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Arkansas

Project Summary Information Page
Arkansas Green Business Program Innovations

Project Title
Arkansas Green Business Program Innovations

Applicant
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality

Project Contact
Ron Alexander
Manager, Small Business Assistance
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 8913
Little Rock, AR 72219-8913
Telephone: 501-682-0866 Fax 501-682-0880
Fax: 334-394-4383
Email: alexander@adeq.state.ar.us

Other Federal Programs:
N/A

Federal Flexibility:
N/A

Affirmation of Support
By internal memorandum

Summary Budget Information

EPA Funding Requested: [REDACTED BY EPA]
State Leverage Funding: [REDACTED BY EPA]
Total Project Cost: [REDACTED BY EPA]

Pre-proposal Project Narrative
Arkansas Green Business Program Innovations

Overview
The concept of a "green" business is highly attractive to both regulators and environmental interests as an economical means of bringing businesses into the regulated community, and reducing non-point source emissions. Unfortunately however, industry experience has shown that being publicly identified as "green" is usually insufficient incentive to encourage widespread participation or to change a businesses' behavior so business participation has been limited. To move ahead with this approach, this project puts forward a new concept for implementing a green business program; we will use a culture change technique commonly used in larger businesses. Specifically, the model being set forth for this project is, not simply enrolling businesses in a "green" business program, but one of working one-on-one with individual businesses until they have experienced the "look and feel" of being "green" for several months. This, with the expectation that many participating businesses will continue with their newly experienced "green" culture, is our vision of success for this project. Our main objective will be to demonstrate that a high degree of participation can be obtained in a sector specific green business program. The primary metrics for measuring success of this project will be the number of businesses that continue in their new green culture after the end of the mentoring cycle and the environmental benefits (wastes reduced, emissions prevented, etc .).

Project Schedule and Time Frame
This will be a 3-year project with much of the expense incurred during the first year. This will allow the participating businesses to have at least the two years experience necessary for a culture change to become permanent. Estimated start date: 01/01/03

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Meeting Program Criteria Requirements

Targeted Priority Environmental Areas
Business sector(s) participating in this activity will be among those small businesses that are subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act and/or the Clean Water Act but which are being disregarded by the current regulatory structure in Arkansas. We will also consider certain businesses that are out of compliance but not currently under any enforcement action. Each business will have air/and or wastewater discharges that have been previously unaddressed. For example, we could choose to address the carpet cleaning industry which discharges millions of gallons of wastewater annually in Arkansas or we might be able to work with concentrated animal operations (CAFOs) to address methane and ammonia emissions.

In each case, we will approach each business client with a multimedia approach that encourages the adoption of best management practices for all wastes and effluents.

Use of Incentives as a Tool
This project will be designed to test what we believe to be a new approach to encouraging businesses to voluntarily adopt best environmental management practices for their businesses. We have learned from studying the successes and failures of other green business programs that being designated as "green" in itself is not sufficient incentive to get businesses to change their environmental behavior. They tend to continue to do what they are already doing as long as it can work. For this project, however, we will be asking participating small businesses to temporarily adopt specific "green" management practices that are different from how things were done in the past and different from how their competitors may be conducting business.

We will be attempting to help the business to experience the "look and feel" of an environmentally responsible "green" business for a period of at least a few months. Our expectation is that some of these businesses will continue these best environmental management practices past the end of the project.

To encourage their participation in this project we will, as an incentive to participate, temporarily (up to the end of this grant) defer or reimburse the business for a portion of any new environmentally related expenses incurred as a result of participation in this project.

In addition to ADEQ's role and participation in this project, the UALR Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will be providing assistance in designated industry sectors in terms of helping arrange seminars and in making specific industry contacts. Not only does this lend credibility to our efforts, but the SBDC is able to arrange continuing education credits to businesses participating in the program and through its affiliation with the University of Arkansas, we are able to enlist the support of graduate students to participate in field activities throughout the State of Arkansas.

Transferring Innovation
The program will be administered by ADEQ's Small Business Assistance Program which participates in the national network of small business assistance providers in place through the provisions of Section 507 of the Clean Air Act Amendments. As participants in this program, information from all participants regarding their environmental experiences is shared through national clearing houses, seminars, annual meetings, and list servers.

The approach we are proposing for establishing a green business program is a model that is readily transferrable to other States having a small business assistance program. The program can be single media or multi-media as the State desires. It requires a relatively modest amount of money and can easily be directed at target industry sectors as resources become available.

Guaranteeing Measures and Accountability
The long term objective of this project is to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve a high degree of participation in a green business program through use of a culture change model instead of relying on "green" designation as the sole incentive to encourage participation. The end result of higher participation will be: increased waste recycling, reduced pollutant discharges, additional permit revenues, and improved waste management practices.

Project accountability: For all grants received by ADEQ, fiscal accountability for the project will be monitored by the ADEQ Fiscal Division and through the management structure of the ADEQ Small Business Assistance Program.

Technical accountability will be determined by monitoring progress toward the short term and long term goals defined at the beginning of the project. Accountability to stakeholders will be accomplished through the sharing of information as the project progresses. This is viewed as a critical part of the planning for getting the maximum number of businesses to engage in the process. The project manager will be responsible for maintaining technical accountability and stakeholder accountability through periodic reports to ADEQ, EPA managers, participating businesses and other stakeholders including the Arkansas SBDC.

Project metrics

As businesses are enrolled, and potential environmental benefits are identified, we will conduct a baseline study for each participating business

Proposed Budget
Arkansas Green Business Program Innovations

[REDACTED BY EPA]


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