During a recent government meeting, concerns were raised regarding the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) reliance on state departments to enforce regulations without formal rulemaking processes. A representative highlighted the situation in Missouri, where the state’s Department of Natural Resources is tasked with enforcing guidelines that the EPA issues as informal guidance documents rather than through established regulatory channels.

The representative emphasized that these guidance documents effectively function as rules, despite lacking the necessary public engagement and notice-and-comment procedures typically required for formal regulations. This practice raises significant transparency issues, as stakeholders and the public are often left unaware of the rules being enforced.

Further complicating matters, the representative noted difficulties in obtaining the implementation guidance used by core districts, citing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that yielded over 1,100 pages, most of which were heavily redacted. This lack of transparency was underscored by the presence of instructions within the documents that explicitly advised against sharing information with the public.

The discussions highlighted a broader concern about the EPA's approach to regulation and the implications for state-level enforcement, calling for a reevaluation of how guidance documents are utilized and the need for greater transparency in the regulatory process.