Cal/EPA Strategic Vision July 2000

Introduction

• Special Recognition
• From the Secretary
• Forward

Special Recognition

The following organizations and individuals deserve special recognition for their valuable contribution to the California Environmental Protection Agency’s (Cal/EPA) Strategic Vision document.

• The California Environmental Dialogue for providing insight and advice on the concept of "sustainability" and its members’ enthusiastic participation in workshops.
• The Resources Agency for their participation in workshops, advice, and most importantly, their spirit of cooperation with a sister Agency.
• The executives and staff of the boards, departments and office of Cal/EPA for participating in workshops and providing valuable feedback on drafts.
• Andrea Lewis of Cal/EPA for her skill and support in facilitating the workshops and providing invaluable liaison with the organizations of Cal/EPA.
• Keith Smith of Cal/EPA for his vision and insight into innovative approaches to environmental management.

Special thanks are in order for the management of the State Water Resources Control Board for allowing us the use of their Graphic Services Unit, and to Dale Oliver for the graphic design and layout of this document.

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STATE OF CALIFORNIA Gray Davis, Governor Strategic Vision July 2000

CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Winston H. Hickox, Agency Secretary
916-445-3846
http://www.calepa.ca.gov/

AIR RESOURCES BOARD 
Alan C. Lloyd, Ph.D., Chair
916-322-2990
http://www.arb.ca.gov/

DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL 
Edwin Lowry, Director
916-324-1826
http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/

STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD
Arthur Baggett, Jr., Acting Chair
916-657-1247
http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Linda Moulton-Patterson, Chair
916-255-2200
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/

DEPARTMENT OF PESTICIDE REGULATION
Paul Helliker, Director
916-445-4300
http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/

OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARD ASSESSMENT
Joan Denton, Ph.D., Director
916-324-7572
http://www.oehha.ca.gov/

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From the Secretary

The job of protecting human health and the environment is never done. The children and grandchildren of each succeeding generation will judge the success of this generation’s efforts. In part, we will be judged by what we knew about the impacts of pollution, what steps we took to learn more, and what we did with the information available to us.

What we know about the environment today—even our knowledge of the questions still to be answered—is vastly greater than what we knew only a decade ago. This knowledge provides ever-increasing evidence of the sensitivity of the environment and human health to chemical impacts—impacts that occur across environmental media and, because of bioaccumulation and reproductive effects, across time.

The revolution in information technology over the past quarter century presents an unprecedented opportunity for gathering and using information. Unfortunately, as yet there has been no concomitant increase in our ability to absorb, prioritize, and use newly acquired information to optimize our protection of the environment. We still have much to learn, but our tools improve on a daily basis.

"Protecting human health and the environment is a job that is never done."

We have learned that economic prosperity and environmental protection are dependent upon each other. Without economic prosperity we lack the resources to protect the environment; without environmental protection, economic prosperity is hollow and short-lived.

California has long been a pioneer in taking the initiative to reduce independent environ-mental risks posed by air and water pollution, solid and hazardous waste management, and pesticide application. We must now continue this pioneering tradition by building a cross-media perspective into our environmental protection programs. No longer can we consider air, water, and land as independent dimensions of the environment.

The opportunities for action are endless; our resources are not. If the California Environ-mental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) did not already exist with a mandate to address cross-media impacts and prioritization of environmental protection efforts, logic would compel us to create that mandate now. Not all environmental problems are cross-media in nature, but all environmental programs must consider cross-media issues in setting priorities and structuring solutions.

There can be no substitute for an overall structure to guide our pursuit of protection of human health and the environment. Within Cal/EPA, strategic planning is not just a series of paper exercises, but a process that will guide environmental protection in this state. As such, this process realigns and connects the individual plans of the boards, departments, and office of Cal/EPA into a single strategic vision.

Two tenets underlie this strategic vision for the opening years of the 21st Century. The need for improved cross-media coordination in addressing environmental challenges. The requirement that we never lose our focus on measurable environmental results.

We will continue to seek better ways to improve information sharing and the coordination of work among the Cal/EPA boards, departments, and office as a means of dealing with the cross-media dimensions of environmental protection. Working with other states, as well as federal, regional, and local agencies, we will accelerate the process of establishing and employing meaningful environmental measures. All policy, program, and resource allocation initiatives and decisions will be judged by the degree to which they address these tenets.

In one sense, the boards, departments, and office that comprise Cal/EPA are like large and powerful ocean liners; relatively slow moving and hard to turn. We need to make these vessels more flexible and responsive, so they can react quickly to new information, new environmental problems, and new opportunities for action. We need to think boldly but act cautiously, conscious of the magnitude of effort that is required to achieve even a modest change in course.

We live in a great state, one that has grown from one and a half million people a century ago to more than 34 million today and is projected to double in population in this century. The opportunities for economic growth and accompanying protection of our natural resources and fragile environment have never been greater or more necessary. I very much appreciate the opportunity I have been given to help set a course for this grand voyage into the future.

Winston H. Hickox

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Forward

Following is Cal/EPA’s first agency-wide Strategic Vision. It is a vision document, not a plan. It sets forth the Agency’s vision and mission, the core values by which we will be guided, and the goals and objectives of our focus. Cal/EPA’s boards, departments and office will develop strategies with which to address these goals and objectives in their respective Strategic Plans. Together, we will create outcome measures with which to judge our success or failure to meet our environmental goals.

The Strategic Vision also commits the Agency and its member boards, departments and office to better understand how the issues of society, the economy, and the environment interrelate, and to pursue strategies that simultaneously improve the quality of life in all three areas.

As we reflect on our environmental stewardship over the past 30 years and prepare for the new millennium, the need to identify and express agency-wide priorities and direction at this critical juncture has become ever more apparent.

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