements were fully operational together for the first time in FY 
96, and the results of these efforts are being compiled in a national 
accomplishments report. However, with the initiation of the Strategy, 
OECA recognizes further improvements can, and should, be made with 
regard to reporting the state of national compliance and trends of 
environmental enforcement and compliance. The series of public 
stakeholder meetings and the ideas OECA has collected from them is an 
attempt to further enhance and refine the measures OECA uses.

II. The National Performance Measures Strategy

    The purpose of the National Performance Measures Strategy is to 
develop and implement an enhanced set of performance measures for the 
enforcement and compliance assurance program. The Strategy includes: 
(1) Soliciting new ideas from regulatory partners and stakeholders for 
more meaningful and sophisticated measures of program performance, (2) 
developing a common understanding with regulatory partners and 
stakeholders about a set of national measures and the short and long-
term steps necessary to implement them, and (3) carrying out an 
implementation plan to put the new set of measures into practice.
    EPA is interested in hearing and considering ideas from regulatory 
partners and a wide range of stakeholders regarding the state of 
compliance and additional ways to measure the performance of EPA's 
enforcement and compliance assurance program. EPA accepts the idea that 
its current approach of counting annual enforcement outputs needs to be 
supplemented by other approaches that measure improvements in 
environmental quality and the state of compliance. As such, the Agency 
wants to focus the outreach effort on identifying and implementing new 
approaches rather than on the limitations of its current approach.
    In the February and March public meetings, stakeholders and 
regulatory partners were asked to focus on the following issues of 
special interest to EPA:

[[Page 26305]]

    1. What innovative approaches are being used (or could be used) by 
other environmental agencies, other regulatory agencies, and law 
enforcement agencies to measure the effects of their enforcement and 
compliance assurance programs?
    2. What innovative approaches are being used by regulated 
facilities, companies, or trade groups and associations to measure the 
effect of their efforts to achieve and maintain compliance and protect 
the environment?
    3. What can EPA use to measure the impact of its enforcement and 
compliance assurance program in low-income/minority population 
communities?
    4. How can EPA measure industry performance in complying with 
environmental laws and regulations?
    5. How can EPA measure the deterrent effect of its enforcement-
related activities, including conducting inspections, taking 
enforcement actions, and publicizing those actions?
    6. How can EPA measure the impact of compliance assistance 
activities and compliance incentives, such as its audit and self-
disclosure policy?
    EPA will use the upcoming stakeholders/regulatory partners meetings 
to further explore these issues.

III. Next Phase of the Strategy

    As part of the Strategy, EPA now intends to meet with sets of 
stakeholders through the month of July to further discuss ideas and 
proposals for improved measures. Stakeholder participants will be asked 
to discuss guiding principles or specific measures that have been 
suggested to EPA at a prior public meeting or through independent 
submission. EPA will identify these discussion areas and circulate 
agenda items to participants or potential participants in advance of 
each meeting. Participants might be asked to prepare written comment on 
the specific issues and ideas identified in the meeting agenda and 
related materials.
    These meetings will be open to the public, will be a half or full 
day in length, and will be limited to a maximum of 25 stakeholder 
participants. The meetings will take place in a ``roundtable'' format 
to promote interaction and more detailed discussion.

IV. Schedule of Stakeholders/Regulatory Partners Meetings

    Listed below is the schedule of meetings as currently developed by 
EPA. The schedule is subject to revision if necessary to avoid 
unforeseen conflicts or to accommodate additional meetings with 
stakeholders and regulatory partners.

(1) Wednesday, May 28, 1997, Federal Oversight Groups, (GAO, IG, OMB, 
and Congressional Appropriations Staff), 9:00 am--1:00 pm, Ariel Rios 
Building (Room #6045), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.
(2) Thursday, May 29, 1997, Mixed Stakeholders, (Industry, 
Environmental and Environmental Justice Organizations), 9:00 am--5:00 
pm, Washington, D.C., (Location to be determined)
(3) Wednesday, June 4, 1997, State Environmental Agencies 9:00 am--5:00 
pm, EPA Region V-Chicago, IL, Great Lakes Conference Center (Lake Erie 
Room), 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-3507
(4) Thursday, June 12, 1997, Federal Regulatory Agencies, (FDA, OSHA, 
IRS, Customs, Coast Guard, etc.), 9:00 am--5:00 pm, Washington, D.C.
(5) Wednesday, June 25, 1997, Mixed Stakeholders, (Additional State 
Environmental Agencies, State AGs, Tribes, Media-Specific Associations, 
and Local Government Associations), 9:00 am--5:00 pm, (Location to be 
determined)
(6) Beginning of July (if necessary), Mixed Stakeholders, (Industry, 
Environmental and Environmental Justice Organizations), Washington, 
D.C.
(7) Late July or Beginning of August 1997, Meeting with House Staff, 
Meeting with Senate Staff, Second Meeting with Federal Oversight Groups
(8) Week of September 15, 1997, Capstone Conference in Washington, D.C.

V. Information for Participants

    Parties interested in participating in these meetings should 
contact James McDonald at (202) 564-4043. In addition, EPA will be 
soliciting participants through various organizations and associations. 
Participants interested in more detailed information about the Strategy 
or the two public meetings, including transcripts and statements of 
stakeholders, can review documents at EPA's Information Resource 
Center, which is located at 401 M Street, SW (Room #M2904), Washington, 
DC 20460 (202) 260-5921, or access these documents on-line at EPA's 
EnviroSense web site. (The address is: http://es.inel.gov/oeca/
perfmeas)

    Dated: May 5, 1997.
Michael M. Stahl,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance 
Assurance.
[FR Doc. 97-12477 Filed 5-12-97; 8:45 am]
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