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For a variety of its own reasons not applicable to the Committee, the agency may implement all/most of the recommendations,
but few times recommendations are not implemented.
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The exact percentage of recommendations above that have or will be fully implemented is difficult to estimate because the
nature of policy recommendations are such that it often takes a long time to implement new policy due to changing agency priorities
and resources. However, a number of extremely significant recommendations from previous years have been implemented. For example,
a significant number of the major recommendations presented in the NEJAC's 2006 Gulf Coast Hurricanes, 2003 Pollution Prevention,
2002 Inter-Agency Strategies, 2000 Waste Transfer Station, 2000 Permitting, and 1996 Brownfields, 1996 Relocation Roundtable
reports have been implemented. To our best estimate, approximately a third of the NEJAC's recommendations are currently being
implemented. Furthermore, all regional and program offices, as well as many other federal and state government agencies, have
sought to address the site-specific issues raised during the NEJAC's deliberations and the public comment periods. Finally,
the NEJAC's recommendations and meetings have been instrumental in wide-spread education of EPA senior managers and staff
regarding the environmental and public health concerns of disadvantaged, under-served, and environmentally overburdened communities
and tribes. This education has brought about significant behavioral change within the Agency and a commensurate increase in
the public's trust in and goodwill toward the Agency.
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