NEWMOA is working with the Small Business Environmental Assistance Programs in the six EPA Region 5 states (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 Autobody ERP project involves:

• Developing a common inspection checklist
• Randomly selecting a statistically valid number of facilities in each state and conducting the baseline visits at the selected shops
• Analyzing the results of the baseline visits is to learn the areas where shops needed additional assistance in understanding how to comply with state and federal rules
• Developing common outreach materials, including a self-certification checklist and performing outreach to shops
• Conducting following up inspections at another randomly selected set of shops after the compliance date (March 2011)
• Comparing facility performance before and after outreach to determine its effectiveness in raising compliance.

The expected outcomes of the project are to:

• Illuminate the nature, scope and seriousness of problems at autobody shops in the urban areas within Region 5
• Quantify environmental performance in the autobody refinishing sector and document changes resulting from outreach efforts
• Enable participating states and EPA Region 5 to better focus their limited resources on specific problem areas and to use the strategies that have been demonstrated to achieve the greatest environmental results improvements.

More information about the Region 5 Autobody Initiative including the outreach materials is available at http://dnr.wi.gov/air/sb/AutobodyERP.html.

For more information, contact Jennifer Griffith at .