New Jersey

Project Information

Title: RCRA Permitting Integration into the New Jersey Environmental Management System

Location: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ

Applicant: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)

Contacts
Sherry Driber, CIO and Jim Bridgewater, NJEMS Project Manager; NJDEP – Office of Information Resource Management; 401 E. State Street - P.O. Box 428; Trenton, NJ 08625-0428; Phone: (609) 292-3211; Fax: (609) 292-7900; Email: sherry.driber@dep.state.nj.us ; jim.bridgewater@dep.state.nj.us

Project Summary

This document represents the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) State Innovation Grant pre-proposal for the EPA State Innovation Grant Program. This pre-proposal is being submitted in order to gain supplemental funding to assist NJDEP in developing innovative permitting procedures by allowing us to build upon our existing enterprise IT infrastructure to fully integrate New Jersey's RCRA permitting program into the existing New Jersey Environmental Management System (NJEMS). NJEMS is the NJDEP's facility based, regulated activity tracking system that is implemented department-wide and supports all media programs. Increased integration into NJEMS will provide a RCRA permitting model for "next generation" environmental protection in New Jersey, other states and the EPA. Full integration of the RCRA permitting program into NJEMS will advance the quality and availability of our environmental data, facilitate electronic RCRA reporting to EPA, and heighten cross-media environmental permit decision making in 2004 and beyond.

Funding under this grant will be used to diversify NJ's environmental protection tools by enhancing NJEMS to capture more detailed data on hazardous waste activities at all RCRA regulated sites in NJ. This data will be available to all NJDEP regulatory programs for use in environmental permit decision making based on results-based measures. The data will also be incorporated into NJ's existing GIS-based multi-media tool (iMapNJ) for use in geospatial analyses made for individual sites, local areas or Statewide. Through NJ's existing web-based reporting tools, the public will have timely and accurate access to information on the environmental activities in their communities and across the state. Lastly, this will act as groundwork to facilitate future electronic RCRA application submission via NJ's existing RADIUS software, presently used by regulatees to submit Air NSR and Operating Permit applications.

As described in the Project Narrative section, NJDEP needs to enhance NJEMS to capture the following information about specific hazardous waste activities at RCRA facilities throughout New Jersey:

Design, capacity, construction and waste type information for all hazardous waste TSD units at a site
Hazardous waste treatment process flow and design information
Flow data on all received wastes including processing methods and residues generated from all TSD activities, and final disposition of wastes not generated from on-site treatment processes
Actual process emission and residue data, including residue amounts, media affected, final disposition methods to facilitate pollution prevention decision making at the site, area, and statewide levels

The Asst. Commissioner for Management & Budget of the NJDEP endorses this project. This project will not be executed in cooperation with, or funded by another Federal program. This proposal will augment and enhance the groundwork functionality being built by the Mississippi Dept. of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) under their approved Networks Grant. Discussion of how this project will substantially enhance the work being done by MDEQ is presented in the Project Narrative section of this pre-proposal.

Summary Budget Information

Contact:

Project Title: RCRA Permitting Integration into the New Jersey Environmental Management System

Below are the preliminary projected costs for this project. Costs are broken down into 5 broad categories, and each category's costs are divided between state funding and those funds requested of the EPA grant. NJDEP funding sources include general funds, and specific appropriation funding for IT initiatives. State funding will be paid in the form of salaries and other indirect costs. It is requested that grant funding be awarded to cover contractor costs for software design, development and testing. The contractor costs listed are based on previous costs for similar enhancements made by the same contractor.

