![[logo] US EPA](https://cybercemetery.unt.edu/archive/oilspill/20121010212711im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
National Environmental Performance Partnership System
Highlights
- Report of the EPA-State Woksharing Task Force: Prohibitions, Areas of Caution and Recommendations to Enhance Worksharing Opportunities
- Final FY2013 National Guidance
- Best Practices Guide for Performance Partnership Grants with States (PDF) (44 pp, 307K, About PDF)
- Best Practices Guide for Performance Partnerships with Tribes (PDF) (37 pp, 354K, About PDF)
- State Reporting Burden Reduction Initiative
- 2010 Performance Partnership Program Implemetation Summary (PDF) (24 pp, 222K, About PDF)
EPA and states share responsibility for protecting human health and the environment. The unique relationship between EPA and states is the cornerstone of the nation's environmental protection system. Working together, EPA and states have made enormous progress in protecting our air, water, and land resources.
Since 1995, EPA and states have been implementing the National Environmental Performance Partnership System (performance partnerships, or NEPPS). NEPPS is a performance-based system of environmental protection designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of state-EPA partnerships. By focusing EPA and state resources on the most pressing environmental problems and taking advantage of the unique capacities of each partner, performance partnerships can help achieve the greatest environmental and human health protection.
Goals of Performance Partnerships
Performance partnerships are designed to take best advantage of the unique capacities of each partner and achieve the greatest environmental results. The goals are to:
Promote joint planning and priority-setting based on information about environmental conditions and program needs;
Give states more flexibility to direct resources to the most pressing environmental problems;
Foster use of innovative strategies for solving water, air, and waste problems;
Use a balanced mix of environmental indicators and traditional activity measures for managing programs and measuring results; and
Improve public understanding of environmental conditions and engagement in protection efforts.
Implementing Performance Partnerships
One of the main ways EPA and states implement performance partnerships is by negotiating Performance Partnership Agreements (PPAs). These agreements set out jointly-developed priorities and protection strategies and how EPA and the state will work together to address priority needs. States can choose to combine federal environmental program grant funds in Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs), which allow states to direct resources where they are needed most or try innovative solutions to environmental problems.
This site contains basic information about performance partnerships, related policies and guidance, and tools and resources useful in developing performance partnerships.