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View Full Version : New Presidential Executive Order for United States Federal Agencies


Randy
1st February 2007, 05:32 PM
President Bush recently signed a new executive order mandating the implementation of EMS's across all aspects of US Government Agencies. I have included the text below. It is rather lengthy and it's potential impact can now only be guessed.

Executive Order: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to strengthen the environmental, energy, and transportation management of Federal agencies, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States that Federal agencies conduct their environmental, transportation, and energy-related activities under the law in support of their respective missions in an environmentally, economically and fiscally sound, integrated, continuously improving, efficient, and sustainable manner.

Sec. 2. Goals for Agencies. In implementing the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, the head of each agency shall:

(a) improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the agency, through reduction of energy intensity by (i) 3 percent annually through the end of fiscal year 2015, or (ii) 30 percent by the end of fiscal year 2015, relative to the baseline of the agency's energy use in fiscal year 2003;

(b) ensure that (i) at least half of the statutorily required renewable energy consumed by the agency in a fiscal year comes from new renewable sources, and (ii) to the extent feasible, the agency implements renewable energy generation projects on agency property for agency use;

(c) beginning in FY 2008, reduce water consumption intensity, relative to the baseline of the agency's water consumption in fiscal year 2007, through life-cycle cost-effective measures by 2 percent annually through the end of fiscal year 2015 or 16 percent by the end of fiscal year 2015;

(d) require in agency acquisitions of goods and services (i) use of sustainable environmental practices, including acquisition of biobased, environmentally preferable, energy-efficient, water-efficient, and recycled-content products, and (ii) use of paper of at least 30 percent post-consumer fiber content;

(e) ensure that the agency (i) reduces the quantity of toxic and hazardous chemicals and materials acquired, used, or disposed of by the agency, (ii) increases diversion of solid waste as appropriate, and (iii) maintains cost-effective waste prevention and recycling programs in its facilities;

f) ensure that (i) new construction and major renovation of agency buildings comply with the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings set forth in the Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings Memorandum of Understanding (2006), and (ii) 15 percent of the existing Federal capital asset building inventory of the agency as of the end of fiscal year 2015 incorporates the sustainable practices in the Guiding Principles;

(g) ensure that, if the agency operates a fleet of at least 20 motor vehicles, the agency, relative to agency baselines for fiscal year 2005, (i) reduces the fleet's total consumption of petroleum products by 2 percent annually through the end of fiscal year 2015, (ii) increases the total fuel consumption that is non-petroleum-based by 10 percent annually, and (iii) uses plug-in hybrid (PIH) vehicles when PIH vehicles are commercially available at a cost reasonably comparable, on the basis of life-cycle cost, to non-PIH vehicles; and

(h) ensure that the agency (i) when acquiring an electronic product to meet its requirements, meets at least 95 percent of those requirements with an Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-registered electronic product, unless there is no EPEAT standard for such product, (ii) enables the Energy Star feature on agency computers and monitors, (iii) establishes and implements policies to extend the useful life of agency electronic equipment, and (iv) uses environmentally sound practices with respect to disposition of agency electronic equipment that has reached the end of its useful life.

Sec. 3. Duties of Heads of Agencies. In implementing the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, the head of each agency shall:

(a) implement within the agency sustainable practices for (i) energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions avoidance or reduction, and petroleum products use reduction, (ii) renewable energy, including bioenergy, (iii) water conservation, (iv) acquisition, (v) pollution and waste prevention and recycling, (vi) reduction or elimination of acquisition and use of toxic or hazardous chemicals, (vii) high performance construction, lease, operation, and maintenance of buildings, (viii) vehicle fleet management, and (ix) electronic equipment management;

(b) implement within the agency environmental management systems (EMS) at all appropriate organizational levels to ensure (i) use of EMS as the primary management approach for addressing environmental aspects of internal agency operations and activities, including environmental aspects of energy and transportation functions, (ii) establishment of agency objectives and targets to ensure implementation of this order, and (iii) collection, analysis, and reporting of information to measure performance in the implementation of this order;

