Managing for Results at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Friday, January 19, 2001

Taking a different approach to advising the Environmental Protection Agency as it comes under a new administration, various environmental policy groups released a report Friday telling the agency how to run its day-to-day activities versus suggesting new ideas for policies and programs.

"Getting the right environmental policies in place is only part of the challenge you will face in enhancing our nation's environment," the report's authors said in a letter to the Bush administration and the 107th Congress. "Too often overlooked during the rush to debate and change policies are the less-glamorous, yet fundamentally important issues of how to improve the day-to-day management of the nation's environmental protection system." Based on discussions during focus group sessions in October 2000 among 34 individuals consisting of academics, current and former EPA staff, congressional committee staff from both parties, and a variety of political officials, among others, the report offers "non-policy-specific recommendations on improving the management and performance of [EPA]."

The 18 recommendations for improving EPA's management revolved around a theme of establishing better performance measurements to track different environmental data as well as restructuring the agency's organization and management style.