Projects

Region 5 Auto Body Initiative
NEWMOA is working with the Small Business Environmental Assistance Programs in the six EPA Region 5 states (i.e. IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, and WI) to develop an Environmental Results Program (ERP) for autobody refinishing shops. The autobody sector was chosen because there is a new area source rule from USEPA that affects the shops. The purpose of the project is to evaluate and improve the environmental performance of autobody shops in urban areas. This includes developing and implementing compliance assistance tools and performance measurement using statistical approaches to analyze and report the results. NEWMOA is assisting the Region 5 states in project design and data interpretation.

Common Measures
NEWMOA's Common Measures Project was designed to support state efforts to develop and use common measures of environmental performance for one or more business sectors/groups across several NEWMOA member and other states. The purpose was to advance the use of valid statistical methods and measurement tools to enable comparison of performance changes across states resulting from the use of various environmental compliance assurance approaches.

The Project goals were to:

• Improve the ability of state environmental agencies to develop, implement, & analyze innovative performance measures for targeted business sectors
• Improve the ability of the state environmental agencies to develop & implement innovative compliance strategies, including Environmental Results Projects (ERP)

States ERP Consortium
NEWMOA supports the States ERP Consortium, which provides states, EPA, and other interested groups with a forum for sharing experiences, expertise, and resources in developing and implementing ERP approaches to address priority environmental issues effectively and efficiently. The Consortium, which was organized in 2006, currently represents 18 member states, including the Northeast states, that are using, or learning about how to use, ERP to address priority environmental problems.

The Consortium goals are to:

• Communicate successes to build stakeholder support
• Share information among practitioners
• Expand support with EPA and other partners & promote ERP as a proven compliance strategy
• Improve & disseminate tools for easier automation & measurement

For more information on the ERP Consortium visit www.erpstates.org.