March-2006 Issue

EMS Initiative in North Central Texas is Underway!

In mid-January, the City of Dallas contacted NCTCOG to elicit assistance sponsoring and promoting an Environmental Management System (EMS) working group to provide a forum for the entities in our region to learn more about EMS, discuss and share issues, and solve problems pertaining to instituting an EMS program. An environmental management system, or EMS, is a program that provides tools to help manage an organization’s compliance and environmental impacts efficiently and effectively, and to improve environmental stewardship across the entire organization. EMS have been around since the 1980s, mostly in industry where saving money on regulatory compliance was a big incentive, however; Environmental Management Systems have come to the forefront for both municipalities and industry to be proactive and identify environmental compliance issues, potential wasted resources, and activities or projects that could put personnel or the environment at risk.

On January 30, 2006 representatives from 22 local governments attended an EMS working group session at the NCTCOG offices. TCEQ provided the speaker for this well attended kick-off event. With the probable release of the storm water general permit for Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4) this year, the potential for addressing storm water management requirements through EMS initiatives was readily recognized. Due to this great response, TCEQ offered to continue training in a series of work sessions to be held over the coming months.

NCTCOG’s Department of Environment and Development is partnering with the City of Dallas and the TCEQ to offer an opportunity for local governments to receive training in addressing portions of the MS4 regulations through the EMS program. Any local government subject to storm water permitting requirements from the TCEQ will benefit from attending these free workshops in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

A series of focused work sessions will be offered from March 28, 2006 to July 20, 2006 which will help municipalities:

Identify the storm water impacts to their various operations and functions,
Meet upcoming regulatory obligations,
Set goals to develop a storm water management program,
Determine resources required and assign responsibility for program requirements,
Develop audit/inspections programs, and
Measure and report progress on the program to management.

All these items will be achieved through the implementation of a storm water EMS. Although focused on storm water issues initially, any government entity looking to implement an EMS will benefit from attending these workshops. All methods used to develop storm water programs can be directly expanded to include any environmental programs affecting local governments.

Registration prior to the March 28, 2006 course is recommended; but on-site and website registrations at www.culturetechnologies.com/locgovresources.html will be accepted through Session II – Getting Started/Getting Results April 24-25, 2006. A total of five sessions will be held in support of this assistance effort for local governments. Beverages, continental breakfast and afternoon snack will be provided. Lunch is on your own for each session.

Session 1- Getting Ready: Storm Water and EMS, March 28, 2006, 8:30 – 4 p.m.
Location: ISCAR Metals Training Center, 304 Westway Place, Arlington, TX 76018

An initial training session will be offered that covers the storm water regulations and an introduction to how the EMS program will help meet these regulations. This session will be held in coordination with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) webcast titled: Environmental Management Systems: How to Build and Sustain Senior Management and Employee Support for a Tool that Improves Compliance, Increases Efficiency & Saves Money. The goal of this session is to educate you on the basic requirements affecting your municipality, give you the tools to communicate the issues to management, receive advice from other municipalities already implementing EMS through the ICMA webcast, and identify key personnel in your organization who should attend follow-on training sessions.

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