What could EPA, state regulators learn from Amazon.com?

The agency is seeking comment on a portal that could make the complex landscape of environmental regulation a little easier to navigate.

By Whitney Wyckoff

January 29, 2015

To stay on top of environmental regulations, a company might have to file reports with county, state and federal regulators.

But what if governments had a portal that operated like Amazon.com?

Just as the dot-com giant offers users related products based on their search history, a new system could prompt a company to file a report with, say, Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 once it sees the company has filed a similar report with Indiana regulators.

Alex Dunn, executive director and general counsel of the Environmental Council of the States, said that’s one of a myriad of possibilities for the Environmental Protection Agency’s E-Enterprise for the Environment, a portal the agency wants to build that would streamline some of its efforts.

“Certainly the portal is the beginning of something transformative, which is allowing individuals to interface with environmental regulations and environmental information to have a more streamlined experience,” Dunn told FedScoop. EPA posted a Federal Register notice requesting comment on the proposed portal yesterday.

An EPA spokeswoman told FedScoop the portal will be built incrementally, incorporating many existing EPA and state environmental agency IT services.

Read the full story at FedScoop.