[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 225 (Monday, November 23, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64699-64713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-31243]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6191-8]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request: Application for the National Roster of Environmental 
Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals

AGENCY: U. S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, and 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit the 
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB): National Roster of Environmental 
Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals, EPA ICR 
#1888.01. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA 
is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information 
collection (see the section A below entitled ``Questions to Consider in 
Making Comments''). This document provides information on the need for 
the roster and the information to be recorded in the roster and a 
discussion of qualification requirements for applicants wishing to be 
listed on the roster. Copies of the qualifications requirements and 
draft application form have been distributed widely for review through 
professional societies such as the Society of Professionals in Dispute 
Resolution and the International Association of Public Participation. 
The Roster will not be open to receive applications until all Paperwork 
Reduction Act requirements are met.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 22, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to the Consensus and Dispute Resolution 
Program, Mail Code 2136, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, 
DC 20460, fax: (202) 260-5478.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah Dalton, Deputy Director, 
Consensus and Dispute Resolution Program, Mail Code 2136, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460, fax: (202) 260-5478; 
email:[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Potentially Affected Persons

    You are potentially affected by this action if you are a dispute 
resolution or consensus building professional in the environmental or 
natural resources field who wishes to be listed on the National Roster 
of Environmental Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building 
Professionals. This Roster will be one of several sources of 
information which federal environmental and natural resource agencies 
will use to identify appropriately experienced conflict resolution 
professionals for use in resolving environmental and natural resource 
disputes or issues in controversy under the Administrative Dispute 
Resolution Act of 1996 and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1996.
    Title: Application for the National Roster of Environmental Dispute 
Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals--EPA ICR #1888.01.

Background

A. Questions to Consider in Making Comments

    The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution and EPA 
request your comments to any of the following questions related to 
establishing a National Roster of Environmental Dispute Resolution and 
Consensus Building Professionals:
    (1) Is the proposed roster (``collection of information'') 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agencies, 
including whether the information will have practical utility?;
    (2) Is the agencies' estimate of the time spent completing the 
application form (``burden of the proposed

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collection of information'') accurate, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used?;
    (3) Can you suggest ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected?; and
    (4) Can you suggest ways to minimize the burden of the collection 
of information on those who are to respond, including through the use 
of appropriate automated electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of responses?

B. What Are the Statutory Bases for Use of Dispute Resolution and 
Consensus Building Professionals in Agency Disputes?

    The Administrative Dispute Resolution Act (ADRA), Public Law 101-
552, authorizes and encourages agencies to use mediation and other 
consensual methods of dispute resolution as alternatives to traditional 
dispute resolution processes. The Negotiated Rulemaking Act (NRA), 
Public Law 101-648, authorizes and encourages agencies to use consensus 
building methods as a means of developing regulations. Both Acts 
anticipate the use of a ``neutral,'' an individual who, with respect to 
an issue in controversy, functions specifically to help the parties in 
resolving the controversy. Neutrals may be facilitators, mediators, 
conciliators, arbitrators or early neutral evaluators. The 1990 ADRA 
called for the Administrative Conference of the U.S. to establish 
standards for neutrals and to maintain a roster of individuals who met 
the standards. The Administrative Conference of the U.S. was abolished 
in 1995 and its roster subsequently lapsed.
    The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution was 
established by Congress in 1997 (Public Law 105-156) to assist in the 
resolution of environmental conflicts in which the federal government 
is a stakeholder. The Institute is housed at the Morris K. Udall 
Foundation, a federal commission located in Tucson, Arizona. The 
Institute is authorized to direct its resources to resolve costly 
environmental conflicts outside the courtroom and to foster 
collaborative agreements among affected parties concerning the 
implementation of federal environmental, public lands and natural 
resources policy. Federal agencies are authorized by the new law to 
employ the Institute to assist in alternative conflict resolution in 
matters involving environmental, natural resources and land-related 
disputes. The Institute will operate primarily as a facilitator and 
broker for public and private stakeholders. The Institute's small 
professional staff will accomplish most of its work through partnering 
and subcontracting with existing qualified professionals with 
longstanding experience in environmental conflict resolution and 
consensus building. The legislation requires the Institute, to the 
maximum extent possible, to use service providers in the geographic 
area of the conflict.

