Environmental Progress - Winter 1996

Illinois, Five Other States Honored For Regulatory Reform Efforts

Reciprocity is expected to speed the use of new technologies.

At a Pennsylvania ceremony on Sept. 24, 1996, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and its counterparts in five other states were presented the Hammer Award for Reinventing Government for advanced regulatory reform efforts.

Illinois joined California, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey in a memorandum of understanding in June to jointly share information and reviews of new innovative technology for waste management and pollution prevention.

Each of the six states initially submitted two new technologies approved for use in their states for review by the others. Illinois offered a sequencing batch reactor used in wastewater treatment and a desulfurization air pollution control device.

The goal is for the states to reach agreements on the technologies so that they can be used in all of the states without having to go through additional testing or detailed permit requirements. The reciprocity agreements are expected to speed the use of new technology in site cleanups, pollution prevention, and other environmental endeavors.

Vice President Albert Gore's National Performance Review selects Hammer Award recipients. Illinois EPA was also recognized at the White House in March 1995 for its innovative emissions trading proposals to help meet ground-level ozone reduction requirements under the federal Clean Air Act.

Illinois and its partner states who signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the Evaluation and Promotion of Environmental Technologies were presented plaques by Dr. Clyde Frank, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management in the U.S. Department of Energy, at a ceremony near Philadelphia.

"This is a partnership to help reduce regulatory burden on environmental industry and to increase markets for innovative environmental technologies," said Illinois EPA Director Mary A. Gade.

"Through these reforms we hope to contribute not only to cleanup of sites in our state but to improved environmental quality for all of our partners," she added.

Illinois EPA Deputy Director Bernard P. Killian accepted the Hammer Award on behalf of Gade and the Agency.

"Thank you for the recognition the Department of Energy has given to this important partnering effort. We are pleased to see the continued support of improving environmental industry's contributions to our quality of life," Killian said.