<Information Withheld by U.S. EPA>

Pre-proposal Narrative

Introduction

Presently, New Jersey's RCRA permitting program is only partially integrated into the NJDEP's enterprise environmental management system (NJEMS). Information and data addressing site-specific environmental impacts, emissions, waste storage, disposal and treatment processes, and waste inventory/flow are still maintained on paper applications. The NJDEP is seeking to diversify its existing environmental protection tools and approaches by enhancing NJEMS to be able to capture the following information electronically for all RCRA regulated sites in NJ:

Design, capacity, construction and waste type information for all hazardous waste TSD units at a site
Detailed hazardous waste treatment process flow and design information
Flow data on all received wastes and processing methods of all hazardous waste treatment/storage residues including media affected, amounts, and ultimate disposal locations
A ctual process emission and residue data, including final disposition methods to facilitate pollution prevention decision making at individual sites, and at a statewide level

The availability of this data in our enterprise system will allow it to be used by the RCRA program managers, as well as all other regulatory programs in the NJDEP, to develop and promote innovative permitting schemes that address multi-media, multi-facility environmental concerns. Data on the types and amounts of authorized wastes at every facility and how the wastes are being managed will enable more focused targeted compliance assistance and inspection activities by the NJDEP. This new functionality will also lay the groundwork for potential future development of the ability for applicants to create and submit electronic application for direct import into NJEMS, increasing processing efficiency.

Once the data is captured in NJEMS, it will also be available to be merged with other geospatial data using iMapNJ, NJDEP's internet-based GIS tool. This will allow NJDEP management, staff and the public a holistic view of industry-wide and statewide environmental performance, identify pollution prevention opportunities, provide a better framework for identifying potential environmental justice issues, and spotlight potential hazardous waste related homeland security concerns. Using this data and GIS, the NJDEP will be able to enhance regulatory planning and develop more innovative industry-specific regulatory changes that promote regulatory flexibility and pollution prevention initiatives.

Developing this data in NJEMS will also provide an automated and timely exchange of data with the EPA and other states via the future RCRAInfo data flow through CDX, and allow DEP to report on hazardous waste data across all facilities and media.

Project Schedule and Timeframe

The following is a projected schedule for design, development and implementation of the project:

Task	Start Date	Duration
Project Kickoff - NJDEP and contractor develop and finalize workplan, finalize design session schedule and project milestone dates.	5/1/04	45 Days
Design - NJDEP and contractor hold design sessions and contractor develops final design document for development.	7/14/04	45 Days
Development - Contractor develops software enhancements, delivers interim build(s), internally tests new enhancements and delivers final testing software. NJDEP develops necessary reference table data, testing data and test scripts.	8/28/04	90 Days
Acceptance Testing/Bug Fixes/Verification - Contractor and NJDEP staff conduct acceptance testing of the developed software	11/26/04	14 days
Final Software and Rollout - Contractor finalizes development software to address testing issues, delivers software. NJDEP configures NJEMS and installs/implements software changes.	12/10/04	45 days
RCRA Permit Writer Training - NJDEP holds training session for RCRA permit writers to go over new functionality, and rules and procedures for using the new enhancements.	1/24/05	2 Days

Program Criteria

Target Priority Environmental Issues

The proposed project has components that address the below issues specified in EPA's Innovation Strategy. The following means by which the proposed project addresses the following innovation strategy issues are fully described in the " Likely Improvement in Results from Project Implementation " section of this proposal:

Diversify environmental protection tools and approaches through information resources and technology, Environmental Management Systems
Strengthen EPA's innovation partnership with States
Foster "innovation-friendly" organizational culture and system
Help develop and exchange information between the states and EPA
Promote multi-media, multi-agency and multi-state analysis of environmental data to assess environmental impacts and identify opportunities for further innovations in permitting and environmental planning.

Likely Improvement in Results from Project Implementation

This project represents a significantly new and innovative component for hazardous waste management and RCRA permitting in New Jersey and other states using the NJEMS/TEMPO environmental management systems (EMS). Development and implementation of this project will result in the following immediate improvements, and create the base structure that will facilitate future improvements, also described below. Please note that although an improvement is listed for a specific category, it may also represent corresponding improvements in the other categories. These cross-category improvements have been noted where applicable.

