EPA Finalizes Policy for Meaningful Engagement and Public Participation in Agency Decision-Making Processes
Updated policy helps ensure that EPA staff are meaningfully engaging with the American public on environmental and public health issues
WASHINGTON — Today, September 5, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the release of the final Achieving Health and Environmental Protection Through EPA’s Meaningful Engagement Policy. The new policy outlines updates on how the agency intends to engage with the public and provide meaningful public participation opportunities in all of its programs and regions. This policy is grounded in the acknowledgment that EPA's actions to protect public health and the environment are stronger when they are informed by and reflect the lived experiences of the communities and individuals the agency serves.
“EPA’s ability to deliver critical public health and environmental protections to all communities depends on the meaningful input that our stakeholders share with us,” said Theresa Segovia, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. “The Biden-Harris Administration has made it a priority to engage with and hear from the American people, and our updated policy brings EPA one step closer to meeting our mission and solving some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our lifetimes.”
EPA’s Meaningful Engagement Policy highlights three steps to help EPA staff design appropriate and effective processes for meaningful engagement and public participation for a particular action or situation, recognizing that engagement processes will need to be tailored to meet different program or decision contexts, and the people we serve. The three steps include:
- Understanding EPA actions and key issues the public can inform.
- Identifying the expected level of participation using EPA’s public participation spectrum.
- Identifying the appropriate engagement tools and practices using EPA’s public participation model.
Although this document does not create new legal requirements or mandatory obligations for EPA, the recommendations finalized in the policy provide the public with meaningful engagement opportunities for program and regional needs. This final policy updates and supersedes EPA’s 2003 “Public Involvement Policy.” It builds on EPA’s foundational commitment to ensuring that the public has timely, accessible, and accurate information about EPA programs, and that EPA teams provide opportunities for participation that foster a spirit of mutual trust, confidence, and openness between the agency and the public. The final policy also advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to meaningful engagement and President Biden’s Executive Orders 13985, 14094 (supported by the guidance Broadening Public Participation and Community Engagement in the Regulatory Process (pdf)), and 13990, 14008 and 14096 to revitalize our nation’s commitment to environmental justice.
To learn more about the final policy, please visit EPA’s website.
Background
In 1981, recognizing the requirements for meaningful public engagement in authorizing statutes and executive orders, EPA issued its Public Participation Policy (pdf), addressing public participation in decision-making, rulemaking, and program implementation by the Agency and entities carrying out EPA programs. In 2003, the agency published its updated Public Involvement Policy (pdf), resulting from the multi-year effort of the cross-agency “Review of EPA Public Participation Policies” Workgroup established in 1999. EPA had success with hosting regular meetings of a cross-agency community of practice, building a web portal, developing training, publishing a newsletter, documenting case studies, and collecting information on customer satisfaction.
Read the Federal Register Notice containing the updated policy. EPA’s Response to Comments document addresses comments received during the 60-day public and Tribal consultation period from November 16, 2023, to January 16, 2024, and is also available in the Federal Register and on EPA’s website.