Environmental Protection: EPA's and States' Efforts to Focus State Enforcement Programs on Results
RCED-98-113
Published: May 27, 1998. Publicly Released: Jun 23, 1998.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) alternative strategies states are practicing to improve compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (2) whether and how states are measuring the effectiveness of these strategies; and (3) how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responded to these states' efforts, focusing in particular on the agency's objective of holding the states accountable for achieving environmental results, rather than focusing solely on enforcement processes.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
---|---|---|
Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should ensure that the development of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance's (OECA) Performance Profile stays on the schedule outlined in its National Performance Measures Strategy; that the Profile be developed collaboratively with interested states in a manner that helps these states meet their own performance measurement needs; and that OECA periodically disseminates information (as it becomes available) among the states on effective practices in measuring enforcement programs' results. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has formed workgroups of headquarters and regional staff to address key problems in developing results-oriented measures, and obtained contractor support to provide expertise and statistical analysis. The agency has also initiated efforts to engage interested states in pilot projects so that their efforts to improve performance measurement benefit the states as well. In March 1999, EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said that it was making funds available for cooperative agreements to enhance states' abilities to engage in outcome-based compliance measurement.
|
Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should promote greater consistency in what has been a fragmented and inconsistent message by different EPA offices on the appropriate balance in EPA's enforcement program between enforcement and compliance assurance activities. In doing so, the Administrator should build on EPA's recent efforts to address this issue by ensuring that: (1) the expectations set for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, program offices, and other EPA headquarters and regional offices are consistent with the agency's policy calling for an appropriate mix of tools to achieve compliance; (2) different EPA offices with enforcement responsibility more systematically coordinate their negotiations with, and oversight of, state agencies on enforcement-related matters; and (3) the enforcement-related provisions of EPA's Performance Plan, prepared pursuant to the Government Performance and Results Act, focus on outcomes in a manner consistent with that of the core performance measures developed under EPA's National Performance Measures Strategy, the National Environmental Performance Partnership System, and the agency's other results-oriented initiatives. |
Closed – Implemented
Senior management of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance have met with staff in all ten EPA regions and with senior Office managers to stress that internal coordination is a priority. To promote consistency in the national enforcement and compliance assurance program, the Office completed a guidance document in April 1999 that defines the goals, priorities and appropriate mix of tools and activities for the FY 2000/2001 national program. The document is intended as the basis for developing agreements between the Office and individual EPA regional offices. Also, the Office also added outcome-oriented measures to its FY 2000 Annual Performance Plan. Specifically, whereas measures in the previous plan had focused exclusively on outputs such as the numbers of inspections conducted and enforcement actions taken, the latest plan also includes the use of statistically valid noncompliance rates for selected environmental problems or selected sectors (an outcome measure).
|
Full Report
Office of Public Affairs
Topics
AccountabilityAuditsEnvironmental lawEnvironmental policiesstate relationsPerformance measuresRegulatory agenciesState-administered programsTechnical assistanceVoluntary compliance