Reinventing Environmental Management Issue Summary Imagine a mega corporation that controlled 33 percent of the entire land mass of the United States. You don't have to imagine very hard. All you have to do is observe the environmental management efforts of the federal government. With over 400 agencies involved, it should come as no surprise that we have lacked a coherent, efficient, and cost-effective approach to safeguarding our public lands. With so many agencies interpreting and enforcing regulations, it's also no surprise that federal managers have not shared a similar focus. Our system has tended to map environmental concerns along bureaucratic borders rather than the natural boundaries of the affected ecosystem. Past methods of federal accounting and financial analysis have contributed to the problem by excluding environmental costs from short term planning. These expenses have come back to haunt taxpayers in costly cleanups, loss of irreplaceable resources, and expensive litigations. And when it comes to carrying out legislation, we've opted for controls and penalties rather than sound prevention mechanisms designed to stop pollution before it starts. The National Performance Review is implementing a set of Recommendations that refocus federal environmental management on solutions and results. We are encouraging collaborative programs where responsible agencies jointly manage a specific ecosystem to protect its resources, promote sustainable economic development, and reduce costs. The NPR package also aims at improving environmental performance at federal buildings and facilities. Our Actions direct managers to install commercially available energy and water conservation systems, and to use environmentally beneficial landscaping techniques. As an incentive, the NPR recommends that agencies reinvest their environmental savings into systems that will reduce future energy bills. Over the past year, working together, we have made progress. The President has signed directives to promote sound environmental practices for federal lands and projects. We've also setup cross-agency management teams to analyze federal programs affecting four ecosystems. Your participation in this Electronic Open Meeting will go a long way towards energizing, refining, and implementing NPR Recommendations affecting environmental management. During the next two weeks you'll be able to connect, engage, and network with participants across the federal workforce. By sharing experiences and ideas on government reinvention, this Electronic Open Meeting will help forge the enterprising and pragmatic solutions needed to create a government that works better and costs less.
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