UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

Ms. Octaviana Trujillo, Ph.D., Chair 

U.S. Governmental Advisory Committee 

2693 North Sandstone Way 

Flagstaff, AZ 86004 

Dear Dr. Trujillo: 

FEB 2 7 2013 

Office of 

International and 

Tribal Affairs 

On behalf of Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, I would like to thank you for the Governmental 

Advisory Committee's (GAC) advice of December 16, 2012 reporting on its October 25-26, 2012 

meeting in Washington D.C. Your letter provides valuable recommendations to the United States 

Government on the Commission on Environmental Cooperation's (CEC) cooperative work plan for 2013, 

the strategic focus and direction for new projects, and the communications efforts to promote CEC 

activity. I was sorry that I could not join you in person, but am pleased that Michael Stahl, the 

Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs, was able to join 

you in my stead. 

We appreciate your advice regarding the strategic projects to be included in the new 

operational plan, particularly that would address issues related to greening the economy and 

climate change-low carbon economies. As we discussed in the October meeting, the Council has 

supported a vision of the CEC more focused on fewer and bigger projects that give North 

America a greater bang for the environmental buck. We will work with you to make sure that 

this transition to "fewer, bigger" is done in a thoughtful manner which will support targeted 

activities with more tangible results. 

We also appreciate your advice and recommendations on the communication strategy. 

Your recommendations on outreach tools and relevant organizations will be very helpful in 

strengthening our messages and broadening our stakeholders. 

As always, your guidance is highly valuable and respected. Finally, I would like to personally 

congratulate you on your appointment as Chair of the Government Advisory Committee. I look 

forward to discussing these ideas with you in more detail and look forward to seeing you at your 

spring meeting. 

Sincerely, 

Michelle 

ItA~ DePass 

Alternate Representative for the United States 

Internet Address (URL) • http://www.epa.gov 

Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled Paper 
Recommendations: 

General: 

That all CEC projects incorporate performance measures and outcomes 

Currently, all projects under the CEC cooperative work plan incorporate a variety of 

performance measures all geared toward achieving the stated outcomes of each individual project. 

Because of the breadth in the spectrum of projects, there is variance in the specificity and degree to which 

performance measures can be applied. Some projects can be easily subjected to quantitative measures 

and others require a qualitative approach. Regardless of the project type, we agree that there should be 

increased focused on the performance measures of each active project and that each project should strive 

for clear and achievable outcomes. 

That serious consideration should be given to scaling back the number of projects, as to make 

them more strategic and focused 

Thank you for your advice regarding scaling back the number of projects in the annual 

work plan. The Council has considered this issue and agrees that stronger results will come from 

more focused and concerted action. It is our intention that future work programs will limit 

projects and programs and that Council will ensure that the focus is on those critical matters on 

which the CEC can make a real difference. At this time we are in the process of making 

determinations on what projects will be undertaken in the 2013-14 Operational Plan, and will of 

course, provide you with an opportunity to comment on any new scenario. 

Moving North American Grasslands project to the climate change pillar 

We appreciate the suggestion to re-align the North American Grasslands project under 

the climate change priority. The categorization ofCEC projects are usually done by the 

government experts in each country involved with the project, but we recognize that many of our 

activities could fall under the auspices of more than one of the priority, given the need to provide 

sufficiently broad focus for our work. At the same time in developing the CEC cooperative work 

plan, we endeavor to provide a balance of activities across the three broad strategic priorities. 

We will propose this change to our counterparts in Mexico and Canada, and report back to you 

as soon as such a trilateral -discussion takes place. 

Potential "sun-setting" of the automotive supply project, due to its success; can be used as a mode/for 

best practices 

We agree that the automotive supply project has been a tremendous success and has 

largely achieved its objective of establishing a functioning partnership among manufacturers in 

all three countries. We further agree that this project should sunset at the close of the 2011-2012 

operational cycle. In anticipation of the project close, we are actively working with our 

representatives to this project to determine how this model could be applied to other asset 

classes, such as shipping or freight, and how we can share applicable best practices with other 

CEC projects. 
New potential project: "Assessment of environmental impacts of solid waste practices in rural and 

indigenous communities" 

Overall Framework for this project would include: 

Inventory of current solid waste management practices 

Identify gaps and barriers to adequate solid waste management practices 

Identify tools and best practices 

Thank you for your suggestion and sound advice on considering a new project related to 

solid waste practices in rural and indigenous communities. You have raised important issues 

regarding the impact of inadequate management and disposal of solid waste on our "at risk" 

communities. We will work with our experts in EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency 

Response to determine the feasibility of such an activity, and we will discuss it with our 

counterparts in Canada and Mexico as well. 

Communication RECOMMENDATION: 

Develop an e-newsletter with a "news " section on Council, JPAC, NAC and GAC, and any other relevant 

groups; plus a calendar section, and highlights on successes or accomplishments, and relevant web links. 

Below are potential national venues where the GAC could be a megaphone: 

We agree with the GAC about the utility and importance of all available media to raising 

awareness on trade and environmental issues and we are encouraged by the willingness of the 

GAC to promote the work being done through the CEC. We have encouraging news that the 

communication efforts made at 2012 CEC Council Session had a significant impact and greatly 

improved organizational outreach. At the 2012 council session, there were double the number of 

individuals logged in following the public portions than in 2011, Twitter activity was at an alltime high for CEC, and in-person attendance at both the JP AC and the public council sessions 

were marked improvements over previous years. The CEC has also taken a more aggressive 

approach to communicating the activities of each project in the current operational cycle. Each 

project has its own set of web pages and also disseminates separate blasts, posts and tweets that 

are developed and sent out for project activity, secretarial reports, administrative/leadership 

changes, and mention of other bi-lateral and tri-lateral activity. The EPA will continue to 

encourage a broadening of stakeholder lists and outreach and your list of relevant organizations 

is an excellent start in this effort. The EPA will also encourage further use of social media tools 

and suggest the development of targeted messages specific to each project, including creating an 

option for subscribers to select projects about which they want to receive updates and 

information. 

As for the development of an e-newsletter, we will work with CEC to determine the 

feasibility of an over-arching newsletter and whether there is a more effective way to promote 

current news from the CEC. We encourage GAC members to use their national venues to share 

news and information from the CEC, and we will continue to work with GAC to ensure you are 

up to date on the latest news and information to share.