C. Why Is a New Roster Needed?

    Identification of an appropriate, experienced neutral is an 
essential step in initiating and conducting a credible dispute 
resolution or consensus building process. There are a number of ways 
that parties to a conflict identify neutrals--past experience with a 
neutral, recommendations from colleagues, professional directories, 
yellow pages of phone books, responses to Requests for Proposal, etc. 
None of these processes is particularly rigorous or efficient in terms 
of timing, particularly when the parties are seeking persons with 
specialized expertise.
    The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution is charged 
with assisting in the resolution of environmental, public lands and 
natural resources conflicts that involve federal agencies as 
stakeholders. Consistent with its mandate, the Institute must be able 
to identify appropriate experienced dispute resolution and consensus 
building professionals in an expedited manner. This national roster 
will serve as a primary source for the Institute to access qualified 
professionals who have specific background and expertise sought by 
stakeholders to environmental conflicts.
    EPA has long had a nationwide contract listing numerous dispute 
resolution consultants and firms. This contract provides excellent 
service for national level issues, but it can be cumbersome and time 
consuming in seeking out neutrals for local site or facility-based 
disputes or consensus building efforts.
    In 1997, EPA conducted a study to examine whether a specialized 
roster was necessary and whether any existing rosters (public or 
private) could fulfill the need. The study concluded that EPA 
(especially regional offices of EPA) needed a specialized roster or 
database which would list neutrals experienced in helping parties in 
environmental cases, and that there was no existing database that would 
meet EPA's needs. The study identified a number of federal, state and 
private rosters of neutrals. The other existing Federal roster, the 
FDIC Roster of Neutrals (OMB #3064-0107), does not contain significant 
numbers of neutrals experienced in environmental or natural resource 
matters. A number of states have rosters of environmental neutrals, but 
the entry qualifications vary significantly and even taken together, 
they do not provide adequate nationwide coverage.
    The Roster developed as a result of this ICR will provide the U.S. 
Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, EPA and other federal 
agencies with the ability to identify an additional number, range and 
variety of dispute resolution and consensus building service providers 
throughout the U.S. The ICR will provide two kinds of information: (1) 
Information to determine if the individual applying has met the basic 
entry qualifications; (2) information to be used in conducting database 
searches to match cases or issues with potential neutrals experienced 
in particular kinds of disputes or issues.

D. How Were the Roster Entry Qualifications and Information Developed?

    EPA has entered into an Interagency Agreement with the U.S. 
Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution to develop a roster 
specifically designed to identify dispute resolution and consensus 
building professionals (neutrals) with environmental and/or natural 
resource public policy experience. The U.S. Institute convened a 
workgroup to give individual opinions and advice to the Institute and 
EPA regarding whether or not the roster should have entry 
qualifications and how the roster should be constructed and managed. 
The workgroup consists of EPA dispute resolution specialists and 
contracting officers, state dispute resolution officials, private 
dispute resolution practitioners and academics. As a result of the 
individual advice of the workgroup and others who have responded to 
requests for opinions, the U.S. Institute and the EPA are proposing the 
entry criteria and information collection items included in this 
Information Collection Request.
    In addition to the public comment being solicited in this notice, 
the U.S. Institute and EPA are conducting extensive outreach to 
professional associations of dispute resolution and consensus building 
professionals, state offices of dispute resolution, individual dispute 
resolution practitioners, professional associations of attorneys, and 
environmental and citizens groups though presentations at professional 
meetings and conventions and through individual contacts with people 
and

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organizations who have participated in previous dispute resolution 
efforts.

E. What Are the Roster Entry Qualifications?

    As a result of consultations with the workgroup, the U.S. Institute 
for Environmental Conflict Resolution and EPA are proposing the 
following basic entry criteria for an individual seeking to be listed 
on the Roster database.

