A Conceptual Freamework for Performance-based Incentives Under the Strategic Goals Program in Chicgo

摘要

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicage (District) was one of the first publicfy owned treatment works in the nation to commit to participate in the U.S. EPA's Metal Finishing Sector Strategic Goals Program. whle the Metal Finishing Subocmmittee has established national performance expectations the task of developing and implementing meaningful incentives for users to move beyond traditional compliance remians at the local level. Together with the EPA's recent call for Project XL proposals to reinvent the national Pretreatment Program, the District sees the Strategic Goals Program as an opportunity to move outside the realm of traditional environmental regulation toward true performance-based environmental portection. To this end, the District, EPA Region 5 and the Illinois EPA have formed a new multi-stakeholder group to develop a combined Strategic Goals Program/Project XL proposal. This paper will describe the District's proposaol, which includes both operational and regulatory flexibility incentives for Strategic Goals Program participants, as well as new strategic Performance Partnerships with to-tier industrial suers to test innovative performance measurement systems based on process cont rol rather than simple environmental emissions.