(c) establish within the agency programs for (i) environmental management training, (ii) environmental compliance review and audit, and (iii) leadership awards to recognize outstanding environmental, energy, or transportation management performance in the agency;

(d) within 30 days after the date of this order (i) designate a senior civilian officer of the United States, compensated annually in an amount at or above the amount payable at level IV of the Executive Schedule, to be responsible for implementation of this order within the agency, (ii) report such designation to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, and (iii) assign the designated official the authority and duty to (A) monitor and report to the head of the agency on agency activities to carry out subsections (a) and (b) of this section, and (B) perform such other duties relating to the implementation of this order within the agency as the head of the agency deems appropriate;

(e) ensure that contracts entered into after the date of this order for contractor operation of government-owned facilities or vehicles require the contractor to comply with the provisions of this order with respect to such facilities or vehicles to the same extent as the agency would be required to comply if the agency operated the facilities or vehicles;

(f) ensure that agreements, permits, leases, licenses, or other legally-binding obligations between the agency and a tenant or concessionaire entered into after the date of this order require, to the extent the head of the agency determines appropriate, that the tenant or concessionaire take actions relating to matters within the scope of the contract that facilitate the agency's compliance with this order;

(g) provide reports on agency implementation of this order to the Chairman of the Council on such schedule and in such format as the Chairman of the Council may require; and

(h) provide information and assistance to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Chairman of the Council, and the Federal Environmental Executive.

Sec. 4. Additional Duties of the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality. In implementing the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality:

(a) (i) shall establish a Steering Committee on Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management to advise the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Chairman of the Council on the performance of their functions under this order that shall consist exclusively of (A) the Federal Environmental Executive, who shall chair, convene and preside at meetings of, determine the agenda of, and direct the work of, the Steering Committee, and (B) the senior officials designated under section 3(d)(i) of this order, and (ii) may establish subcommittees of the Steering Committee, to assist the Steering Committee in developing the advice of the Steering Committee on particular subjects;

(b) may, after consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Steering Committee, issue instructions to implement this order, other than instructions within the authority of the Director to issue under section 5 of this order; and

(c) shall administer a presidential leadership award program to recognize exceptional and outstanding environmental, energy, or transportation management performance and excellence in agency efforts to implement this order.

Sec. 5. Duties of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. In implementing the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall, after consultation with the Chairman of the Council and the Steering Committee, issue instructions to the heads of agencies concerning:

(a) periodic evaluation of agency implementation of this order;

(b) budget and appropriations matters relating to implementation of this order;

(c) implementation of section 2(d) of this order; and

(d) amendments of the Federal Acquisition Regulation as necessary to implement this order.

Sec. 6. Duties of the Federal Environmental Executive. A Federal Environmental Executive designated by the President shall head the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, which shall be maintained in the Environmental Protection Agency for funding and administrative purposes. In implementing the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, the Federal Environmental Executive shall:

(a) monitor, and advise the Chairman of the Council on, performance by agencies of functions assigned by sections 2 and 3 of this order;

(b) submit a report to the President, through the Chairman of the Council, not less often than once every 2 years, on the activities of agencies to implement this order; and

(c) advise the Chairman of the Council on the Chairman's exercise of authority granted by subsection 4(c) of this order.

Sec. 7. Limitations. (a) This order shall apply to an agency with respect to the activities, personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that are located within the United States. The head of an agency may provide that this order shall apply in whole or in part with respect to the activities, personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that are not located within the United States, if the head of the agency determines that such application is in the interest of the United States.

(b) The head of an agency shall manage activities, personnel, resources, and facilities of the agency that are not located within the United States, and with respect to which the head of the agency has not made a determination under subsection (a) of this section, in a manner consistent with the policy set forth in section 1 of this order to the extent the head of the agency determines practicable.

Sec. 8. Exemption Authority. (a) The Director of National Intelligence may exempt an intelligence activity of the United States, and related personnel, resources, and facilities, from the provisions of this order, other than this subsection and section 10, to the extent the Director determines necessary to protect intelligence sources and methods from unauthorized disclosure.

