Policy Consensus E-News — December 2003
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Enlibra Toolkit Now Available
The Enlibra toolkit, "Principles and Tools for Environmental Management," is now available. This resource explores Enlibra principles in depth and provides readers with case studies, lessons learned, and the tools necessary to solve complex environmental problems.
Enlibra is the term for of a set of environmental management principles adopted by the Western Governors Association. The word symbolizes balance and stewardship, and was coined by Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, who along with former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, PCI Chair, developed the principles for protecting air, land and water.
Among the eight chapters and principles is "Collaboration, Not Polarization—Use Collaborative Processes to Break Down Barriers and Find Solutions," developed jointly by NPCC and PCI. The chapter was written by Jim Arthur, co-author of PCI's Practical Guide to Consensus.
The toolkit is published by the Oquirrh Institute, a private think tank of corporate CEOs and former governors, located in Salt Lake City. The Institute was founded by Leavitt, who now serves as USEPA Administrator. Jim Souby, former Executive Director of the Western Governors Association and PCI Board member, is the new President and Chief Executive Officer. The Institute focuses on public-private policymaking and demonstrates new programs in education, environmental management, and health research.
The Oquirrh Institute is developing a "Toolkit Training Program" for federal, state, and local policy makers, agency leaders, industry decision makers, and environmental groups. Training programs will be available nationwide beginning late in 2003. They also are developing an environmental management certification curriculum based on the toolkit. Certification will come as organizations are trained and adopt Enlibra as their environmental philosophy.
To purchase the Enlibra Toolkit online, visit the Oquirrh Institute's website, or send email.
MACRO Establishes Partnership With Scotland
 The MACRO delegation in Scotland |
The Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO) of Maryland's judiciary kicked off a partnership with Scotland earlier this year, when the MACRO hosted a 14-member delegation for an intense two-day visit.
Funded by the Scottish Consumer Council, a government-based consumer rights group, the delegation visited various MACRO-sponsored programs and met with a number of people involved in the Maryland mediation community.
Building on enthusiasm from that visit, the Scottish Mediation Network secured a grant from the Royal Bank of Scotland to support a conference and to bring Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, MACRO Director Rachel Wohl, and Deputy Director Lou Geizl, to Scotland for the first-ever Scottish mediation conference. The September 2003 event featured a series of meetings and speaking engagements around the country.
The Maryland visitors traveled throughout central Scotland, meeting with judges, mediators and other policymakers.
Reflecting on the visit at a recent MACRO Advisory Board meeting, Chief Judge Bell said he is approaching MACRO's work with "renewed vigor for what we're doing here and its importance, recognizing that the cultural change we're promoting is part of an international movement. There's growing recognition that conflict resolution is not just something for the court, but is rather a set of skills and tools for every one and every part of society."
MACRO recently has relocated from Towsontown to Annapolis. The PCI State Programs Directory lists their new contact details, including MACRO's web address.
CASE STUDY: Collaboration Results in
Sustainable Dredge Material Projects
In
Spring 2002, the governors of Oregon and Washington asked the National
Policy Consensus Center (NPCC) to help convene a group of key government,
fishing industry, and environmental stakeholders to deal with contentious
issues relating to dredge material disposal in the Columbia River.
Among the biggest challenges was finding positive economic and environmentally sensitive ways to dispose of dredge material from the Columbia's shipping channel.
Each year, the Corps of Engineers removes 11 million cubic yards of dredge material from the shipping channel to maintain its 40-foot depth. Additional dredging will occur with channel deepening that is scheduled to begin next year. Many of the stakeholders had concerns about maintenance dredging and channel deepening.
After an initial meeting with stakeholders in March 2002, the Lower Columbia Solutions Group (LCSG) was formed.
LCSG participants include the major ports, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local government representatives, fishing interests, environmental groups, and representatives of the Oregon and Washington governors' offices. The group strives to build relationships through cooperative planning and implementation of sustainable, beneficial-use projects in the lower river.
Operating by consensus, the LCSG adopted an agreement document in December 2002 identifying potential projects and policy issues. Since that time, project teams have been convened to investigate four separate dredge material disposal projects. Each team includes representatives of key stakeholders, a community leader serving as chair, and a staff person to support and guide the process. These collaborative project teams work to develop plans of action that will meet multiple community, environmental and economic objectives. When agreement is reached, a "Declaration of Cooperation" is signed by each member of the team, committing to steps that will be taken to move the project forward. The LCSG monitors the work of the project teams and addresses policy issues that may be barriers to success.
According to Greg Wolf, NPCC Director and facilitator of the Solutions group, "the LCSG and its project teams have improved communication and helped to build trust among the participants." Wolf said he hopes this project will serve as a model for dredging projects in other parts of the country.
To learn more about the project, contact NPCC fellow Susan Brody.
The State of State Environmental Agency Mediation
Over
the past several months PCI has been compiling information about how
state environmental agencies are using mediation to assist in resolving
issues arising in permitting and enforcement actions. Longtime Maine
mediator Ann Gosline is leading this project.
Environmental mediation has been around for more than 25 years. In our initial compilation of the history and current use, we found the use of mediation is less wide-spread in permitting and enforcement than it is in policy development and implementation. Many states use mediation on an ad hoc basis in select high profile cases, such as the Massachusetts GE PCB contamination of the Housatonic River, which was successfully mediated. To date however, relatively few state environmental agencies routinely consider or provide for mediation of permitting and enforcement disputes.
Yet, as the examples below illustrate, this trend may be changing.
While our study is not yet exhaustive, we have learned of a number of states that make mediation available for these kinds of cases through administrative hearings processes. And in five states, environmental agencies are making innovative attempts to use mediation or facilitation, some early in the process, even before an appeal is filed or prior to a finding of violation. Most of these states have a very knowledgeable and committed champion who provides skillful leadership for the initiative.
Read therest of the story (with examples from Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas.)
PCI Assistance Available for State Program Innovation
During
the coming year, PCI and NPCC plan to provide a variety of kinds of
assistance to position state DR programs to survive in these difficult
times. We want to do what we can to ensure that no more programs are
eliminated. We would like your response to a PCI
/ NPCC Survey on the most useful strategic assistance that we can
provide to your program over the next year. We hope to offer the kind
of assistance that will put your program in the best possible position
to receive ongoing support from your state administration and legislature.
Throughout the year, we will be available to visit your state program
to help you identify and develop strategies and approaches. There also
are modest resources available to provide small Innovation Awards to
help programs in this initiative. PCI and NPCC will make those resources
available based on the outcomes of this survey. More information about
the nature of these resources will also be available in January.
Surveys will be mailed to state DR programs.
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