EPA's Reinvention Activities Run Afoul Of Regulatory Reform: ■ Despite a general consensus that EPA needs to become more responsive to today's challenges, Congress may stymie change

President Clinton unveiled his 25-point plan to reinvent the Environmental Protection Agency on March 16, amid much fanfare. The reforms were to be fundamental and comprehensive. EPA was to become a more responsive and reasonable regulatory agency and save everyone time and money in the process. Less than two months after this announcement, the reinvention effort is still being touted loudly by Administration officials, but chances are growing that the changes being sought will be hamstrung by legislation going through Congress, or even by actions taken in local and state governments. The value of and prospects for EPA's reinvention were debated early this month at a conference sponsored by the National Environmental Policy Institute (NEPI) in Washington, D.C. NEPI is a publicly supported nonprofit organization that promotes environmental consensus. The impression left by the conference is that the President's ideas are a good start, but they don't go far enough to solve EPA's problems. EPA's ...