(b) The head of an agency may exempt law enforcement activities of that agency, and related personnel, resources, and facilities, from the provisions of this order, other than this subsection and section 10, to the extent the head of an agency determines necessary to protect undercover operations from unauthorized disclosure.

(c) (i) The head of an agency may exempt law enforcement, protective, emergency response, or military tactical vehicle fleets of that agency from the provisions of this order, other than this subsection and section 10.

(ii) Heads of agencies shall manage fleets to which paragraph (i) of this subsection refers in a manner consistent with the policy set forth in section 1 of this order to the extent they determine practicable.

(d) The head of an agency may submit to the President, through the Chairman of the Council, a request for an exemption of an agency activity, and related personnel, resources, and facilities, from this order.

Sec. 9. Definitions. As used in this order:

(a) "agency" means an executive agency as defined in section 105 of title 5, United States Code, excluding the Government Accountability Office;

(b) "Chairman of the Council" means the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, including in the Chairman's capacity as Director of the Office of Environmental Quality;

(c) "Council" means the Council on Environmental Quality;

(d) "environmental" means environmental aspects of internal agency operations and activities, including those environmental aspects related to energy and transportation functions;

(e) "greenhouse gases" means carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride;

(f) "life-cycle cost-effective" means the life-cycle costs of a product, project, or measure are estimated to be equal to or less than the base case (i.e., current or standard practice or product);

(g) "new renewable sources" means sources of renewable energy placed into service after January 1, 1999;

(h) "renewable energy" means energy produced by solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas, ocean (including tidal, wave, current and thermal), geothermal, municipal solid waste, or new hydroelectric generation capacity achieved from increased efficiency or additions of new capacity at an existing hydroelectric project;

(i) "energy intensity" means energy consumption per square foot of building space, including industrial or laboratory facilities;

(j) "Steering Committee" means the Steering Committee on Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management established under subsection 4(b) of this order;

(k) "sustainable" means to create and maintain conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans; and

(l) "United States" when used in a geographical sense, means the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, and associated territorial waters and airspace.

Sec. 10. General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budget, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(c) This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the Federal Government and is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, instrumentalities, entities, officers, employees or agents, or any other person.

Sec. 11. Revocations; Conforming Provisions. (a) The following are revoked:

(i) Executive Order 13101 of September 14, 1998;

(ii) Executive Order 13123 of June 3, 1999;

(iii) Executive Order 13134 of August 12, 1999, as amended;

(iv) Executive Order 13148 of April 21, 2000; and

(v) Executive Order 13149 of April 21, 2000.

(b) In light of subsection 317(e) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107 107), not later than January 1 of each year through and including 2010, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Senate and the House of Representatives a report regarding progress made toward achieving the energy efficiency goals of the Department of Defense.

(c) Section 3(b)(vi) of Executive Order 13327 of February 4, 2004, is amended by striking "Executive Order 13148 of April 21, 2000" and inserting in lieu thereof "other executive orders".

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

January 24, 2007.

Dr. L. Ramakrishnan
2nd February 2007, 04:19 AM
Dear Randy,

This appears to be the first time that government agencies have been formally mandated to establish EMS. Is there any other example where the Government had mandated EMS for its agencies ? I think that this is a good example for other governments to emulate....keeping the Government's house in order to highlight the seriousness of the issues involved.

Thank you for this useful information.

With best regards,

Ramakrishnan

Coury Ferguson
2nd February 2007, 08:29 AM
Randy,

See if BsI can get a contract to validate the EHS System. That would be an interesting audit of all Federal Government Offices. It would increase your sky miles :lol:

On a serious note: I think it is a good thing.

SteelMaiden
2nd February 2007, 08:52 AM
On a serious note: I think it is a good thing.

yeah, now, if we could get them to implement it on the budget that the rest of us get to implement a management system we'd be saving the environment and the taxpayer (um, i guess that would help the environment also...less money to print?)

Randy
2nd February 2007, 10:35 AM
Dear Randy,

This appears to be the first time that government agencies have been formally mandated to establish EMS. Is there any other example where the Government had mandated EMS for its agencies ? I think that this is a good example for other governments to emulate....keeping the Government's house in order to highlight the seriousness of the issues involved.

