EPA Reforms Fail to Impress

The Environmental Protection Agency took the latest in a series of blows to its management's reputation last week when the National Academy of Public Administration released a report describing the results of the agency's reinvention initiatives as "positive, but far from impressive."

"EPA's reinvention initiatives have yet to change the basic programs or attitudes of the agency," the report concluded.

In July, a General Accounting Office review of the Agency's "Common Sense Initiative" found that 11 of the 15 projects it studied did not measure results.

In April, GAO released a report concluding that the agency will have difficulty collecting the environmental measures it needs to comply with the Government Performance and Results Act.

For this latest study, the NAPA panel, which consisted of six environmental experts, reviewed EPA's two major reinvention efforts--the Common Sense Initiative and Project XL--and concluded that "neither has produced a bold solution to an environmental problem that can capture the public's imagination or ignite industry's enthusiasm."

Under the Common Sense Initiative, an advisory board consisting of industry and public stakeholders tries to find cleaner, cheaper and better ways of reducing pollution and has recommends changes in the existing approach to environmental management.

Project XL offers companies, state environment agencies and community groups a chance to propose better ways to manage pollution and reduce costs on a facility-by-facility basis.

The report warned that these programs will fail without proper support.

"Unless the agency commits itself to a fundamental, sustained effort to leave a long-term legacy of an improved system of environmental protection, and unless Congress provides explicit support for innovation at EPA, they will fall short," the report states.

"Senior EPA and state managers must commit to performance-based management," said panel chair Jonathan Howes.

Project XL is delivering useful information about ways to make systemic changes in regulatory programs, the report concluded. However, "the experiments would be bolder and far more productive if the initiative were explicitly authorized in statute."

The NAPA panel also found that the agency has not yet established the institutions it will need to ensure that program data are reliable, objective and credible. EPA, the report states, lacks the capacity to evaluate its own programs and reinvention efforts or to adjust them.

The panel made the following recommendations:

• Congress and EPA should adopt an "integrating statute," which would authorize and encourage a range of environmental approaches.
• EPA should continue its efforts to develop performance-based systems that will encourage state and local governments to find appropriate, innovative and cost-effective ways to meet public responsibilities.
• Congress and EPA should build a strong evaluation and accountability system within EPA.
• EPA should use the processes established by the Government Performance and Results Act to set priorities and manage more effectively.