EPA’s Office of Water Seeking Feedback on Reducing Regulatory Burden
Consistent with Executive Order 13777, EPA is seeking public input on existing regulations that could be repealed, replaced or modified to make them less burdensome. As a part of this effort, EPA will be accepting written public comments through May 15th. In addition, EPA’s Office of Water (OW) will host a public listening session to obtain additional feedback on water regulatory actions on Tuesday, May 2nd.
On February 24, 2017, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 13777 on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda. The EO establishes the, “policy of the United States to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people”. Among other things, it requires each agency to create a Regulatory Reform Task Force to evaluate existing regulations and to identify regulations that could be repealed, replaced or modified to make them less burdensome. The May 2nd listening session by the Office of Water is to solicit input on water issues that will be included in the EPA’s recommendations for reducing regulatory burden.
Office of Water’s Public Listening Session by Telephone and Web Conference
Date: Tuesday, May 2nd
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT
The session will start with brief remarks from EPA and the remainder of the session will be dedicated to listening to public comments. The focus of this listening session will be on water actions only. There are several ways to join the session:
- To join the teleconference: 150 telephone lines are set aside for people who want to speak for one to two minutes. These 150 telephone lines will be distributed randomly among those who pre-register. EPA expects that the three-hour conference call will allow for about 70 to 80 persons to speak. You must pre-register in advance to be potentially be randomly selected for one of these telephone lines at:https://reducing_regulatory_burden_epa_officeofwater.eventbrite.com. Registration closes Friday, April 28th at 12:00 pm EDT. If selected, registrants from this list will receive information about how to participate, along with a call-in number. The audio of the session will be transcribed and will be submitted to the docket.
- To join the web conference:http://epawebconferencing.acms.com/owregulatoryforums/. Participants may sign in 15 minutes before the web conference starts (10:45 EDT). The online meeting room can accommodate 1,000 participants. Slots will be allotted on a first come first serve basis. Participants in the web session will be able to listen to a broadcast of speakers from the teleconference line through their computers, and will be able to submit written comments. Transcripts of all written comments will be submitted to the docket. For questions about this process, please contact:owregulatoryreform@epa.gov
If you are interested in participating in this listening session, ASDWA recommends signing up for the web conference unless you are interested in making verbal comments (noting that the deadline for signing up for the lottery for making verbal comments is Friday, April 28th. The web conference allows for the submission of written comments that will be submitted to the docket. ASDWA is developing written comments that identify several potential regulatory issues for consideration for revision that will be submitted by the May 15th deadline for submission of written comments.
Submitting Comments and/or Proposals to the Docket
The docket will be open for submitting recommendations until May 15th. For those wishing to submit recommendations online, visit Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-2017-0190 at Regulations.gov. To allow EPA to more effectively evaluate suggestions, the Agency is requesting comments include:
- Supporting data or other information such as cost information
- Provide a Federal Register (FR) or Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) citation when referencing a specific regulation
- Provide specific suggestions regarding repeal, replacement, or modification.
For additional information, please visit: www.epa.gov/aboutepa/office-water-feedback-reducing-regulatory-burden.