Thank you for this useful information.

With best regards,

Ramakrishnan

Actually Dr. R there have been some other EO's out for a few years, primarily EO 13148 and "Greening of the Government" has been a guiding policy.

BSI and many other Registrars have been doing EMS certification at Federal facilities for a few years now.

Craig H.
2nd February 2007, 11:16 AM
Actually Dr. R there have been some other EO's out for a few years, primarily EO 13148 and "Greening of the Government" has been a guiding policy.

BSI and many other Registrars have been doing EMS certification at Federal facilities for a few years now.

Randy,

If you don't mind, and without getting into specifics, is there a difference between governmental environmental programs and corporate/private environmental programs?

Specifically, attitudes, complexity, and effectiveness?

Randy
2nd February 2007, 11:46 AM
Randy,

If you don't mind, and without getting into specifics, is there a difference between governmental environmental programs and corporate/private environmental programs?

Specifically, attitudes, complexity, and effectiveness?

From what I have experienced the government programs seem to be a bit more complex and layered than the NGO counterparts. More often than not the "beaurocracy" of government agencies are the cause, "If there is a simple way to do it, don't". Additionally, government agencies are extremely compartmentalized further complicating things. On top of this you see multi-organizational agencies (government/contractor or civilian-government/military or contractor/military and civilian-government/contractor/military) that at times may seem to contradict themselves to the point of the left hand not being aware of the right hand.

It does get interesting.

Did I spell beaurocracy right?:confused:

Craig H.
2nd February 2007, 12:23 PM
Randy,

So there are systems that include more than one organization? Is such a system top-down? It sounds like a lot of auditing "fun" (sarcasm warning horn sounds here).

Randy
2nd February 2007, 01:49 PM
Randy,

So there are systems that include more than one organization? Is such a system top-down? It sounds like a lot of auditing "fun" (sarcasm warning horn sounds here).


There can be a bit of "Who's on 1st?" at times but it all seems to come out in the wash.

jmilhome
7th February 2007, 12:05 PM
One can only guess how different this will be compared to the 1998 Executive Order 13148 that mandated federal agencies to implement EMS by the end of 2005:

"Sec. 201. Environmental Management. Through development and implementation of environmental management systems, each agency shall ensure that strategies are established to support environmental leadership programs, policies, and procedures and that agency senior level managers explicitly and actively endorse these strategies."

It is true that some federal agencies are adopting (and very few certifying) EMSs but the vast majority are still ignoring it. Any reason why this time it will be any different? Doubt it........

Randy
7th February 2007, 01:57 PM
Well it's not that it has been ignored, I have determined what might be 2 basic causes for slow activity that may have many more sub-causes that could be assigned:

1. There has been something on the plate of most US Federal agencies, either directly or indirectly, that has been given a greater priority and it started on 9-11-01. Wouldn't you agee to that?

2. Most agencies, because they are what they are, what they do and how things work, are just plain slow at making decisions. This isn't a political statement. The complexity of regulations, laws, court rulings, internal decision making processes, territoriality (internal especially), understanding, and many other factors, has contributed to the stalling of meeting the requirement.

I can personally say that I have been involved with US Federal agency training and systems auditing for a number of years. Many agency facilities, to verify their meeting of EO 13148, have sought and obtained accredited 3rd party registration of their EMS. Look across the DoD, EPA, DOE, USPO and NASA for examples. You can also look at the NSA, DOT, and soon TSA to name a few more. But remember, these guys are real busy with other things too, so what they have done up to now along with everything else is commendable.

I didn't mention the above agencies because of my personal relationship, but from what I have found out from simple internet searches for EMS information.

Now, will the new EO change anything? Whose to tell?

jmilhome
8th February 2007, 02:54 PM
Randy, I totally agree with you. My comment was based on what a reasonable number of auditors have told me… and the general sense is of disappointment. There are some good examples like DoD but most agencies have been very slow. It has been 8 years since EO 13148 !!! I guess the reason for that, as you mentioned, is how slow these agencies move. Not sure that is a reasonable excuse. How much time did the automotive industry suppliers have to get certified? And I am sure they were pretty busy too.

