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Implementing Environmental Protection with a Sector Approach

Appendix B:  Input from Co-implementers

Selected observations from individuals in various government units involved in implementing environmental protection regulations, policies, and programs are summarized below.

Level:

• City
• County
• State
• EPA Region

City

Large city, P2 program: [email response, verbatim except where identifiers have been removed]

• A sector based approach to regulation was created in the 1970's in response to the environmental degradation plaguing communities across the United States. The sector based approach worked well under the media specific program areas (e.g. water, air, land). By the 1990's, the sector based approach under the media specific program areas was not gaining ground, and, in some instances, working contrary to environmental protection. Today, local governments and businesses are looking for a performance based system with goals to achieve, and flexibility on how locals and businesses achieve the goals. To make gains in the environment, EPA and other fed.s need to work together to create national goals, allowing flexibility for locals to regionalize the goals to meet the particular needs of the community. An example, [large city] has problems with stormwater management, endangered species listings, land use, etc., whereas these may not be the same issues in, say, [another large city]. So rather than proscribing standards by media, thence by "sector", it would be better (for the environment, for the citizenry) to establish performance goals, and allow the locals to implement.

Large city, POTW [excerpt from telephone conversation]:

• Sector approach can lead to inconsistencies.  An example is the first try at MP&M regulation, where metals processing industries supplying different customer sectors were assigned to different categories.  Shops producing the same parts on the same production line could fall under different rules, depending on the customer for those parts.

Small industrialized city:  [summary of telephone response]

• Sector approach proved very useful during initial stages of a pilot program in bringing stakeholders together.  Had lasting benefit.  A public participation work group is still operating.
• However, pilot efforts have not developed.  One problem was EPA region dropping the ball and not coming up with a needed piece of funding for a follow-on project.
• Another problem which seems to plague sector-based voluntary compliance programs is getting buy-in from "the people in the cubicles".  Management will endorse an approach, but it is perceived by working level staff as transient, moving on as the upper echelons change, while those who remain will be expected to do what they have always done, the way they have always done it.  One result has been an unfortunate tendency for companies participating in voluntary programs to get hit with enforcement actions, with no "elasticity" apparent to show for their cooperation -- a very demotivating situation.
• One potentially valuable benefit for cities, especially smaller cities, from a sector approach is if resources are developed which are based on treating municipalities as sectors in their own right.
• Would be useful to have a designated municipalities sector expert at EPA (similar to the designated steel industry expert arranged under CSI).

County

County P2 program:  [summary of telephone response]

• Not currently using a sector approach in ongoing activities, but did in a program a few years ago which targeted P2 and compliance info in a nonregulatory setting to five sectors (vehicle maintenance, printing, metal manufacturing, educational-vocational, and construction).  Sector approach made sense in that context.
• Would focus on a sector if new regulations were to come out involving that sector -- for example, will probably initiate program targeted toward municipalities when new stormwater rules are issued.

County Health Department Environmental Coordinator (rural):  [summary of telephone response]

• Only industry in county is one sewing factory and one meat packer.  "Sector approach" not a concept.  "Sector" not a concept, for that matter.
• Regulates on-site sewage disposal.  Surface water discharge, and air emissions go to state EPA.
• Example of paint factory in another county:  located near school -- special air quality regulations imposed in response to citizen complaints.  No attempt made to generalize to other paint facilities in state.  Such situations handled on case-by-case basis.

County Regulatory Department, P2 program:  [summary of telephone response]

• Agency is primarily organized along media-specific lines.
• There are sector-based programs in a few selected industries (agricultural, marinas, airports).  For those industries, just about all departmental functions (permitting, compliance, inspections, etc.) are carried out on a sector-specific basis (up through enforcement, which goes back to media specific).  But for sectors where there is no special program, approach is media-based.
• Except for P2 program, agency does little assistance.  But in the P2 program, the sector approach has proved very useful.  Working with the trade organizations in various sectors has helped get people to workshops.
• It might be a general rule that the bigger the municipality, the more likely it is that sectors will be useful.

