The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long attempted to promote environmental excellence through innovative and creative ways. For years, EPA leadership has recognized that the carrot may be a more effective tool than the stick in jump-starting new and better ways to encourage top environmental performance. This is especially true as resources devoted to enforcement are diminishing, as they are now at both the federal and state levels.

The cornerstone of EPA's approach to encouraging top environmental performers to go beyond regulatory requirements is the National Environmental Performance Track program, otherwise known as the Performance Track. Created in 2000, the Performance Track recognizes and promotes top environmental performers who exceed regulatory measures of environmental performance.

EPA is of the view that innovations in environmental management are essential to strengthen environmental protection. The Performance Track recognizes innovation, and is designed so that criteria for participation are proportional to benefits. Since its inception in 2000, the program has grown rapidly and now includes more than 350 companies of all sizes. According to EPA, all major industries are represented, with manufacturers of chemical, electronic and electrical, and medical equipment composing nearly 40 percent of the members. To qualify for Performance Track, facilities must show that they have:
• Adopted and implemented an environmental management system (EMS) that includes five specific elements
• Demonstrated specific past environmental achievements
• Recorded sustained compliance with environmental requirements
• Committed to continued environmental improvement
• Committed to public outreach and performance reporting.

During the application process, Performance Track facilities certify that they have adopted and implemented an EMS. The EMS must include five elements - policy, planning, implementation and operation, checking and corrective action, and management review - and have gone through at least one full implementation cycle.

The implementation and operation of the EMS includes:
• Development of established roles and responsibilities to meet objectives and targets of the overall EMS and compliance with legal requirements, including a top management representative with authority and responsibility for the EMS
• Defined procedures to achieve and maintain compliance, communicate information about the EMS, provide incentives for personnel to meet the requirements and control documents
• General environmental training programs for all employees, and specific training for those with responsibilities involving activities directly related to achieving objectives and targets and compliance with legal requirements
• Documented key EMS elements, including the environmental policy, significant environmental indictors, objectives and targets, a top management representative, compliance audit, EMS audit program and overall EMS authority
• Operation and maintenance programs for equipment and for other operations that are related to legal compliance and other significant environmental indicators
• An emergency preparedness program
The checking and corrective action component involves a program for:
• Assessing performance and preventing and detecting non-conformance with legal and other requirements of the EMS, including an established compliance audit program and an EMS audit program
• Ensuring prompt, corrective action of any non-conformance with legal requirements and other EMS requirements
The management review concerns:
• A documented review of performance against the established objectives and targets, and the effectiveness of the EMS in meeting policy commitments
• A facility will retain EMS documents and provide a summary of its performance, including performance against objectives and targets, and a summary of the results of compliance and audits, in its Annual Performance Report.
The Environmental Performance Table (www.epa.gov/performancetrack/program/improv.htm) helps facilities develop strategies to improve performance in four wide-ranging groups that are further distinguished by categories and indictors:
• Upstream - Material procurement and suppliers' environmental performance
• Inputs - Material use, water use, energy use and land and habitat
• Non-product outputs - Air emissions, discharges to water, waste, noise and vibration
• Downstream products
Performance Track members must also have a good record of compliance with environmental laws and confirm that they are in compliance with all applicable environmental requirements.

EPA encourages applicants to assess their own compliance records as they make decisions regarding participation in this program. Facilities can check their own compliance records for the last two years with EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database (www.epa.gov/echo).

The application for membership in Performance Track is available online (http://yosemite.epa.gov/opei/ptrack.nsf). Membership notification or rejection occurs typically within 90 days of an application period, which is April 1 to May 31, and Sept. 1 to Oct. 31.

Membership Benefits
Performance Track membership benefits are substantial. Recognizing that EPA seeks to establish Performance Track as the “gold standard” for facility-based environmental performance, EPA offers a range of incentives, including:
• Recognition - Performance Track recognizes member facilities locally and nationally through letters to elected officials, trade journal articles, press releases, case studies, P-Track News, member listings on its Web site and Performance Track awards.
• Networking - Performance Track provides networking opportunities through annual member events, regional roundtables, teleseminars, EPA meetings, joint workshops with Performance Track partners and meetings of the Performance Track Participant's Association.
• Regulatory and administrative incentives - EPA works with states and other stakeholders to provide regulatory and administrative benefits. Importantly, these incentives include reduced self-reporting and low-priority status for routine federal inspections.
• Services - EPA encourages facilities that are part of Performance Track to take advantage of services such as the Green Suppliers Network Review, which helps manufacturers and suppliers save money and improve environmental performance, or the Performance Track Mentoring Program, which matches Performance Track members or potential members with top-performing facilities currently in the program.
• Green investing - Leading financial advisory firms use Performance Track data in their research methods. This practice can benefit top-performing, publicly traded companies, making them more attractive to investors and increasing brand recognition.

Desirable Brand
Today, when competition is fierce at every level, distinguishing a company among other similar companies is not easy. The Performance Track program is an increasingly well-recognized way to demonstrate a company's commitment to environmental leadership and performance.
The branding of a company as a Performance Track member offers many specific, tangible benefits that have been known to resonate well in the minds of consumers, boards of directors, federal and state government representatives and other stakeholders. Readers are encouraged to review the materials cited in this column, review the May Federal Register notice, and seriously consider the benefits of membership in the Performance Track.  

Lynn L. Bergeson is a managing director of Bergeson & Campbell P.C., a Washington, D.C., law firm focusing on chemical, pesticide and other specialty chemical product approval and regulation, environmental health and safety law, chemical product litigation, and associated business issues. For more information, call 202-557-3800.