NATIONAL PROJECTS

State and Tribal Air and Radiation Planning Project (STARPP)

The purpose of STARPP was to build more effective, efficient and results-oriented state, tribal and federal air planning systems, using indicators developed during the National Air and Radiation Indicators Project (NARIP). In a series of ten regional workshops, states and tribes discussed methods and tools that address state, tribal, and federal priorities in an integrated manner. Results of the workshops are published in Guide to State and Tribal Air and Radiation.

The National Air and Radiation Indicators Project (NARIP) (Mar 96 - Jun 97)

The National Air and Radiation Indicators Project (NARIP) was the first phase of an EPA-FCPM cooperative agreement to develop a national set of air and radiation indicators that can be used by states, tribes, regions, and nongovernmental organizations to describe environmental trends and conditions. Four stakeholder working groups developed environmental indicators using relevant air and radiation issue categories developed by the National Environmental Goals Project:

• Clean Air (including both criteria air pollutants and hazardous air pollutants);
• Reducing Global Environmental Risk (including climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion);
• Safe Homes, Schools and Workplaces (including indoor air quality and radiation); and
• Preventing Accidental Releases, Safe Wastes and Restoration of Contaminated Sites.

EPA Region 4 Environmental Strategic Plan (May 95 - Jul 96)

In a cooperative agreement with EPA Region 4, FCPM provided consultative, facilitative, production, and technical services to top-level environmental administrators to develop a Regional Environmental Strategic Plan (RESP) and supporting environmental indicator system. Key participants in the process were the Regional Administrator of EPA Region 4 and secretaries and commissioners of eight state environmental agencies in the region. The RESP is the first stage in the development of a multi-level planning process that will guide the region in dealing with important environmental issues over the next 20 years. The intent of this process is to:

• identify the strategic issues calling for collective action
• prepare long-term goals and strategies for jointly dealing with those issues,
• organize the actions of the EPA and the states to carry out those strategies,
• create a relationship of genuine partnership between the EPA and the states,
• change the focus of environmental policy and decision making from program performance to environmental performance,
• begin changing the culture of both the EPA and the states to accommodate these new orientations, and
• change the historically prescriptive relationship between the EPA program offices and the regional offices to be more flexible,environmentally-based, mindful of regional differences and open to regional participation in funding decisions.

State Environmental Goals and Indicators Project (SEGIP) (Jul 94 - Oct 96)

The purpose of the State Environmental Goals and Indicators Project (SEGIP) was to improve the environmental management capabilities of state agencies through the development of environmental goals and indicators and their integration into environmental management systems. Specifically, the project objectives were to:

• increase the number of state environmental agencies that are effectively using environmental goals and indicators,
• elevate the quality of state agency environmental indicator systems,
• improve the integration of environmental goals and indicators with other environmental management tools, techniques, and methodologies,
• establish a network of policy making and technical professionals from all state environmental agencies who have a broad interest in environmental management and a specific interest in goals and indicators, and,
• facilitate the movement of indicators and supporting data to states for their use.

• State Indicators of National Scope (SINS): Development and publication of a system of indicators representing environmental issues common to all 50 states.

• Environmental Indicators and Data Sources Catalog: A cross-referenced catalog of significant state and EPA environmental indicator work, including over 1,000 indicators grouped by similarity and linked to their respective data sources.

• Prospective Indicators for Performance Agreements: A set of indicators for use by the states in Performance Partnership Agreements (produced in cooperation with the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) and EPA)

• State Demonstration Projects: Indicator development projects conducted by nine states, sharing $85,000 obtained from the Small Amounts of Funding Program.

• State Environmental Management Activity Survey: A comprehensive survey of 75 state environmental agencies to collect information about their use of goals, indicators, and data sources and related environmental management issues.

• Network of State Environmental Indicator Practitioners: A directory of state indicator practitioners reflecting a wide variety of policy and technical perspectives. This directory identified Activity Survey respondents and provided the distribution list for technical assistance products.

• Directories of Environmental Management Practitioners: Directories of governmental and non-governmental institutions and individuals working on environmental goals and indicators.

• Technical assistance: Organization of peer-to-peer assistance among providers and recipients identified in the Activity Survey; also FCPM direct assistance to state agencies developing indicator systems, including phone consultation, provision of materials, conference and workshop presentations, and on-site visits.

• Project Internet site: Development and maintenance of a web site displaying Project activities, services and products and indicator documents of individual states.

National Environmental Goals and Indicators Conference (Feb 2-4, 1994)

In cooperation with the EPA, FCPM planned and conducted a two-day national conference in New Orleans for 200 environmental management and policy professionals from all 50 states, EPA, the private sector and the environmental community.

Southeast Regional Environmental Indicators Conference (Aug 2-4, 1993)

With EPA funding, FCPM conducted a two-day conference on environmental indicators for environmental professionals from the southeastern states in EPA Regions 4 and 6.