Minnesota Small Business Environmental Assistance Program MPC Profile

Do you have a state statute, policy, MOU, or other written document that established your multimedia *small business environmental assistance program (SBEAP)? If yes, please explain and provide a link to the document if possible.

Yes. We have an intra-agency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes the independence of our program from the regulatory programs and recognizes our multimedia efforts.

How and when did your SBEAP begin offering multimedia compliance assistance?

From the inception of our program we have functioned as multimedia. Our first proactive outreach effort began in 1993 in response to the Perchloroethylene Dry Cleaning NESHAP. We worked with the MN dry cleaning trade association and also visited 13 dry cleaning shops to seek input on what types of environmental assistance and information the cleaners needed and their preferences for method of delivery of information. As a result of their responses, we held a series of workshops in early 1994 where we focused not only on the newly promulgated air quality rule but also on hazardous waste, solid waste and wastewater issues affecting dry cleaners. Since that time we have tailored our outreach efforts to address multimedia issues faced by particular industry sectors. We continually work to improve our abilities to address multimedia needs with each new outreach effort.

We officially became multimedia in 1999.

Does your SBEAP provide confidential services? Explain.

Yes, through our intra-agency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that establishes the independence of our program from the regulatory programs. This MOU states that business specific information obtained by our SBEAP is kept confidential from the agency's regulatory programs except if there is imminent danger to public health and the environment. We initially had an MOU for this purpose with our air regulatory staff but because of our increasingly multimedia work we reopened and reissued the MOU to include all of our regulatory staff.

What role does the Ombudsman play? Does the office address multimedia issues or is it strictly strictly an air ombudsman? What agency or organization does the ombudsman work in? Please provide contact information.

Our Ombudsman acts as a liaison between small businesses and our regulatory staff to ensure that small business owners and operators are treated fairly by our agency regulatory staff; advocates for a small business perspective when environmental rules are being developed; and coordinates our Small Business Environmental Improvement Loan Program. On occasion our Ombudsman provides some technical assistance work but this is not his major role.

Our Ombudsman can give guidance on multimedia issues but his authority is currently for air issues only. The Ombudsman is located within the environmental regulatory agency.
What types of multimedia assistance does your SBEAP provide (air, hazardous waste, solid waste, water quality, air, other)? Describe.

All of the above. In our reactive work, we focus on an individual business to help them determine all of the environmental rules that impact them, and then provide them with tools and information to meet those environmental rules. For our proactive work, we focus on an industry sector, and then tailor our work so that we can provide tools and information to meet all the environmental issues that affect that particular sector.

Is your SBEAP’s work prioritized? If yes, explain (e.g., by media, rule, industry sector).

Yes. We weigh many factors and set our work plan according to our priorities. Priority is given to air, due to SIP and enabling statutes. For air and other media, we base priorities on a new promulgated rule, a media concern, an environmental concern with a particular pollutant or industry sector. Sometimes alignment with the work priorities of our partners plays a factor.

What percent of your total multimedia assistance effort is delivered through each of the following methods:
-Direct referrals to appropriate regulatory staff (___%)
-Personal contact with appropriate media staff (e.g., arranging meetings with regulatory staff from different media, having each program outline their respective rule requirements, following up as needed) (___%)
-Internal SBEAP expertise (e.g., gathering all information, walking client through requirements) (___%).

All of the above, although the vast majority of our work is provided through internal expertise.
Describe who actually provides the assistance. Is the primary role of the SBEAP staff to refer assistance requests to the appropriate regulatory staff or do the SBEAP staff possess the knowledge and experience to provide direct assistance? Explain the educational background and experience level of SBEAP staff.

SBEAP staff provides direct assistance to businesses. SBEAP staff typically have science degrees and have been in the program from one to over a decade.

Please identify the compliance assistance tools your SBEAP provides by completing the table below. In addition, please elaborate on any of the tools and include information about compliance assistance tools not included in the table.

Regulatory Program	Hotline	Publications	Onsite Visits	Workshops	Permit Assistance
Air	X	X	X	X	X
Waste	X	X	X	X	X
Water	X	X	X	X	X
Remediation
Storage Tanks	X	X	X	X
Emergency Planning
Wetlands, Land/Water Interface

Do you have SBEAP staff members with expertise in pollution prevention/EMS, as well as regulatory compliance?

