# Presentation: 839156

## Federal Facilities Conference

**EPA Region 7**
**Federal Facilities Conference**
**May 24 - 26, 2005**
- Plaza Marriott Hotel - Kansas City

***Conference Highlights...****** ***
**R7 Federal Facility Program:  Goals, Approach, Enforcement and Compliance Monitoring  **
- Federal facilities, like all members of the regulated community, are responsible for complying with EPA, State, and local environmental requirements. The White House’s Office of the Federal Environmental Executive and EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) have been working to improve the environmental performance of federal agencies.  OECA’s Federal Facilities Enforcement Office (FFEO) and the ten regional offices are tasked with ensuring that federal agencies meet these performance requirements.  The goal of Region 7’s Federal Facility Program is to ensure and facilitate compliance with all environmental regulations, policies, and executive orders.
- Our approach will be one of collaboration and expectation.  We believe that federal facilities can learn from and share with each other.  We will encourage and facilitate this collaborative process through meetings, conferences, and compliance assistance.  We believe this will help federal facilities work together toward implementing and adopting best environmental management practices.
- Our expectations are that each federal facility within Region 7 will take the necessary actions to comply with all environmental regulations, policies, and executive orders. We believe that federal facilities can and should take a leadership role by reaching levels of compliance and performance that equals or surpasses the rest of the regulated community. We will maintain an effective compliance monitoring program to assure environmental performance requirements are met.  Without verifying compliance with the requirements, the promulgation of laws and regulations have little impact.  Region 7 will be flexible in using the available tools at its disposal to work with its federal facility partners to prevent, control and abate environmental pollution and ensure compliance.
**EMS Implementation - Due 12/ 31/05**
- A federal agency’s ability to comply with environmental requirements is directly related to the effectiveness of its formal or informal environmental management systems (EMS).  As of 12/31/05, each federal agency is required to have a formal EMS in place.  This EMS, based on the ISO 14001 Standards, will provide the tools to ensure that federal facilities meet the compliance requirements, operate in an efficient and effective manner, and likely exceed  environmental performance requirements.
**Federal Facilities / Statutes & Regulatory Updates**
- The FFEO and Regions regularly analyze compliance and enforcement data to determine those areas in which federal facilities are having difficulty complying.  Since the ability to comply is directly related to an accurate understanding of the requirements, the Region 7 Federal Facility Program may be contacted for information and expert assistance.  During this conference, we will have a special session dedicated to providing up-dates on regulatory requirements that are new or have changed.
**Environmental Justice **
- Executive Order 12898 directs federal agencies to identify their programs, policies, and activities that have disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority and/or low-income populations.  Region 7 believes that we all have a role in helping achieve environmental protection for all communities.  During this conference, we will have a special session that addresses the roles and responsibilities of federal facilities.