Plain Writing Act: Initial Report

I. Senior Agency Official for Plain Writing:

Eric E. Wachter
Director
Office of the Executive Secretariat
wachter.eric@epa.gov
(202) 564-7960

II. Inform agency staff of Plain Writing Act's requirements:

1. General Counsel Scott Fulton issued a memorandum to all employees informing them of the requirements of the Act. The memorandum was emailed agencywide.
2. The Plain Writing Act website is linked to the agency's Intranet.
3. A section on plain writing was been included in EPA's Correspondence Manual, which prescribes specific standards and formats for the preparation of official agency correspondence.

III. Training

1. EPA has an online training for all employees who produce documents for the public and for any employee who would like to be trained in plain writing.
2. EPA is planning classroom workshops and training sessions for interested employees.

IV. Ongoing compliance/sustaining change

1. Each national-program and regional office will appoint a designated official for plain writing.
2. With institutional knowledge of the unique processes and various documents produced in their offices, these designate officials will devise and implement processes for ongoing compliance.
3. The senior official for plain writing and the designated officials will meet regularly to oversee compliance.

V. Agency's plain-writing website

1. Visit EPA's plain-writing website
2. Visit our Open Gov site