(AGENPARL) – gio 05 settembre 2024 Issued: Sep 5, 2024 (2:50pm EDT)
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EPA Finalizes Policy for Meaningful Engagement and Public Participation in
Agency Decision-Making Processes
Updated policy helps ensure that EPA staff are meaningfully engaging with the
American public on environmental and public health issues
WASHINGTON — Today, September 5, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced the release of the final Achieving Health and Environmental
Protection Through EPA’s Meaningful Engagement Policy. The new policy
outlines updates on how the agency intends to engage with the public and
provide meaningful public participation opportunities in all of its programs
and regions. This policy is grounded in the acknowledgment that EPA’s actions
to protect public health and the environment are stronger when they are
informed by and reflect the lived experiences of the communities and
individuals the agency serves.
“EPA’s ability to deliver critical public health and environmental
protections to all communities depends on the meaningful input that our
stakeholders share with us,” said Theresa Segovia, Principal Deputy
Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and
External Civil Rights. “The Biden-Harris Administration has made it a
priority to engage with and hear from the American people, and our updated
policy brings EPA one step closer to meeting our mission and solving some of
the most pressing environmental challenges of our lifetimes.”
EPA’s Meaningful Engagement Policy highlights three steps to help EPA staff
design appropriate and effective processes for meaningful engagement and
public participation for a particular action or situation, recognizing that
engagement processes will need to be tailored to meet different program or
decision contexts, and the people we serve. The three steps include: 
Understanding EPA actions and key issues the public can inform. 
Identifying the expected level of participation using EPA’s public
participation spectrum.
Identifying the appropriate engagement tools and practices using EPA’s
public participation model.
Although this document does not create new legal requirements or mandatory
obligations for EPA, the recommendations finalized in the policy provide the
public with meaningful engagement opportunities for program and regional
needs. This final policy updates and supersedes EPA’s 2003 “Public
Involvement Policy.” It builds on EPA’s foundational commitment to
ensuring that the public has timely, accessible, and accurate information
about EPA programs, and that EPA teams provide opportunities for participation
that foster a spirit of mutual trust, confidence, and openness between the
agency and the public. The final policy also advances the Biden-Harris
Administration’s commitment to meaningful engagement and President Biden’s
Executive Orders 13985, 14094 (supported by the guidance Broadening Public
Participation and Community Engagement in the Regulatory Process (pdf)), and
13990, 14008 and 14096 to revitalize our nation’s commitment to
environmental justice.
To learn more about the final policy, please visit EPA’s website. 
Background
In 1981, recognizing the requirements for meaningful public engagement in
authorizing statutes and executive orders, EPA issued its Public Participation
Policy (pdf), addressing public participation in decision-making, rulemaking,
and program implementation by the Agency and entities carrying out EPA
programs. In 2003, the agency published its updated Public Involvement Policy
(pdf), resulting from the multi-year effort of the cross-agency “Review of
EPA Public Participation Policies” Workgroup established in 1999. EPA had
success with hosting regular meetings of a cross-agency community of practice,
building a web portal, developing training, publishing a newsletter,
documenting case studies, and collecting information on customer satisfaction.
Read the Federal Register Notice containing the updated policy. EPA’s
Response to Comments document addresses comments received during the 60-day
public and Tribal consultation period from November 16, 2023, to January 16,
2024, and is also available in the Federal Register and on EPA’s
website.  
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