Draft Roster Entry Criteria

    In order to be listed on the National Roster of Environmental 
Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals, a person must: 
(1) Have served as the principal or co-principal professional on two to 
five environmental cases. Each case must have involved at least 40 
direct case hours of contact and in the aggregate must total at least 
200 case hours; and (2) accumulate a total of at least 50 points across 
three scoring categories, including process experience, interactive 
training experience, and substantive background. The scoring categories 
and scoring system are presented in the chart below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Scoring categories and                              Maximum points
subcategories (50 points required   Range of points for       for the
            for entry)                each subcategory       category
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1. Process Experience............  .....................              90
    a. Number of environmental or  0-50.................  ..............
     public policy cases in the
     last 10 years as principal
     or co-principal
     professional--5 points per
     case up to 10 cases.
    b. Additional credit if any    0-25.................  ..............
     of those cases were complex
     environmental or public
     policy cases--5 additional
     points per case up to 5
     cases.
    c. Number of environmental or  0-15.................  ..............
     public policy cases in the
     last 10 years as apprentice
     or junior professional--3
     points per case up to 5
     cases.
2. Interactive Process Training..  .....................              20
    a. Training experience--At     0 or 10..............  ..............
     least 24 hours of basic
     interactive training and 16
     hours of advanced
     interactive training in
     dispute resolution and
     consensus building.
    b. Trainer--Directed at least  0 or 10..............  ..............
     40 hours of basic
     interactive training in
     dispute resolution and
     consensus building.
    c. Senior Trainer/teacher      0 or 20..............  ..............
     experience--Directed
     interactive training in
     dispute resolution and
     consensus building totaling
     150 contact hours.
3. Substantive Experience........  .....................              25
    a. Graduate degrees or         0 or 10..............  ..............
     graduate program
     certificates in
     substantively relevant
     fields, such as law,
     environmental sciences or
     policy, engineering, public
     administration or
     management, communication
     theory, planning, conflict
     resolution--10 points for up
     to one degree/certificate.
    b. Years of employment or      0-15.................  ..............
     volunteer experience in the
     above fields--1 point for
     every year up to 15 years.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Definitions
    1. Case--A case is an actual or potential dispute or lack of 
agreement on one or more issues. A case may also be described as a 
process of building agreement, recommendations or advice on actual or 
potential issues in controversy as well as facilitating collaborative 
processes among multiple parties on actual or potential issues in 
controversy. Systems design and evaluation work would also be included. 
For purposes of entry, a case must have engaged the applicant for more 
than 40 case hours.
    a. Environmental Case--Cases or processes involving environmental 
pollution prevention or cleanup, land use, natural resource use or 
distribution, environmental permitting, facility siting disputes, 
environmental justice, negotiated rulemaking, enforcement or 
compliance.
    b. Public Policy Case--Cases or processes involving the setting of 
governmental policy at the national, regional, state or local level, 
such as environmental or natural resource policy, health policy, or 
education policy.
    c. Complex Environmental or Public Policy Case--An environmental or 
public policy case where there are multiple issues at stake involving 
at least four parties representing distinct interests at the table, at 
least one of whom is a governmental entity.
    2. Case Hours--Actual contact time with the parties as individuals 
or a group, plus time spent in dispute or conflict assessment, dispute 
resolution process design, conduct of all phases of the process, or 
evaluating or reporting on the process. This does not include hours 
spent prior to professional engagement in the project.
    3. Environmental Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building 
Professional--Any third party neutral engaged to help all parties in 
the prevention or resolution of disputes or controversy. In order to 
gain entry to this roster, the environmental dispute resolution and 
consensus building professional must have expertise in one or more of 
the following processes: conciliation, facilitation, mediation, neutral 
evaluation or assessment, fact finding, mini-trials, arbitration, 
dispute systems design.
    4. Principal or Co-principal Professional--An environmental dispute 
resolution and consensus building professional who has been engaged to 
serve as or share the lead in conduct of a case. If serving as a co-
principal professional, one must be acting as a co-lead with equal role 
in the conduct of the case.
    5. Apprentice or Junior Professional--An assistant to the principal 
or co-principal professionals in the conduct of a case.
    6. Interactive Process Training--Training in alternative dispute 
resolution processes and techniques, such as mediation, facilitation, 
and conflict management, which is interactive in nature incorporating a 
substantial number of role plays, simulations, and interactive group 
demonstrations.

