| NEWMOA's Common Measures Project is 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 is 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 are to:
-Improve the ability of state environmental agencies to develop, implement, and analyze innovative performance measures for targeted business sectors
-Improve the ability of the state environmental agencies to develop and implement innovative compliance strategies, including Environmental Results Projects (ERP)
This project relies on the models of innovative compliance strategies, including ERP and other statistically valid compliance/performance rate approaches already in use by states. By developing and using shared measures, the participating state can evaluate the effectiveness of their own programs and the relative effectiveness of the other states' programs and decide to adopt the more successful compliance assurance approaches used throughout the region. Project objectives include:
-Develop and implement a common, core set of performance measures for business sectors or regulated groups on a multi-state basis;
-Promote the implementation of innovative compliance strategies, including ERP, in the states in the Northeast that have not yet begun these initiatives, including New York; and
-Combine and present the environmental outcome data that is collected from the states using the core performance measures for at least one business sector and analyze and present the results.
Over the past year, the project has provided substantial support and assistance to the participating states, including training on methods of collecting and analyzing data using standard statistically valid approaches.
The Project participants are currently coordinating data collection efforts targeted toward small quantity generators of hazardous waste. The group has agreed upon a set of core performance measures for these entities and is conducting visits to a statistically valid sample to develop a baseline of performance. In 2008 the project plans to have data to begin to share and compare the results of this data collection effort.
In addition to this regional project, NEWMOA has been providing logistical support to the Environmental Results Project Consortium. This is a national consortium involving 18 states and EPA that was created in October 2006. The coalition of states, EPA, and other interested groups share experiences, expertise, and resources in developing and implementing ERP approaches to more effectively address environmental issues. They plan to launch their website shortly. |