State

State environmental regulatory agency:  [summary of telephone response]

• Not immediately familiar with term "sector-based regulation", but understood idea of targeting sectors (as opposed to individual facilities, media-based regulation, etc., when explained).
• Specific requirements can be generated to apply to a single facility (triggered, for example, by public comments at a permit hearing), but can then be generalized to apply to an entire sector.
• Typically, sector is a secondary consideration when it comes to targeting enforcement.  More important are factors such as
  • size of source (tend to target large sources)
  • compliance history
  • date last inspected
  • complaints
  • toxics of particular concern
• Compliance assistance efforts are often organized and targeted on a sector basis.  There is often an increase in compliance assistance activity for a given sector when that sector has been "newly regulated" (i. e. new regulations have been issued which apply to that sector).  But these would occur only for industries with a significant presence in the state.

State Environmental Agency, Corporate Environmental Assistance Div.:  [summary of telephone response]

• Have had sector-based assistance program in place for about two years.  Have implemented programs in many sectors, including dry cleaning, auto salvage, metal finishing, health and hospitals, auto manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, electronics, and foundries.
• Some sectors are generating success stories (dry cleaning, auto salvage).  Some started strong, but have gotten quiet lately (metal finishing, printers).  Some were not responsive (health and hospitals).
• The most striking difference between sectors that work and those that don't is interest from and participation by the trade organization.

State Environmental Agency:  [summary of in-person interview]

• State has carried out a successful P2 program with powder metal industry, for example.  Keys to success included fact that the industry was concentrated in a small section of the state, and that a significant fraction of the total U.S. manufacturing capacity is represented in that concentration.
• In general, partnership with trade organization has been very helpful in reaching participants with P2 and compliance assistance efforts.  Have also done successful programs with auto body shops, printers, and service stations.  For the body shops in particular, trade association was instrumental.  But it is possible to run a successful program in the absence of a trade organization -- there is no trade organization for the powder metal manufacturers, for example.  It was, however, considerably more difficult to reach all the companies and get them to participate.
• Generally, state will choose to direct environmental assistance efforts to sectors which are going to be affected by new regulations.  In particular, sectors which had not been heavily regulated but are facing new regulations will get targeted assistance.
• Outside of environmental assistance, most rule-making is done on a programmatic (media-specific) basis.  A few exceptions, including regulated power industry.  One aspect of the rule-making process where sector input, particularly trade association input, can be particularly useful is in getting input during a public comment period.
• Unless there is a heavy concentration of a particular sector in a state or region, it will be hard for a state or local implementer to justify targeting that sector.  The implication is that highly geographically fragmented sectors may fall through the cracks when it comes time to implement a sector approach.
• As an example, this state has been a particularly active player in the Metal Finishing Strategic Goals Program.  However, it is not a state with an outstandingly large population of metal finishers.  State is participating to validate the sector approach, and to establish model.  But if SGP-like programs were established for a wide variety of sectors, state's participation would have to get very selective.

EPA Region

EPA Region:  [summary of telephone response]

• Makes sense for  national and state agencies to develop in-house sector "experts".  There are some very helpful experts associated with some of the media programs.  On the other hand, it proves very difficult sometime to find experts for certain sectors (printing, for example) within the agencies.
• Many of the smaller municipalities would find it impossible to develop their own sector experts, even with sector heavily represented in their jurisdictions, due to resource constraints.
• There was once an EPA "Experts List", but it has not been recently updated.  Also, it raises the question of "What really is an 'expert'?".  Process knowledge?  Regulatory knowledge?  Etc.
• Other approaches are indicated under some circumstances.  Process-based regulations might make sense for processes that cut across sector boundaries.  Geographic-based approaches can be favored in some cases, because specific environmental problems tend to be geographically based.
• Assistance definitely needs to be more sector-based.

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