Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 20, 1993 TAG: 9311200081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Browner said she will change the system of issuing regulations across categories such as air, water and soil and instead use an industry-by-industry approach that looks at the total pollution problems in a given industry and coordinates regulations, reporting requirements, permits and enforcement activity.
In addition, the program will seek to identify new pollution prevention opportunities and encourage environmental technology.
Browner told a meeting of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that she wants to move away from the "one size fits all" approach because it sometimes results in businesses having to work at cross purposes to meet conflicting air and water pollution requirements.
The result, she said, is that "our laws and policies have often simply moved contaminants from one medium to another."
"The old piecemeal approach, where the air office looks at air pollution, the water office looks at water problems, and so on, doesn't work for me as a regulator and it doesn't work for you," she told the business gathering.
Browner said her goal is to ease the cost burden on businesses as well as streamline the restrictive system that has evolved through years of mistrust among Congress, the EPA, industry and environmentalists.
"The policies by which we achieve environmental protection have serious shortcomings," she said.
She called for "a new type of environmentalism and a new EPA, one based on an unyielding commitment to the nation's environmental goals combined with common sense, innovation and flexibility."
Browner said the EPA will select several industries for pilot projects using the new cross-media system and devise a plan for each industry.
by CNB