Chapter 10: Environment and Natural Resources
Create an Internet Portal
for Environmental and
Natural Resources Agencies
Summary
Most Texas state agencies now have Web sites, yet these individual sites have
not necessarily made it easier to obtain information on government programs and
services. One way to accomplish this goal is through the use of a portal, a
single Internet location providing access to services from multiple agencies.
Texas’ ongoing portal project,
TexasOnline, ultimately will serve as
a virtual “front counter” for all state government services. The
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, a participant in the TexasOnline
project, and other natural resources agencies should work with the Department of
Information Resources to create an environmental and natural resource portal
within TexasOnline.
Background
Providing information and services are core functions of government, and
state agencies have put vast quantities of information such as public reports
and program goals on the Internet. This material is useful, but the public
expects more.
In recent years, the “one-stop shopping” idea has permeated the
public and private sector, as more organizations recognize the Internet’s
potential for supplying easy access to information and services. For example,
the
Texas Coastal Coordination Council
site provides companies that want to build in the Gulf Coast area with
information detailing all the necessary permits that must be obtained and the
agencies with jurisdiction over the project.[1]
Another one-stop site, GovWorks.com,
allows citizens across the nation to obtain various permits, look for government
jobs, bid at surplus property auctions, or obtain community information from
federal and local governments.
These one-stop Internet sites, or “portals,” are quick, easy
gateways to information and services from multiple agencies or other sources.
Portals employ a host of underlying technologies including databases, analytical
processing software, query and reporting tools, search engines, Web browsers,
and publishing delivery mechanisms.
Texas’ Portal Project
Texas introduced its
“TexasOnline” portal,
administered by the Department of Information Resources, a project created by
state government and a private-sector partner, in July 2000. TexasOnline is
intended to streamline the electronic delivery of services and information
throughout Texas’ state and local governments.
TexasOnline is a product of the Electronic Government Task Force, created by
the 1999 Legislature to assess the feasibility of conducting state and local
government transactions through the Internet. The portal allows its users to
renew certain licenses and certifications, file certain sales tax returns, and
search for corporate status information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Currently, only a few agencies are participating, including the Texas Natural
Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), the state’s lead natural
resource and environmental protection agency. Ultimately, the portal is intended
to become a comprehensive one-stop location for obtaining information or doing
business with Texas government, regardless of the level of government or agency
involved or the nature of the business.
TexasOnline’s private-sector partner, KPMG Consulting, LLC, anticipates
that agencies participating in the portal will gain efficiencies from offering
online transactions to their customers as an alternative to walk-in or mail-in
transactions. In addition, the portal eventually is expected to allow citizens
interacting with multiple agencies to enter their identifying information only
once, and to allow other participating agencies to reuse the information as
appropriate.[2]. (Internet document.)
The TexasOnline portal features authentication services ranging from
passwords to mechanisms for the eventual acceptance of digital signatures;
scalable architecture, for rapid expansion and application changes;
around-the-clock access; the ability to trace transactions; acceptance of credit
cards and other electronic funds transfers; web application development
services; call-center services; shared revenue from convenience or premium
service fees; and electronic interfaces to the state’s accounting systems
and agencies’ other systems. Moreover, TexasOnline offers services in both
Spanish and English.
Organizing Agencies’ e-Efforts
The Legislature has long recognized the value of coordinated usage of
technology for cost-effectiveness. The 1989 act that created the state’s
Department of Information Resources, for instance, warned that
....the danger exists that state agencies could independently acquire
uncoordinated and duplicative information resources technologies that are more
appropriately acquired as part of a coordinated effort for maximum
cost-effectiveness and use.[3]
The act also stated that:
It is the policy of this state to coordinate and direct the use of
information resources technologies by state agencies and to provide as soon as
possible the most cost-effective and useful retrieval and exchange of
information without and among the various agencies and branches of state
government and from the agencies and branches of state government to the
residents of this state and their elected
representatives.[4]
Thus far, however, such clear expressions of legislative intent have not been
put into practice. For instance, TNRCC and 16 other agencies charged with
protecting the environment and managing natural resources offer huge amounts of
information on the Internet, including environmental data, regulations, and
public outreach information.[5] But citizens and
businesses still find it difficult to determine which agency is responsible for
specific functions, issues, or information, and the existing agency Web sites
offer little help.
Many agencies are redesigning their sites to make online information more
readily available, and some are developing systems to provide electronic
permitting services. The Texas Railroad Commission is developing an electronic
compliance and approval program for its drilling permit
applications.[6]http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/ecap/togt.pdfhttp://www.rrc.state.tx.us/ecap/).
Without more active coordination of such efforts, however, Texas citizens and
businesses will not fully benefit from the convenience and ease of use provided
by the Internet.
Another recommendation in this report would establish a Program Management
Office within the Department of Information Resources to coordinate a variety of
cross-agency electronic government projects.
Recommendation
Texas’ environmental and natural resource
agencies should coordinate their efforts with
the proposed Program Management Office (PMO), as
recommended elsewhere in the report to create
an environmental and natural resource portal
within the existing
TexasOnline
portal (http://www.texasonline.com). The new portal should link the
state’s environmental and natural resource information, services, and
regulatory requirements.
Since most environmental and natural resource agencies already have
established Internet sites (only the Texas Soil and Water Conservation Board and
the five Texas River Compact Commissions have not), this recommendation would
require coordination by the proposed PMO and cooperation among agencies. In the
event the PMO is not created and funded by the Legislature, these agencies
should work with DIR to coordinate the effort.
The Electronic Government Task Force contracted with KPMG Consulting, LLC, to
design the e-government framework for TexasOnline. The contract stipulated that
Texas e-government transaction fees would pay for the development and operation
of the framework. Therefore, any agency that uses this framework could do so
without an up-front investment.
Fiscal Impact
These recommendations would have no fiscal impact on the state.
[1] Texas Coastal Coordination
Council, “Coastal Permitting Assistance for Individual and Small
Businesses” (Austin, Texas, 2000)
(www.glo.state.tx.us/coastalpermits/assistpamph.html)
[2] Beth Bacheldor,
“Portals Make Business Sense: Central Access Points Improve Customer
Service and Let Companies Communicate with Employees,” Information
Week (October 18, 1999)
(http://www.informationweek.com/757/portals.htm). (Internet
document.)
[3] V.C.T.A.,Government Code,
§ 2054.001(a)(4)
(http://www.dir.state.tx.us/DIR/irmact.html#202054.001).
(Internet document.)
[4] V.C.T.A., Government Code,
§ 2054.001(b)
(http://www.dir.state.tx.us/DIR/irmact.html#202054.001). (Internet
document.)
[5] Texas’ other agencies
with environmental and natural resource responsibilities include the
Comptroller’s State Energy Conservation Office, the General Land Office,
Public Utility Commission, Railroad Commission, Texas Animal Health Commission,
Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Department of Health, Texas Energy
Coordination Council, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Texas River Compact
Commissions (for the Canadian, Sabine, Red, Rio Grande, and Pecos Rivers), Texas
Soil and Water Conservation Board, and the Texas Water Development
Board.
[6] Gene Montgomery,
“Reducing Paper—Will It Ever Happen?” Texas Oil & Gas
Today (Winter 1999), p. 10
();
see also Railroad Commission of Texas, “Electronic Compliance and Approval
Process (ECAP)” (
(Internet documents.)
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