While our primary focus is on regulatory compliance, we have a staff person that is integrating P2 into our business assistance activities as well as strengthening our connections with other P2 assistance providers, such as the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP).

We do not have expertise in EMS.
Are there any industry sectors for which you cannot provide assistance or can provide only limited assistance? Explain.

N/A.
Where is the technical assistance component of your SBEAP housed (state environmental regulatory agency, Small Business Development Center [SBDC], college or university [not SBDC], other state agency)?

Inside a regulatory agency, within an assistance division.
Where does funding come from for your multimedia SBEAP (air permit fees only, air permit fees plus other sources, task-specific funding, other)? What are the funding criteria? Please note that since this could be sensitive information, this is an optional question.

Our SBEAP funding sources are from a multimedia environmental account. The SBO is funded from Title V funds.
How many staff does your SBEAP have (using FTE equivalents)? Does your SBEAP have a documented performance measurement system (system to track data on activities such as web site hits, hotline/telephone assistance calls, mailings, onsite visits, publications, seminars/workshops/trainings, teleconferences/videoconferences, other)? Describe.

SBEAP 3.4, SBO 1.0.

Yes. We have an access database that tracks all of these items and which sorts items by media and industry sector as well.
What have been the benefits of providing multimedia versus air only assistance? Have you performed any cost benefit analyses? Describe your successes.

We have been able to do a better job of meeting our customers' needs. Our small business owners and operators want to be able to determine what environmental rules they face and what they have to do to meet those rules. We are able to provide a more efficient service to them when we are able to deal with more than just air issues. We have not performed any cost benefit analyses.
Provide an overall link or links to your online multimedia assistance web page(s), checklists, calculation spreadsheets, guidance, factsheets, publications, and contacts.

www.pca.state.mn.us/sbeap
What kind of peer assistance (for other SBO/SBEAP programs) is your program willing to contribute at this time (information provided here only, telephone/email assistance, program visits, training, other)?

If time and resources are available, we would be willing to help out other programs in whatever way needed including all the ways mentioned above.

Please list the industry sectors that you assist/have assisted most, and feel you have "expert" knowledge about. If possible, use the provided list of industry sector examples to categorize. You may also be more specific, include additional details, or write in a category that is not listed. In addition, please provide contact information for each industry sector "expert."

INDUSTRY SECTOR EXAMPLES:

Aircraft Metal Fabrication

Automotive Metal Finishing

Chemicals Mining

Construction Painting and Coating

Die Casting Pesticides

Dry Cleaning Petroleum Refining

Electric/Power/Energy Pharmaceuticals

Electronics/Computers Plastics

Electroplating Printing/Photoprocessing

Fiberglass Operations Pulp and Paper

Foods Recreation

Furniture Recycling

Hospital/Medical Retail

Iron and Steel Rubber and Plastics

Laboratories/Schools Solvents/Cleaning

Lubricants Stone/Glass/Clay/Concrete

Lumber and Wood Textiles/Textile Services

Machining Transportation

Marine/Shipyard Used Oil

Agriculture
Automotive
Chemicals
Construction
Dry Cleaning
Electronics/Computer
Fiberglass Operations
Foods
Furniture
Lumber and Wood
Metal Fabrication
Metal Finishing
Mining
Painting and Coating
Printing and Photoprocessing
Solvents/Cleaning
Stone/Clay/Glass/Concrete
Transportation
Used Oil

For these sectors call MN SBAP at 651-282-6143 or 800-657-3938 for more information.

What is your advice to other SBEAPs who want to become multimedia programs? What particular challenges did you face evolving into a multimedia program and how did you overcome them?

Demonstrate a need for multimedia assistance from small businesses and obtain management support.
Provide contact information for peer assistance with your SBEAP.

Call us at 651-282-6143 or 800-657-3938. You can send an e-mail to Troy Johnson, our program coordinator at troy.johnson@state.mn.us.

*Small Business Environmental Assistance Program, or SBEAP, refers to the Small Business Ombudsman and/or the technical assistance program (SBEAP) in each state.

4/05, updated 10/05, 2/07, 12/08, 8/11