In preparation for the FY 2017 Exchange Network grant application process, EPA will hold two stakeholder conference calls to review the Draft FY 2017 Exchange Network Grant Solicitation Notice and answer questions from the Exchange Network community. The Draft Notice is available here .

The first call will be held Wednesday, August 3, 2016, from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT. The second call will be held Thursday, August 4, 2016, from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT. To participate in either call, please dial: 1.866.299.3188, and enter conference code: 202 566 1691#.

EPA will accept comments on the Draft Notice until 5:00 PM EDT, August 5, 2016. Written comments should be emailed to EPA’s Ryan Humrighouse at humrighouse.ryan [at] epa.gov.

EPA plans to issue the Final FY 2017 EN Grant Solicitation Notice by early September 2016.

Ryan Humrighouse
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1680
E: humrighouse.ryan [at] epa.gov

The Exchange Network and E-Enterprise community convene EN/EE Open Calls to increase information sharing among Partners. These calls are an opportunity for the community to gather and discuss topics of interest.

The next Open Call, to be held August 1, 2016, at 3:00pm ET, is entitled Navigating and Optimizing Centralized Information Technology (IT). The Open Call’s panel will include:

• Andy Putnam, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment;
• Steve Nance, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency;
• Roy Duelfer, Montana Department of Environmental Quality; and
• Roy Walker, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

Panelists will discuss their experiences transitioning to centralized IT, how centralized IT has transformed their agency, and how the transition has impacted maintenance and support for their agencies’ Exchange Network data flows. Descriptions of the centralized IT structure for each of the panelists’ states are available here.

To participate in the Open Call, please pre-register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5176677041479035138

Note that we are using GoToWebinar® for the Open Call. Participants will enter the audio portion muted. To participate in the Q&A, please join the conversation via phone and enter the audio pin that appears on your GoToWebinar dashboard. If you must use your computer audio, please ensure you have a headset and speaker.

For more information or to provide ideas for future EN/EE Open Calls, please contact Kristen Durance at kdurance [at] rossstrategic.com or Lynn Capuano at lynn [at] exchangenetwork.net.

Lynn Capuano
Exchange Network Coordinator
P: 516.744.0307
E: lynn [at] exchangenetwork.net

As more States and Territories transition to centralized Information Technology (IT) departments and Tribes tend to rely on single IT resources, there is a changing audience supporting E-Enterprise for the Environment and the Exchange Network. Now, instead of internal environmental and/or health agency IT staff supporting E-Enterprise projects and EN infrastructure, staff from a central IT agency with less knowledge and understanding of the partnership, its work, and its principles are assigned to provide that support, maintenance, and coordination.

The E-Enterprise and Exchange Network Interoperability and Operations Team (IOT) wants to know if this shift is causing or foreshadowing any challenges related to ongoing maintenance of EN infrastructure, collaboration on E-Enterprise projects, and/or pursuit and execution of EN grants. We ask that you send your thoughts to EN Cooridnator Lynn Capuano at lynn [at] exchangenetwork.net. Please include any suggestions you have for how E-Enterprise Governance can help build bridges among E-Enterprise, Partner environmental and health agencies, and central IT management.

Thank you for your assistance with this important effort!

Matt Leopard, IOT EPA Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1698
E: leopard.matthew [at] epa.gov

Chris Simmers, IOT State Co-Chair
New Hampshire Department of Information Technology
P: 603.271.2961
E: chris.simmers [at] doit.nh.gov

Utilizing the E-Enterprise/Exchange Network principal of joint governance, EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management and Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality have developed the user-friendly, mobile device-navigable guidance “Solvents in the Workplace: How to Determine if They Are Hazardous Waste.” Available here, the guide helps people who use and discard solvents be aware of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste regulations and assists them in making correct hazardous waste determinations.

When viewed electronically, the guide contains two types of links: one that leads to additional information available on EPA’s website, and one that leads to additional information presented elsewhere in the document.

For more information, please contact EPA’s David Nicholas at nicholas.david [at] epa.gov.

David Nicholas
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1927
E: nicholas.david [at] epa.gov

EPA is pleased to announce that version 2.3 of the Beach Notification schema has been approved and is now available here.

The Beach Notification data exchange allows for the reporting of beach meta data, contact information, and beach advisory and closing data. Version 2.3 can be used now and will be required for reporting 2016 Beach Season data.

For more information, please contact EPA’s Bill Kramer at kramer.bill [at] epa.gov.

