E-Enterprise for the Environment puts into practice cooperative federalism for environmental co-regulators. Through a shared governance model, environmental leaders at EPA, States, and Tribes use E-Enterprise to deliver better results, often with lower costs and less burden, for the benefit of the public, the regulated community and government agencies.  

More than 45 years after the creation of the EPA and the enactment of a broad set of federal environmental protection laws that states, territories, and tribes may be authorized to implement within their jurisdictions, the various levels of government have developed complementary areas of expertise. By recognizing the advances that these co-regulators have made in the implementation of environmental programs, E-Enterprise seeks to capture and combine the best of all the capabilities and resources. These include the capacity for shared governance, necessary to provide streamlined processes, trusted information, and enhanced productivity for the national environmental enterprise.

Our Vision

1. Modernize Business Processes: Improve regulations by streamlining and updating the implementation of environmental programs.
2. Enhance Services to Users: Reduce transaction costs and burdens for the regulated community by leveraging technologies, such as promoting electronic reporting and permitting, online portals and business practices, training and assistance, and other tools (see E-Enterprise projects)
3. Advance Shared Governance among U.S EPA, States and Tribes: Transform the way environmental programs are implemented through collaboration and shared governance (see Shared Governance page) 

Using a shared governance model to streamline business processes and leverage technology enables the nation’s environmental protection enterprise to be more informed, timely and productive. Results include, improved health and environmental outcomes, while supporting local jobs and communities, as well as fostering greater trust among the regulated community, the public, and co-regulators by improving data integrity and communication.

Shared Goals

States, tribes and EPA share similar goals for the environment. Authority to implement environmental protection is also shared, making collaboration among the partners essential to ensuring that they can simultaneously address the following common goals and desires to:

• Establish a more collaborative relationship, while still respecting delegated program responsibilities;
• Provide states and tribes the opportunity for early and meaningful engagement with EPA on key issues and decisions that affect implementation of delegated programs and primary jurisdictional authorities;
• Incorporate the user’s perspective, improve customer service and institute business-friendly approaches;
• Deliver environmental programs and services with greater efficiency and effectiveness by streamlining and simplifying processes;
• Prevent or eliminate backlogs of agency actions and meet or beat required timelines for agency actions;
• Avoid duplication of efforts and make the best use of limited resources;
• Accomplish important environmental goals in the face of constrained, and sometimes declining, budgets;
• Achieve improved and measurable environmental progress and results

Environmental Information Exchange Network

E-Enterprise is built on the foundation of the Environmental Information Exchange NetworkExit, which was formed in 1998 as a collaborative leadership initiative of EPA, states, territories, and tribes to provide an automated, standardized, real-time nationwide electronic communications, data, and services platform to enable the sharing of environmental data securely via the Internet. For example, states, territories, and tribes use the Exchange Network to submit required data and reports to EPA under delegated programs, and universities and nonprofit organizations use it to share environmental monitoring data with the states and EPA. In 2015, a restructuring formally integrated the governance of the Exchange Network and E-Enterprise to ensure that a single management board and operations team would support the goals and principles of both efforts under the strategic direction of the E-Enterprise Leadership Council (EELC).