Established in 1995, the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Cooperation Work Group (ITRC) is a state-led, national coalition of personnel from the regulatory and technology programs of more than 25 states; three federal agencies; and tribal, public, and industry stakeholders. The organization is devoted to reducing barriers and speeding interstate deployment of better, more cost-effective, innovative environmental technologies.

Various tools have been developed and services provided by the ITRC to accomplish this goal. ITRC Technical/Regulatory Guidelines, each of which deals with a specific type of technology, enable faster, more thorough reviews by state agencies of permit applications and site investigation and remediation plans for full-scale deployment of such technologies. Use of these documents by states in their regulatory reviews also fosters greater consistency in technical requirements among states and results in reduced fragmentation of markets for technologies caused by differing state requirements.

Those who conduct and oversee demonstrations and verifications of technologies covered by ITRC Technical/Regulatory Guidelines will also benefit from use of the documents. By looking ahead to the typical technical requirements for permitting/approving full-scale deployment of such technologies, they can collect and evaluate information to facilitate and smooth the permitting/regulatory approval process for deployment.

ITRC also has developed products in the categories of Case Studies and Technology Overviews (including regulatory information reports, state surveys, closure criteria documents, and formats for collection of cost and performance data); provided state input into other complementary efforts; and worked on approaches to enable state regulatory agencies to accept performance data gathered in another state as if the testing had been done in their own state.

More information about the ITRC and its available products and services can be found on the Internet at http://www.itrcweb.org.