Environment

"Green Wave" Environmental Investment Initiative: California State Treasurer

Public Works assisted California State Treasurer Phil Angelides in the development of an innovative effort to leverage the state's pension and investment funds to push towards a cleaner environment while seeking positive long-term returns. Through its $328 billion public pension and investment portfolio, California is integrally woven into the fabric of the global capital markets. Responsible management of California's sizable portfolio requires its fiduciaries to identify emerging risks, as well as potential investment opportunities, in all sectors of the portfolio. Environmental risks such as climate change may diminish the value of business assets and harm certain industries. Further, regulatory and competitive pressures on companies with environmental liabilities, such as in emissions-intensive and insurance sectors, will affect their financial performance and shareholder value.

Consistent with the Treasurer's prior efforts to leverage the state's pension and investment funds to achieve a "double bottom line" of creating a positive financial return while spurring economic development and environmental responsibility, the State Treasurer's "Green Wave" investment initiative:

• Demands more corporate environmental accountability and disclosure;
  
• Targets private investment in clean technologies;
  
• Invests funds with managers who have a proven track record of investments in environmentally responsible companies that meet or exceed market performance; and
  
• Audits state pension fund real estate holdings for energy efficiency and sustainability.
  

Next Generation Environmental Excellence: California Environmental Protection Agency

Public Works devised a strategic plan for developing the vision of next generation environmental regulation into specific and achievable action steps, and selling the vision and action steps to various audiences, including the Governor, the legislature, the general public, and the environmental and business communities, as well as suggesting other areas in which Cal/EPA could be advancing new policy initiatives. We developed a comprehensive and unified agenda for Cal/EPA at the secretarial level, including further developments in brownfields clean-up; Environmental Federalism; the state's then-pending electricity crisis; promotion of clean energy technologies; development of an Environmental Management System for the agency's own work practices; smart growth policies in state government siting and building decisions; water, pesticide, and mercury pollution policies; environmental equity; and the agency's own information technology capabilities.

Brownfields Clean-Up Program: California Environmental Protection Agency

The Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency asked Public Works to design and implement a brownfields redevelopment program. Previous efforts to enact brownfields legislation in California had foundered on an intractable debate over a technical issue. Public Works not only cut this Gordian Knot with a solution hailed in the press as "novel" and "ground-breaking" - but also directed an inter-departmental working group in crafting the program, drafting the legislation, and shepherding it through the legislature, working directly with the Secretary and the Governor's Office to create a signature initiative for the Governor.

Environmental Justice: Maryland

Working with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Maryland Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities (EJ Commission), Public Works completed a Report and Recommendations based on a series of Public Dialogue Sessions held in 2003 throughout Maryland. The Public Dialogue Project consisted of four phases:

1) Discussions with more than 25 key staff and management from the MDE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as well as several members of the EJ Commission. The purpose of these "focus group" discussions was to: 1) identify how environmental equity issues arise in the day-to-day operations of MDE and other state and local agencies; and 2) identify potential participants and invitees for the Public Dialogue Sessions.

2) Preparations for each of the Public Dialogue Sessions. The handout materials and the format of each Public Dialogue Session varied depending upon the anticipated turnout levels and the issues of interest in each community.

3) Facilitation of the Public Dialogue Sessions in Baltimore, Cumberland, Landover and Easton, Maryland. Public Works also prepared and circulated summaries of those Dialogue Sessions for comment by attendees and EJ Commission members.

4) Development of common environmental justice themes and issues that citizens expressed in all of the Public Dialogues. Some of the environmental justice themes and issues from the Public Dialogue Sessions were anticipated based upon the internal focus group interviews, but several unanticipated issues emerged from the Dialogue Sessions.

Finally, Public Works developed a series of Recommendations to address the environmental justice themes and issues identified during the Public Dialogue Sessions. Public Works presented the Report and Recommendations to the EJ Commission in December 2003.

Children's Environmental Health Agenda: Arizona

In 2003, Public Works provided the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality with policy development, long- and short-term planning and management, and research and analysis support for the Department's newly created Office of Children's Environmental Health. The main goals of the effort were to develop a streamlined management structure for the Office and provide the Department with research and policy recommendations to improve existing programs governing the protection of children's environmental health. Working closely with Department staff, Public Works identified specific policies that the office could pursue, as well as possible legislative proposals.

Environment Department Program Analysis and Cost Savings: New Mexico

As part of Governor Richardson's Performance Review, Public Works assisted the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) in identifying more than $5 million in program savings and performance enhancements. Public Works staff worked with senior level policy experts in each agency to help identify areas of duplication between agencies and specific program recommendations to cut costs without compromising program performance. Specific cost saving program recommendations included:

• Consolidating staff from EMNRD into NMED to streamline the enforcement of the New Mexico Mining Act;
  
• Reforming the New Mexico Corrective Action Fund to improve the effectiveness of the underground tank cleanup program;
• Improving New Mexico's ability to recover tank cleanup costs from a polluting company's insurance carrier; and
  
• Streamlining the approval process used to make agency purchases of business equipment and travel services.
  

Reducing Sprawl: New Jersey Coalition for Affordable Housing & Environment

Public Works investigated ways to reformulate state tax, land use, and aid programs to strengthen cities and reduce sprawl for New Jersey Policy Perspective and the New Jersey Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment.

Union of Concerned Scientists

In early 2002, Public Works helped the Union of Concerned Scientists to develop a legislative and communications strategy related to the release of its Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region, a comprehensive report that describes the effects of climate change in the mid-west region. Public Works examined the impact of the 2002 elections on the Governor's Offices, statehouses, and environmental agencies in the Great Lakes Region. Public Works made recommendations on which states the Union of Concerned Scientists should target with press and technical briefings. Confronting Climate Change received significant press coverage in the targeted states that are more likely to implement new legislation.

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