Innovations in Permitting

The proposed details windows (screens) will enable NJDEP to capture the design, waste inventory and process data necessary to assist NJDEP in achieving mandatory Federal and State Standards by providing more accurate and complete data on facilities' hazardous waste management processes. This data will allow permit reviewers to fully identify environmental impacts at individual facilities and statewide. This data can be used to develop "smarter" permit conditions that promote enhanced environmental performance based on a more holistic view of existing hazardous waste processes to allow facilities and industries to exceed regulatory requirements by evaluating the impacts of specific processes across geographic areas or industry sectors.
The proposed detail windows will allow NJDEP to develop permit conditions for the sharing of data obtained through facilities' EMS by creating a place holder and standard structure for capturing this data in NJEMS. The new data structure will also pave the way for future opportunities to allow e-data to be sent by the facility from their EMS and incorporated into NJEMS. This data can then be used by NJDEP's GIS and reporting tools to provide analysis for better decision making/planning, modifying existing permit conditions to include more intelligent and realistic performance measures as permit conditions, and potentially reduce the need for permit modifications.
The proposed project will innovate the existing permitting process by providing a base structure for future enhancements to incorporate a hazardous waste permitting module in RADIUS to allow for facility e-submittal of applications and automatic screening/completeness checking. This, along with the above cited e-data submission opportunities will provide an opportunity to streamline administrative procedures in the permitting process including application submission, reporting and recordkeeping. All of these innovations will result in a cost savings to both the State and regulated entities, as has been demonstrated by the Air Permitting Program in New Jersey, when they implemented similar innovations in the late 1990's.
Using the proposed data, in conjunction with the other multi-media data presently in NJEMS for every site, will allow New Jersey's RCRA program to develop more integrated environmental planning to address facility or community issues not readily regulated under Federal Authority. For example, using the proposed data and the existing multi-media data in NJEMS will allow the NJDEP to analyze area-specific trends on environmental impacts and identify potential environmental justice issues. Once identified, the NJDEP can work with the regulated community to find innovative permitting methods that address the environmental justice issues, while maintaining regulatory flexibility for the regulated entities.

Multi-media Benefits

The availability of the proposed data will encourage the use of NJEMS within New Jersey's tiered permitting structure to consider cross-media concerns and unregulated impacts of facilities. Once the data is integrated into NJEMS and New Jersey's iMapNJ and GIS tools, spatial analysis can be made by all NJDEP permitting programs across all media to identify opportunities for regulatory reform, or policy changes that address broad reductions in environmental impacts.
Using the proposed data and the existing multi-media data in NJEMS will allow the NJDEP to analyze area-specific trends on environmental impacts and identify potential environmental justice issues. Once identified, the NJDEP can work with the regulated community to find innovative permitting methods to achieve voluntary reductions in emissions and releases in environmentally burdened communities or geographic areas with high concentrations of facilities and nearby populations, while maintaining regulatory flexibility for the regulated entities.
The availability of the proposed data will allow the NJDEP to conduct analysis regarding hazardous waste facility performance, environmental impacts, and waste reduction opportunities. This will allow NJDEP to better implement the EPA's Environmental Results Program (ERP) model for integrated system of compliance assistance that encourages pollution prevention. This data will supplement the existing NJEMS data available for all media, and pollution prevention report data, and will provide increased accuracy and detail in iMapNJ/GIS spatial data. This will allow for better geographic multi-media analysis of the environment in New Jersey, and better identify pollution prevention opportunities across a geographic area, or industry sector as a whole.

Availability of Environmental Information and Reporting

The proposed inventory, emissions and residuals handling data will provide additional key information to be used in addressing homeland security planning and response.
Developing this data in NJEMS will provide easy and timely exchange with the EPA and other states via the Network using the RCRAInfo data flow, and allow DEP to report on hazardous waste data across facilities and media.
Using the proposed data through NJEMS, I-map, and existing on-line reporting tools will allow the NJDEP to provide the public and other regulators with timely and accurate picture of the environmental activities in their communities and across the state, including overall environmental performance and compliance.

