Measuring and reporting environmental progress: How the government performance and results act figures in

Abstract

AbstractMeasuring and reporting progress toward environmental goals has presented a challenge to federal agencies for many years. There has always been pressure to identify successes in order to validate budgetary execution and justify future funding requirements. However, the advent of the National Performance Review has raised the level of public awareness that federal agencies must be not only accountable for the programs they administer, but also successful in administration. In short, the public wants to see that the government not only knows what it is doing, but is doing it well and accomplishing what was intended.This article explores how the federal agencies are measuring environmental progress, where it is reported, and how the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) figure in. While the major focus is on Defense, other agencies considered are Commerce, Treasury, Transportation, Agriculture, and Interior.