Bill Kramer
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.0385
E: kramer.bill [at] epa.gov

The E-Enterprise for the Environment Advanced Monitoring Team (AMT) is recruiting members for the AMT Steering Committee and four AMT Project Teams. The AMT is focusing on air and water pollution monitoring technology and how best to integrate the rapid advances being seen in these areas into the regulatory landscape.

For more information, on the AMT Steering Committee and Project Teams, visit http://e-enterprisefortheenvironment.net/.

To participate in the Committee or its Project Teams, contact ECOS’ Kelly Poole at kpoole [at] ecos.org by June 7, 2016.

Kelly Poole
Environmental Council of the States
P: 202.266.4939
E: kpoole [at] ecos.org

One year from today, the Exchange Network and E-Enterprise community will convene in Philadelphia for EN2017, the 2017 Exchange Network National Meeting!

Save the dates May 16-18, 2017, and watch www.exchangenetwork.net/en2017 for more information!

Interested in helping shape EN2017? Email Greg McNelly at gmcnelly [at] ecos.org to be added to the Program Committee!

Tweet #EN2017

The Exchange Network and E-Enterprise community convene EN/EE Open Calls to increase information sharing among Partners. These calls are an opportunity for the community to gather and discuss topics of interest.

The next Open Call, to be held May 11, 2016, from 12:30-1:30 PM ET, will focus on the Basics of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). US EPA’s Andrew Yuen, will provide a general overview of APIs, how they are used, and examples of APIs at EPA (with some specifics on REST APIs). There will also be time for participants to ask questions and share their experiences. If you have worked with APIs within your organization, we encourage you to participate and share your experiences during the Open Call.

To participate in the Open Call, please register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2075568265334399236.

Note that we are using GoToWebinar for the Open Call. Participants will enter the audio portion muted. To participate in the Q&A, please join the conversation via phone and enter the audio pin that appears on your GoToWebinar dashboard. If you must use your computer audio, please ensure you have a headset and speaker.

For more information or to provide ideas for future EN/EE Open Calls, please contact Kristen Durance at kdurance [at] rossstrategic.com.

Matthew Leopard, Interoperability and Operations Team EPA Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1698
E: leopard.matthew [at] epa.gov

Chris Simmers, Interoperability and Operations Team State Co-Chair
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
P: 603.271.2961
E: chris.simmers [at] des.nh.gov

May 19, 2016, Update

The recording of this Open Call is available at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/3481850234642695682

EPA is initiating consultation and coordination with Tribal governments on the Draft Governance Charter for E-Enterprise for the Environment. The comment period closes April 14, 2016. Two webinars will be conducted for interested Tribes:

1. March 30, 2016, at 1:00pm EDT. 
2. March 31, 2016, at 1:00pm EDT. 

The “Consultation Notification Letter – Draft Governance Charter for E-Enterprise for the Environment” is available by request from EPA.

The Governance Charter for E-Enterprise for the Environment is available at: https://e-enterprisefortheenvironment.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Signed-EELC-Governance-Charter-FINAL-2016.pdf

For more information, please contact EPA’s Andrew Battin.

Andrew Battin
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.2140
E: battin.andrew [at] epa.gov

EPA’s e-Manifest Team is announcing a new listserv for all e-Manifest stakeholders. The Team will use the e-Manifest ListServ to announce development changes and updates, new functionality, and testing opportunities; facilitate open discussion regarding e-Manifest development; and allow the development community to ask each other questions and share lessons learned.

To subscribe to the new e-Manifest ListServ, send a blank email to: [email protected].

If you represent the transporter or generator community, please feel free to subscribe and understand we will begin working with your community as soon as possible.

If you will be developing interfaces to work with e-Manifest, we urge you to subscribe. Also, if your staff or colleagues will be developing manifests, please encourage them to subscribe as well.

For more information about e-Manifest, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/transportation/manifest/e-man.htm or contact EPA’s Steve Donnelly at donnelly.stephen [at] epa.gov.

Steve Donnelly
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 703.308.8577
E: donnelly.stephen [at] epa.gov

On October 22, 2015, EPA published the final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Electronic Reporting Rule. This regulation replaces most paper-based Clean Water Act (CWA) NPDES permitting and compliance monitoring reporting requirements with electronic reporting. Under the rule, all authorized NPDES programs are required to submit an Implementation Plan for achieving the “Phase 2” E-Reporting requirements to EPA.

