Energy, environment and natural resources

Executive Order 12856: Federal Compliance With Right-to-Know Laws and Pollution Prevention Requirements

President: Bill Clinton

Applied community right-to-know reporting and pollution-prevention goals to covered federal facilities; EO 13148 later revoked and replaced it.

Status: Revoked — by EO 13148 in 2000.

Is Executive Order 12856 still in effect? No. EO 13148 revoked it in 2000.

What does Executive Order 12856 do?

EO 12856 directed covered federal facilities to report toxic releases, plan pollution prevention and pursue an agency-wide 50 percent reduction goal by the end of 1999. EPA’s 1996 Toxics Release Inventory analysis records 133 reporting federal facilities from 13 agencies and explains that the order brought federal facilities into TRI reporting from the 1994 reporting year. Those interim figures do not establish that every agency met the later target. EO 13148 revoked the order in 2000.

Administration position: The order said federal facilities should lead in public disclosure and pollution prevention. The reduction target was an administration goal, not a finding that every agency achieved it.
SignedAugust 3, 1993
Lead agencyEnvironmental Protection Agency
Reduction objective50 percent by December 31, 1999 from the defined baseline

Before and after

Before the order

Federal-facility coverage and reporting varied under existing environmental statutes and regulations.

After the order

Covered agencies prepared strategies, plans and public reports until EO 13148 replaced the framework.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Federal agenciesDevelop written pollution-prevention strategiesWithin 12 months
Covered facilitiesPrepare plans and begin specified EPCRA reportingAcross the 1994–1995 deadlines
EPA, DOD and GSACoordinate guidance and procurement reviewsWithin the stated implementation periods

What happened next

EO 12856 signed.

EO 13148 expressly revoked EO 12856.