Permitting Beyond Pollution Prevention Oregon's Green Permits and the Environmental Management Systems Incentive Project

摘要

Understanding why some firms attain levels of environmental performance well beyond basic compliance interests both policy-makers and business leaders. In 1997, in an attempt to learn what motivates high-achieving firms and to determine what government incentives could be provided, so that more firms would become high achievers, the Oregon legislature created its Green Permits program. The Green Permits program would encourage, support and reward innovative approaches to environmental protection, which would enable firms to move beyond compliance toward pollution prevention and environmentally sustainable development. In response to Green Permits, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality developed the Environmental Management Systems Incentive Project, or EMSIP. Under EMSIP, volunteer firms are provided incentives to achieve certain levels of environmental performance. Under EMSIP a series of tiers was created to classify firms according to performance levels and incentives. Tier II and III firms, for example, must commit to develop and implement an ISO 14001 or comparable environmental management system (EMS) and to adopt the pollution prevention hierarchy. In exchange, firms may be granted incentives such as permitting flexibility, regulatory waivers, modified record keeping, monitoring or reporting requirements and public recognition. At this time, four firms have volunteered to participate in the EMSIP project. These firms will also provide data for a national study of ISO 14001 EMS implementation currently underway at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. USEPA and 10 states including Oregon sponsor the study. This paper will focus on design and implementation issues involved in Oregon's EMSIP project and the associated ISO 14001 EMS research study, paying specific attention to measurement pollution prevention. In 1997, in an attempt to learn what motivates high-achieving firms, and to determine what government incentives could be provided to encourage more firms to become high achievers, the Oregon legislature created its Green Permits program. The legislation, House Bill 3457, specifically asked Oregon's Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) to use creative approaches in this undertaking. The EQC was asked to develop a system of multiple classes or categories of Green Permits and was expected to clearly articulate the requirements, rules and procedures associated with each class. The program, which the EQC created in response to the Green Permits legislation, the Environmental Management Systems Incentive Project or EMSIP, addresses three important goals. First, it responds to the directives of House Bill 3457 as it has been designed as a multi-tiered system. Second, it provides an opportunity for Oregon environmental policy makers to study the effectiveness of environmental management systems. Finally, the information gained from the Oregon firms participating in EMSIP will inform a national study of ISO 14001 design and implementation currently underway at the University of North Carolina.