Measuring Improvement and Accountability

The NJDEP will implement a plan to define and monitor the performance indicators necessary to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the project, and whether the goals specified above are being met. The following outlines both the performance indicators for the above-specified goals, and the process to be used to monitor these goals:

Project Goal and performance Indicator	Measurement Method	Timeframe for Achievement
Increased use of integrated hazardous waste process and inventory data by RCRA permitting staff to develop permits that better address multi-media concerns and pollution prevention	Review permit conditions developed for new/modified RCRA permits to verify that permit writers and managers are reviewing applications using the new data to assess multi-media impacts, and incorporating permit conditions that address multi-media concerns.	Monitor every 3 months from completion of the by polling RCRA managers and reviewing permits issued.
Use of the data for environmental and regulatory planning initiatives, and compliance assistance	Review regulatory development and enforcement use of new data, and assess it's use in new rules and enforcement policy	6 months from project completion
Use of the data by other NJDEP regulatory programs to develop permits addressing multi-media concerns.	Poll NJEMS Core Team to evaluate and monitor use of new data by other regulatory programs in permit review	Monitor every 3 months from project completion
Increased information sharing with EPA and the public	Integrate new data into existing/new reports to EPA, and update Node. Create WEBI reports for public.	1 year from project completion
Increased use of the data for multi-media analysis and pollution prevention	Development of GIS layers that incorporate new data for use in iMap.	1 year from project completion
Innovation sharing with other states	Ensure that TUG states are involved in design, and provided opportunity to integrate new windows TEMPO. Also, make RCRA data available through the Network.	Coordinate throughout project, and make final product available. Also test and complete data flows winter 2004.

Transferring Innovation

Implementation of these changes in NJEMS will further increase the process standardization in NJ's RCRA program that began with their integration into NJEMS. Each program is required to do extensive change management and process standardization and streamlining when they integrate into NJEMS. With the additional information provided by this project, the RCRA permit review process will be further streamlined by moving the review process from paper to enterprise data, and increase standardization in the review process, increase use of multi-media information during permit creation and increase intelligent enforcement of RCRA permits.

Each regulatory program using NJEMS has a representative in the NJEMS Core Team at the NJDEP. The Core team meets bi-weekly to discuss NJEMS functionality, department-wide policy and process issues to increase efficiency and improve the way we regulate, and how to best use all data in NJEMS to improve existing regulatory processes and provide better service and information to the regulated community and public. The new functionality developed in this project will be shared and discussed with the NJEMS Core Team so that jointly we can decide how to best implement and use the new information in every program, and in all regulatory process.

The NJEMS system was used as the base model for the TEMPO environmental management system that is presently in-use or being developed for Mississippi, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee and Maryland. New Jersey, the other TEMPO states and the developer of NJEMS and TEMPO (American Management Systems) have formed a TEMPO User Group (TUG) which conducts conference calls monthly to discuss use, design and enhancements to TEMPO/NJEMS. There are also discussions on broader state and federal environmental policy issues, process issues to improve state interaction with the EPA, and processes to improve overall environmental regulation. Through the TUG forum, New Jersey has already worked on collaborative efforts to better use and enhance the NJEMS/TEMPO systems including recent work directly with Kentucky and Mississippi in developing a final joint design for the TEMPO system. Part of this grant request is to fund the retrofit of TEMPO's new RCRA piece into NJEMS. This collaboration and innovation sharing will continue on this project as follows:

NJDEP will provide all TUG members the opportunity to participate in the design of the new details windows, post the designs on the TUG website, and discuss the design during scheduled TUG calls.
Updates on testing and training will be provided during TUG calls and meetings.
Once developed and implemented in NJEMS, these enhancements will be made available to all TUG member states to incorporate into TEMPO. The NJDEP will discuss with them how to best use the new functionality to recognize permit process innovations.
This functionality will also be available to any new state implementing the TEMPO system.

Lastly, once implemented, representatives from USEPA Region II will be invited to the NJDEP for a demo of the new functionality and a discussion of how to best jointly use this new functionality to promote organizational system change, share data and to use the data to better affect innovative environmental problem solving.