F. What Kinds of Additional Information Are Sought for Roster Database 
Searches?

    As a result of the 1997 EPA study and the individual 
recommendations from the Roster Workgroup, there are data elements in 
the ICR that we will use for conducting database searches on behalf of 
parties to an issue or dispute. Such elements include: geographic 
location of previous cases, languages spoken, minority group 
identification, experience with certain types of common environmental 
disputes, special skills or background. The U.S. Institute and EPA have 
developed a

[[Page 64702]]

draft application form to obtain information both to make decisions on 
whether an applicant qualifies for the roster and to record other 
relevant information.

G. Draft Application Form

    Please note that the format of this form may change when the U.S. 
Institute and EPA select the database software for the Roster. We will 
also be making every effort to allow for methods to obtain and possibly 
submit the application electronically.

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H. Will This Roster Be the Only Source of Conflict Resolution and 
Consensus Building Professionals for Environmental Disputes?

    No. This Roster will be one of several sources of information with 
federal environmental and natural resource agencies will use to 
identify appropriately experienced dispute resolution and consensus 
building professionals for use in resolving environmental and natural 
resource disputes or issues in controversy under the Administrative 
Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 and the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 
1996. However, an individual who wishes to be considered as a neutral 
in environmental or natural resources public policy matters is not 
required to be listed on this roster. Federal government personnel and 
parties to environmental or natural resources issues will not be 
limited to this Roster in identifying and contracting for the services 
of neutrals. We hope that this Roster will expedite the identification 
of individuals who are appropriate to act as neutrals in a dispute and 
that the information in the Roster will shorten the time needed to 
complete contract documents.
    The U.S. Institute will review all applications submitted against 
the entry criteria. Those who are qualified will be listed on the 
database; those who do not qualify may reapply as their professional 
experience develops. Professionals who are not included in this 
database are in no way barred from work on disputes involving federal 
agencies and the U.S. Institute will explicitly inform parties of other 
known rosters they may wish to consult when selecting a neutral.

I. Does Being on This Roster Guarantee Conflict Resolution Work for the 
Government?

    No. Being listed on the database does not guarantee that you will 
be offered work as a neutral in U.S. government cases. The decision as 
to whom to retain as a neutral lies with the parties to an issue or 
dispute. Being listed on this database may increase the chances of 
parties finding out that you offer conflict resolution or consensus 
building services.

J. Burden Statement and Estimate

    Burden Statement: This ICR compiles data available from the resumes 
of most conflict resolution and consensus building professionals into a 
format that is standardized for database searches and retrievals. A 
professional will need to complete the entire form only once. 
Professionals will be allowed to update their information on a 
voluntary basis periodically so that the database reflects their most 
current experience, and may be required to update their experience 
every five years. The database system is being designed to allow for 
some electronic information submittal. The burden includes time spent 
to access the professional's most recent detailed resume and to insert 
that information into the ICR form.
    Estimated Number of Respondents (first year): 400.
    Estimated Time per Response: 90 minutes.
    Estimated Total First Year Burden: 600 hours.
    Estimated Number of New Respondents (per year for succeeding 
years): 20.
    Estimate Time per Response: 90 minutes.
    Estimated Number of Updates (per year for succeeding years): 50.
    Estimated Time per Update: 15 minutes.
    Estimated Subsequent Year Annual Burden: 42.5 hours.
    Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources 
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or 
provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time 
needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize 
technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and 
verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and 
disclosing and providing information and transmit information.

    Dated: October 28, 1998.
Paul Lapsley,
Director, Regulation Management Division, Office of Regulation 
Management and Information, Office of Policy, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency.

Kirk Emerson,
Director, U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, Morris 
K. Udall Foundation.
[FR Doc. 98-31243 Filed 11-20-98; 8:45 am]
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