The NPDES E-Reporting Rule Implementation Plan Integrated Project Team has developed and released a template for authorized NPDES programs to use in creating their individual Implementation Plans. The template, along with guidance on its use, is available at https://www.exchangenetwork.net/npdes-e-reporting-ipt/.

Carey Johnston, EPA IPT Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1014
E: johnston.carey [at] epa.gov

Elisa Willard, State IPT Co-Chair
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
P: 303.692.3505
E: elisa.willard [at] state.co.us

In late January 2016, the E-Enterprise ePermitting Scoping Team finalized its report entitled, Surveying and Assessing State Use of Electronic Permitting Systems.

The E-Enterprise Leadership Council assembled an ePermitting Scoping Team in spring 2015, led by Mary Walker, Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and David Nicholas, EPA Office of Land and Emergency Management. The Team included members from nine States and EPA’s permitting program offices.

With input from the Team, EPA conducted an initial review of key literature and existing studies. Georgia EPD led a State survey effort with supplemental interviews of State agency staff. Research examined States’ current (“as is”) use of electronic systems across air, water, and waste permitting programs; the extent to which systems support different functionalities; and specific, self-reported system features, costs, limitations, and barriers to expansion.

The report describes the current ePermitting landscape; offers insight into how States are planning for and implementing ePermitting systems; outlines the barriers to broader adoption of these critical systems; and examines options for assessing and documenting costs and benefits and return on investment for ePermitting projects.

For more information, please contact ECOS’ Owen McAleer at omcaleer [at] ecos.org or EPA’s Leslie Cronkhite at cronkhite.leslie [at] epa.gov.

Owen McAleer
Environmental Council of the States
P: 202.266.4922
E: omcaleer [at] ecos.org

On January 29, 2016, at 2:00pm ET, the E-Enterprise Combined Air Emissions Reporting (CAER) Team will host a webinar for States, EPA, Industry, and other interested parties to hear about the joint State-EPA Team’s work to develop a future process for reporting to four air databases including the National Emissions Inventory (NEI) via delegated state programs, and direct reports to Federal databases including the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHG), and compliance reporting requirements for Part 60 and Part 63 regulations (via Compliance and Emissions Data Reporting Interface or CEDRI).

Team Co-chairs Bryan Shaw, Texas, and Marc Houyoux, EPA, will provide an overview of considerations for future reporting. There will be an opportunity for questions and answer.

To register for the webinar, please visit: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9175231391683183618.

For more information, please contact EPA’s Shana Harbour at harbour.shana [at] epa.gov or ECOS’ Kelly Poole at kpoole [at] ecos.org.

Kelly Poole
Environmental Council of the States
P: 202.266.4939
E: kpoole [at] ecos.org

1. By March 31, 2016, to have States and EPA Regions participate in building the E-Enterprise project portfolio by proposing business processes streamlining projects they are already working on together, that might become nationally scalable through joint governance.
2. By September 30, 2016, to have States and EPA Regions look together at temporary tradeoffs in State workloads – generally reflected in their grant workplan – in exchange for the State focusing work on an E-Enterprise project.

Lean and information technology (IT) are two important ways that environmental agencies are transforming how they protect human health and the environment. New IT approaches can help agencies streamline, modernize, and expand the services they provide to customers. In December 2015, an ECOS/EPA E-Enterprise workgroup released the Lean and Information Technology Toolkit, which explores how Lean and IT can be used to:

• Efficiently design new products and services to better meet customer needs (Lean startup),
• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of existing processes (Lean process improvement), and
• Reduce the costs and risks of developing new IT products (Agile development).

The Toolkit provides how-to guidance, resources, and tips for making improvements in product conceptualization, process improvement, and IT product development; and describes how agencies can collaborate effectively on improvement projects.  It is available at http://e-enterprisefortheenvironment.net/.  Stay tuned for news of potential upcoming webinars highlighting the Toolkit’s content.

Sue Battle-McDonald, Co-Chair
Maryland Department of the Environment
P: 410.537.4111
E: sue.battle-mcdonald [at] maryland.gov

Scott Bowles, Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.2208
E: bowles.scott [at] epa.gov

The U.S. EPA’s e-Manifest Team will conduct a webinar on Tuesday, December 8, 2015, from 1-2:30pm EST to update all interested stakeholders on implementation of the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act. The webinar will address the Agency’s latest progress and path forward on the Act’s major provisions, system development, regulatory development, and the e-Manifest Advisory Board.

