Regulations are among EPA’s primary tools to address areas of concern and promote lasting change—the tool used in many cases to accomplish objectives supporting all of the Agency’s strategic goals. Regulations typically have a relatively long lasting impact and for that reason alone, it is extremely important that we consider and be responsive to as many views as is practicable when formulating a rule. We must especially reach out to individuals and groups directly or potentially affected by a proposed rule. Our Flagship project Expanding Public Awareness and Involvement in the Development of Rules and Regulations is designed to focus on impacted groups. EPA selected the activities listed below to apply a variety of new tools and targeted communications to increase the participation of affected individuals and groups and in some cases seek their collaboration in developing possible solutions.

• Chesapeake Bay TMDL Webinar Series: EPA will conduct a series of monthly webinars to help the public learn about the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) initiative (setting a ―pollution diet for the Bay) and share feedback with the officials designing it. We are working with state partners to set restrictions on nutrient and sediment pollution through the TMDL.
• NPDES Pre-proposal Involvement: A future rule will require entities that have National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to report information to EPA electronically. This change in reporting created great interest within and outside the Agency, so we are launching the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule Web page to post public meeting information and rulemaking progress as well as to host a discussion forum.
• Rulemaking Gateway: EPA’s Rulemaking Gateway provides continual updates to the public about the progress of priority regulations that are being developed. An important part of the Gateway is a set of filters that help specific stakeholders understand which rules are most likely to be of interest to them. There are filters for impacts on children’s health, environmental justice, state and local governments, tribal governments, unfunded mandates, energy and more.

How we are addressing the Flagship Requirements in the Open Government Directive:

• How the project supports one or more of the three open government principles. The project Expanding Public Awareness and Involvement in the Development of Rules and Regulations primarily supports both the participation and the collaboration principles. The regulatory process is intended to be heavily participatory and the Administrative Procedures Act pasted in 1946 was promulgated to ensure a minimum set of process steps are followed. Despite numerous efforts to expand knowledge and participation in various regulatory actions, the public has repeated requests to have greater access to information and potentially greater involvement earlier in the regulatory process. Each of the activities within this project is intended to respond to those requests. In particular, both the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Webinar Series and the NPDES Pre-Proposal involvement activities are using web 2.0 tools to inform and gather information prior to developing a regulatory proposal. In this way, communities, groups and individuals identified as potentially affected by intended regulatory activities are being asked to help contribute to what will become a proposed rulemaking.
• How agency operations will be improved/benefits across the Agency. Use of web 2.0 tools is gaining popularity and the activities within this project will provide the agency with additional experience and help inform effective use of web 2.0 tools in future actions.
• How we will identify affected and interested parties, engage them and maintain a dialogue. Each activity within this project is structured somewhat differently. For example, the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Webinar Series has identified a range of groups within the Chesapeake Bay watershed that represents a significant stakeholder group. This project has created opportunities for several targeted groups to participate in information sessions intended to collect their particular concerns and suggestions. In contrast, the NPDES Pre-proposal involvement activity has the potential to affect well over 100 thousand regulated entities and information will be tailored to certain segments potentially affected by anticipated changes through the use of threaded dialogue sessions and possibly other web 2.0 social media tools. Each of these activities will provide further details in the progress report on our open government site.
• Identification of any external partners. There are many potentially affected stakeholders involved in the activities listed in the Expanding Public Awareness and Involvement in the Development of Rules and Regulations project. The Chesapeake Bay TMDL Webinar series in particular is a model of developing a cooperative partnership with numerous external entities. The EPA and Chesapeake Bay Program have formed a successful partnership that is already noteworthy in that it has gained participation from six states and the District of Columbia--crossing several jurisdictional boundaries toward achieving a common objective. Each of the activities within this project will provide details of external partnerships in its progress report available on our open government site.
• How we will measure improvements to openness principles. Each activity within this project seeks to improve and involve the public or stakeholder groups somewhat differently. The details regarding how each will track its milestones and measure its results will be posted in its progress report our open government site. Based on these reports, EPA will evaluate the overall contributions these activities have made and describe them in the lessons learned report due in Q2 2011 (see Appendix A – Milestones) of EPA’s Open Government Plan 1.0.
• Steps we will take to sustain the initiative and build in improvements. EPA will make the benefits and improvements to communication efforts gained from the activities within this project widely available throughout the Agency for reference and use by headquarter and regional staff as well as others interested in this effort. EPA will evaluate communication plans associated with future activities that may result in regulatory changes and make a determination regarding the use of similar web 2.0 tools.