Progress Report on Matrix Work Group

EPA Co-Chair Perspective of August 10, 2006, Noon.

Accomplishments

The Key Milestones from the July 12, 2006 Work Group Charge appear below, with the EPA Co-Chairs quick assessment of status as of August 10 show in red italic type.
Key Milestones
  1. At its first conference call (last week of June) and in the July 12, 2006 conference call, the Work Group will review this Proposed Charge, modify it as appropriate and then move forward. Completed.
  2. Create a draft Matrix that delineates the key programs, milestones, and data elements and includes options for how and when if more than one approach is proposed (using the work started at the June meeting). Substantial progress made.
  3. Discuss and reach consensus on the information in the draft Matrix and or identify issues for the full Steering Committee review and discussion. The August 4 Charts may represent consensus on the structure of the Matrix. Issues for full Steering Committee review are contained in two documents: (a) the Issue List (Table) for Matrix Priority Work Group, August 4, 2006 draft; and (b) ICIS NPDES Issues, State Perspectives Update, Draft August 9, 2006.
  4. The Work Group has a milestone of developing a draft proposal by July 31, 2006[1], which proposal will then be reviewed by the full Expanded Steering Committee shortly thereafter. Given time constraints, the draft proposal may be limited to a detailed listing of the issues with proposed options for resolving each issue. The Matrix should provide a graphical representation of the issues and options. The Charts of August 4provide a graphical representation of the issues. A detailed list of the issues was partially completed (the two issues documents do overlap some, and have not been integrated). The Work Group did not have time to develop options for addressing each issue. There was not time to develop a draft proposal that could be presented as representing views of Work Group.
  5. After review by the Expanded Steering Committee in conjunction with the report from the other work group examining a potential Model for Resource Estimating, the draft proposal is expected to be presented at the ASIWPCA Annual Meeting in New Orleans on August 13/15 and the ECOS Annual Meeting in Portland, OR on August 27/29. The proposal will be presented by a state and EPA representative. Unclear at this point what proposal has been developed that could be presented.

In addition to the specific accomplishments of the Matrix Work Group as presented above, two other accomplishments include:

Improved understanding of the issues between EPA and the States.

Additional insights and options in how the transition from WENDB to RIDE may be phased in with appropriate triggers.

EPA Co-Chair Assessment

  1. The Charts provide a helpful framework for illustrating how a transition from WENDB to RIDE might be phased or triggered over time units. Further revisions to the Charts not likely to be worth while until detailed options for the identified issues are developed.
  2. The two documents that outline issues do not provide specific options or proposals for how the issues might be addressed.
  3. One possible useful task going forward (which was in the Charge) would be to merge the two issue lists into one document, and for each issue, provide:
  4. Specific options/proposals for resolving each issue.
  5. An assessment of how far apart or close the states and EPA are on resolving each issue with regards to the options.
  6. Given the assumed variability in state NPDES universes and in how each state implements the NPDES program (including how they collect and manage information), the state members of this Work Group should not be assumed to be a representative sample of the states. A way needs to be found to include wider state input.
  7. The Work Group does not have a recommendation as whether, and if yes, when and how it should proceed to finish the tasks identified in its Charge. Input from the full Expanded Steering Committee, as well as the ECOS and ASIWPCA annual meetings should be considered in how to proceed forward.

1

[1] States and EPA believe that this date is a target so there can be further dialog on progress to date prior to the ECOS meeting