To participate, please pre-register at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4363004346714160130.

For more information about e-Manifest, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/transportation/manifest/e-man.htm or contact EPA’s Tony Raia at raia.anthony [at] epa.gov.

Tony Raia
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 703.308.8577
E: raia.anthony [at] epa.gov

The Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC) and the Network Technology Board (NTB) are excited to announce that on December 1, 2015, the Exchange Network Governance will formally become part of E-Enterprise for the Environment.

E-Enterprise for the Environment embraces a new model for collaborative leadership among environmental co-regulators, engaging with all interested and affected parties to achieve positive environmental, human health, and economic outcomes. It builds upon the foundation of the Exchange Network, recognizing the value of a proven communications and data analytics platform for sharing environmental information to foster informed decision-making.

The Exchange Network’s joint governance model of Federal, State, Territorial, and Tribal Partners working together has been adopted by E-Enterprise. The new governance will consist of the E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC), the new E-Enterprise Executive Committee (EEEC), the new E-Enterprise and Exchange Network Management Board (MB), and the new E-Enterprise and Exchange Network Interoperability and Operations Team (IOT).

Although the ENLC and the NTB will sunset on December 1, their work will continue as part of the new E-Enterprise structure. Much will be happening over the next weeks and months, including the launch of a new E-Enterprise website where complete information for all the new governance bodies will be available. In the meantime, the EELC, MB, and IOT rosters will soon be available at https://www.exchangenetwork.net/e-enterprise/.

Andrew Battin, MB Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.2140
E: battin.andrew [at] epa.gov

Matt Leopard, IOT Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1698
E: leopard.matthew [at] epa.gov

Andrew Putnam, MB Co-Chair
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
P: 303.692.3579
E: andrew.putnam [at] state.co.us

Chris Simmers, IOT Co-Chair
New Hampshire Department of Information Technology
P: 603.271.2961
E: chris.simmers [at] doit.nh.gov

2016 TRIBAL EXCHANGE NETWORK CONFERENCE
FEBRUARY 9-10, 2016
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

The 2016 Tribal Exchange Network Conference will provide Tribal professionals, and those working with Tribes, an opportunity to meet and learn about current initiatives, funding, and technical topics related to the Exchange Network. Come and share your experiences, learn from and network with other Tribal professionals!

Presentation abstracts and poster requests are currently being accepted from individuals and entities involved in the Exchange Network. Presentations should discuss direct experiences and/or original research relevant to Tribal audiences. Topics should be linked directly to the Exchange Network. Sponsorship requests are also being accepted. For complete information, please visit: http://www.tribalexchangenetwork.org/tribalconference.html.

Lydia Scheer
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
P: 928.523.6887
E: lydia.scheer [at] nau.edu

On October 22, 2015, EPA published the final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Electronic Reporting Rule. This rule replaces most paper-based Clean Water Act (CWA) NPDES permitting and compliance monitoring reporting requirements with electronic reporting. Under the rule, all authorized NPDES programs are required to submit an Implementation Plan for achieving the “Phase 2” E-Reporting requirements to EPA by December 21, 2016.

The Exchange Network Leadership Council (ENLC) has convened the NPDES E-Reporting Rule Implementation Plan Integrated Project Team (IPT) to facilitate the successful design and distribution of a template for authorized NPDES programs to use in creating their individual Implementation Plans. The IPT will design and distribute the Implementation Plan template, consistent with the requirements outlined in the Rule, that States, Tribes, and Territories can modify as appropriate and submit to EPA for review. The IPT will also address how the template can be submitted and how it will be made available for use. The IPT’s Charter is available at https://www.exchangenetwork.net/npdes-e-reporting-ipt/.

The ENLC is seeking individuals with expertise in implementing e-reporting requirements, drafting and executing implementation plans, instituting data management systems, or with extensive NPDES program knowledge. If you would like to volunteer to serve on the IPT, please email a brief statement of interest and relevant experience to Exchange Network Coordinator Lynn Capuano at lynn [at] exchangenetwork.net by COB, November 9, 2015. The information you provide will help the ENLC assemble a diverse team that includes representatives with a wide array of perspectives.

Carey Johnston, EPA IPT Co-Chair
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P: 202.566.1014
E: johnston.carey [at] epa.gov

Elisa Willard, State IPT Co-Chair
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
P: 303.692.3505
E: elisa.willard [at] state.co.us