Epa,Collaborative Rule Making,and the Small Communities Outreach Project For Environmental Issues

Abstract

In an era of increased attention paid to the impact of federal regulation on citizens and small business entities, the Small Communities Outreach Project for Environmental Issues (SCOPe) is a collaborative attempt between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration to facilitate communication between small communities and local government officials and EPA. The authors report on the activities of SCOPe designed to elicit comment on EPA’s proposed groundwater rule. They contend that SCOPe is an effective model of communication between EPA and small community officials and is particularly adept at capturing the “state of the world” of small communities through qualitative data. Finally, the authors analyze the activities of SCOPe in terms of its utility in the federal rule-making process.

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