I am not attempting to politicize or criticize this issue at all. Like yourself, I would like to see the number of organizations adopting EMSs grow substantially and I just can’t see how this new EO will change anything.

A while back I contacted you about the study I am doing but we never set up a time to talk. Please drop me a line if you are still interested in sharing some wisdom.

Randy
27th March 2007, 11:54 AM
Here's a fact sheet that coincides with Executive Order 13423.

chaosweary
27th March 2007, 01:05 PM
Wow I can envision President Bush and Al Gore holding hands singing Kum Ba Yah! :D

BSMITH
26th May 2007, 12:12 PM
Randy, I totally agree with you. My comment was based on what a reasonable number of auditors have told me… and the general sense is of disappointment. There are some good examples like DoD but most agencies have been very slow. It has been 8 years since EO 13148 !!! I guess the reason for that, as you mentioned, is how slow these agencies move. Not sure that is a reasonable excuse. How much time did the automotive industry suppliers have to get certified? And I am sure they were pretty busy too.

I am not attempting to politicize or criticize this issue at all. Like yourself, I would like to see the number of organizations adopting EMSs grow substantially and I just can’t see how this new EO will change anything.

A while back I contacted you about the study I am doing but we never set up a time to talk. Please drop me a line if you are still interested in sharing some wisdom.


I have been meaning to address this thread of discussions for a while. First of all, strictly from an EMS perspective, I don't see this new Executive Order adding much additional from E.O. 13148, except to say "me too" from the Bush Administration. It still does not require certification of individual facilties; however, what it does do is to add some very prescriptive national-level objectives and targets.

For those that don't know me, I probably have the most experience auditing, training, and implementing EMSs in Federal agencies on this Board, with no apologies to Randy. I retired in December 2005 as Environmental Manager of a U.S. Department of Energy office in New Orleans after 30 years in Federal Government. While with DOE, I audited DOE facility EMSs since 1997, was loaned out to do integrated ES&H audits at other DOE facilities, was loaned out to lead EPA audits of other Federal agencies (VA, GSA) as part of their long-term EMR (Environmental Management Review) program, taught Lead Auditor courses for Federal agencies, and served as EMS Management Representative for my own facility. I now work for 2 registrars doing EMS, QMS, and OHSMS audits, teach EMS, QMS, and OHSMS Lead Auditor courses (including EMS courses geared specifically to Federal agencies), and teach Environmental Management courses for the University of New Orleans. I have recently audited DOE and NASA contractors and have taught courses for DOE and the Army.

I think that there are a few misconceptions on this Board; neither Executive Order required certifications for ISO 14001, but both required implementation of an EMS (not specifically ISO 14001). Since about 1994, the Federal Government has been actively involved in developing the standard itself and individual departments and agencies have held numerous conferences, meetings, and training sessions on EMSs. Some agencies have either required ISO 14001 certification or have strongly encouraged individual facilities to become certified and/or to require their contractors to become certified. Some have developed their own EMS standards based on ISO 14001, with some specific compliance requirements and prescriptive national objectives and targets. In particular, EPA, DOE and NASA have been leaders in EMS development for the Federal Government. Many DOE and NASA faciliites have become certified for Federal employees and/or contractor employees.

Randy
26th May 2007, 12:31 PM
I really looked at EO 13423 and it supercedes 13148 and 4 other EO's...they don't exist any more.

BSMITH
26th May 2007, 01:04 PM
I really looked at EO 13423 and it supercedes 13148 and 4 other EO's...they don't exist any more.

You are correct, although generally Executive Orders aren't eliminated until they are replaced. I know of an Executive Order (11593) from the Nixon Administration (Protection and enhancement of the cultural environment) that is still actively utilized. The deadlines listed in E.O. 13148 have all passed.

There is a summary of Federal agencies and EMSs at: http://www.fedcenter.gov/programs/EMS/