Reinventing Environmental Regulation: Lessons from Project XLResources for the Future, 2002 - 242 pages Project XL (eXcellence and Leadership) was the flagship effort by the Clinton administration for 'cleaner, cheaper, and smarter' regulation. Under Project XL, business promised better performance in exchange for a regulatory approach focused more on results than means, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) measuring pollution reduction across rather than at individual sources within a facility. Reinventing Environmental Regulation is a compelling account of the breakdown in negotiations to implement Project XL at a tape manufacturing plant of 3M, a company widely recognized as environmentally progressive. Marcus, Geffen, and Sexton discuss the conflicting goals of participants, the influences of personality and organizational culture, and complications caused by changes in 3M's external business environment. They compare the 3M case with EPA negotiations involving Intel, Merck, and Weyerhaeuser, finding similarly contentious, though less fatal disagreements about the meaning of 'superior environmental performance.' In common with other recent proposals, Project XL emphasized cooperative, flexible regulatory approaches. Reinventing Environmental Regulation demonstrates the difficulty of putting these appealing ideas into practice, while offering encouragement for continued innovations. |
Contents
Environmental Policy in Transition | 1 |
Quid Pro Quo and the Birth of Project XL | 10 |
Conflicting Goals | 24 |
Complicating Factors | 46 |
Drafting the 3M Proposal | 58 |
Gaining EPA Support for the Agreement | 75 |
The Practical Impediments | 89 |
Three XL Projects That Gained Approval | 111 |
Roadblocks to Cooperative Solutions | 159 |
Creating a Platform for Experiments | 179 |
The Comparable Actions Test | 197 |
A More Unambiguous Definition of Superior | 205 |
References | 211 |
Acknowledgements | 223 |
About the Authors | 241 |
Comparing the Approved Projects with 3Ms Proposal | 147 |
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Common terms and phrases
3M and MPCA 3M Company 3M-Hutchinson achieve actual emissions adhesive tape administrator air emissions Air Quality approach BACT baseline changes Clean Air Act Clinton coaters compliance criteria pollutants decisionmaking draft emissions caps emitted environment environmental benefits environmental management environmental protection EPA headquarters EPA Region EPA staff EPA's Final Project Agreement Flint River goals HAP emissions Hutchinson facility implement improvements increase innovative Intel involved issues laws levels limits MACT magnetic tape meeting ment Merck MPCA staff MPCA's negotiations nitrogen oxides North Plant operating organizations participants parties permit and FPA Pilot Project pollution prevention problems Project XL regional office REINVENTING ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION requirements Ronchak ronmental Saint Paul Sonstegard sources stakeholder stakeholder group standards sulfur dioxide superior environmental performance tion U.S. EPA unit of production VOC emissions volatile organic compounds Weyerhaeuser Weyerhaeuser Company XL permit XL pilots XL project XL proposal Zosel