Environmental Protection: Collaborative EPA-State Effort Needed to Improve Performance Partnership System

摘要

This reports discusses our recent assessment of the National Environmental Performance Partnership System (NEPPS). NEPPS was established by a May 1995 agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states as a new framework for improving their working relationship, and for improving the effectiveness of states' environmental programs. Under the program, a state and EPA may enter into a Performance Partnership Agreement that identifies the state's environmental goals and priorities, and how both EPA and state officials are to address them. The two sides may also agree on a Performance Partnership Grant, which is intended to allow the state greater flexibility in targeting limited resources to meet its most pressing needs. Both EPA and the states launched NEPPS to help address long-standing issues affecting their working relationship. Among these issues were concerns that EPA (1) is inconsistent in its oversight of states from one region to another, (2) sometimes micromanages the states' programs, (3) does not provide sufficient technical support for the states' programs increasingly complex requirements, and (4) often does not adequately consult the states before making key decisions affecting them.