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Administration Announces Plan to Develop National Environmental Indicators
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For Immediate Release June 17, 2008

Administration Announces Plan to Develop National Environmental Indicators

ÿÿWhite House News


WASHINGTON, DC -The Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of
Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy
today directed Federal agencies to begin developing a set of national
environmental indicators and to kick off a major pilot project in this
area. National Environmental Status and Trends (NEST) indicators are
envisioned as high quality, scientifically based statistical measures of
selected conditions of our environment and natural resources that will
facilitate public discourse and decision-making. They will be used by
Federal decision makers, other partners and stakeholders, and the public to
analyze national trends and assess the impact of national programs on the
Nation's environment and natural resources.

The pilot project announced today will focus on producing consistent,
regularly recurring indicators in the area of water quantity and quality.
The NEST pilot will demonstrate collaborative interagency processes and
provide a forum to engage the public in the identification of questions
that should be addressed by the indicators.

"Our Nation will benefit from a consistent set of indicators for our
environment and natural resources," Council on Environmental Quality
Chairman James L. Connaughton said. "Most NEST indicators will be produced
from data collected by ongoing Federal and State programs. This action plan
will improve the quality and uniformity of those data to provide nationally
consistent, and more widely accessible, indicators."

"High-quality, statistical measures of conditions and trends are important
indicators of the effectiveness of government policies and programs," said
Clay Johnson, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and
Budget. "We currently lack consistent information on the environment and
natural resources to analyze national trends. We sought the advice of the
National Academy of Public Administration on the best way to move forward,
and this action is based on their recommendations."

"The science community has pilot-tested several approaches to national
reporting on environmental conditions over the past decade," said Dr. John
H. Marburger III, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
"For example, the project The State of the Nation's Ecosystems conducted
for the government by the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics
and the Environment, produced a useful, credible set of indicators. But we
need to go farther, and the development of such national indicators is a
Federal responsibility. So we are moving now to the next level."

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