EPA to Focus Enforcement on Air and Water in 2017–2019

February 22, 2016

 For the next cycle starting on October 1, 2016, EPA will retain four of its current National Enforcement Initiatives, add two new initiatives, and expand one to include a new area of focus. The fiscal year 2017–2019 National Enforcement Initiatives are:

  1. Keeping industrial pollutants out of the nation’s waters (new)
  2. Reducing risks of accidental releases at industrial and chemical facilities (new)
  3. Cutting hazardous air pollutants (expanded initiative)
  4. Reducing air pollution from the largest sources
  5. Ensuring energy extraction activities comply with environmental laws
  6.  
  7. Preventing animal waste from contaminating surface and ground water

EPA is expanding its initiative focused on reducing toxic air pollution by adding large storage tanks and hazardous waste facilities to its work to address public health threats.

National Enforcement Initiatives reinforce EPA’s core enforcement work. One of EPA’s top enforcement priorities is to protect safe drinking water, and three of its initiatives include a focus on keeping pollutants out of drinking water sources.

“National Enforcement Initiatives help us focus time and resources on national pollution problems that impact Americans locally,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance at EPA. “These initiatives were chosen so we can better protect communities, especially those overburdened by pollution, and were informed by extensive analysis and public input. We remain committed to a vigorous enforcement program that reduces pollution and protects public health.”

EPA selects National Enforcement Initiatives every three years to focus resources on national environmental problems where there is significant non-compliance with laws, and where federal enforcement efforts can make a difference. Next Generation Compliance is EPA’s strategy to address current pollution challenges through a modern approach to increase compliance, utilizing new tools while strengthening vigorous enforcement of environmental laws.

EPA’s new work will address sources of pollution that pose direct public health and environmental threats to communities.

  • Keeping Industrial Pollutants Out of the Nation’s Waters: Certain facilities in industrial sectors like chemical and metal manufacturing, mining and food processing are responsible for nutrient and metal pollution in lakes, rivers, and streams, and can degrade water quality and threaten drinking water sources. 
  • Reducing Risks of Accidental Releases at Industrial and Chemical Facilities: Thousands of facilities nationwide, many of which are in low income or minority communities, make, use, and store extremely hazardous substances. Catastrophic accidents at these facilities—historically about 150 each year—result in fatalities and serious injuries, evacuations, and risk of harm to health and the environment. EPA will focus on reducing the risks of accidents through innovative accident prevention measures, and improving response capabilities.
  • Cutting Toxic Air Pollution (expanded initiative): Leaks, flares, and excess emissions from refineries, chemical plants and other industries emit hazardous air pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer and birth defects, seriously impact the environment, and pose risks to local communities and facility employees. 

 Recent settlements that address some high risk mineral processing facilities have helped set the stage to resolve future cases at other high risk facilities in this sector.

EPA has achieved significant progress under its National Enforcement Initiatives:

  • More than 98% of cities with large combined sewer systems and more than 90% of cities with large sanitary sewer systems are under enforceable agreements or have permits that put them on a schedule to address untreated sewage discharges into America’s waterways.
  • 59% of individual power generating units at coal-fired power plants have installed the required pollution controls or are under a court order to do so.
  • Since 2011, EPA has secured enforceable agreements to address violations at 539 facilities emitting toxic air pollution.
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 Recent record settlements include putting billions of dollars to work restoring the Gulf and helping communities affected by the BP oil spill, and securing a $100 million penalty from Hyundai-Kia, as well as forfeiture of emissions credits and more than $50 million invested in compliance measures.

EPA took public comment on the proposed National Enforcement Initiatives for fiscal years 2017–2019, and EPA solicited input from a wide range of stakeholders, including state and local governments, industry and non-governmental groups, and considered their feedback and comments when finalizing the initiatives.

Hazardous Waste Generator Improvement Rule

 

In the first major modification to the hazardous waste regulations in over 10 years, EPA plans to modify and reorganize the hazardous waste generator rule. When adopted, the rule will provide greater flexibility in how hazardous waste is managed and close important gaps in the regulations.

 

Attend Environmental Resource Center’s live, online session to learn:

  • New requirements for documenting hazardous waste determinations
  • Revised requirements for when and how to submit the Notification of Generator Status form to EPA
  • How to take advantage of the episodic generation exclusion to avoid reclassification to a larger generator status
  • Definitions of important new terms – “Very Small Quantity Generator” and “Central Accumulation Area”
  • How to mark containers, tanks, and containment buildings with new information required at central accumulation areas and satellites
  • New conditions under which containers can be left open at satellite accumulation areas
  • Updated time and volume limits for satellite accumulation areas
  • New documentation requirements for contingency plans and biennial reports
  • New requirements for shipping hazardous waste from a VSQG to another facility owned by the same organization

 

New Exclusions for Solvent Recycling and Hazardous Secondary Materials

EPA’s new final rule on the definition of solid waste creates new opportunities for waste recycling outside the scope of the full hazardous waste regulations. This rule, which went into effect on July 13, 2015, streamlines the regulatory burden for wastes that are legitimately recycled.

The first of the two exclusions is an exclusion from the definition of solid waste for high-value solvents transferred from one manufacturer to another for the purpose of extending the useful life of the original solvent by keeping the materials in commerce to reproduce a commercial grade of the original solvent product.

The second, and more wide reaching of the two exclusions, is a revision of the existing hazardous secondary material recycling exclusion. This exclusion allows you to recycle, or send off-site for recycling, virtually any hazardous secondary material. Provided you meet the terms of the exclusion, the material will no longer be hazardous waste.

Learn how to take advantage of these exclusions at Environmental Resource Center’s live webcast on February 16 where you will learn:

  • Which of your materials qualify under the new exclusions
  • What qualifies as a hazardous secondary material
  • Which solvents can be remanufactured, and which cannot
  • What is a tolling agreement
  • What is legitimate recycling
  • Generator storage requirements
  • What documentation you must maintain
  • Requirements for off-site shipments
  • Training and emergency planning requirements
  • If it is acceptable for the recycler to be outside the US

 

San Jose RCRA and DOT Training

 

Charlotte RCRA and DOT Training

 

Houston RCRA and DOT Training

 

 

EPA Releases Online Mapping Tool to Help Protect Drinking Water Sources

EPA recently released the Drinking Water Mapping Application to Protect Source Waters (), an online mapping tool that provides the public, water system operators, state programs, and federal agencies with critical information to help them safeguard the sources of America’s drinking water.

DWMAPS allows users to learn about their watershed and understand more about their water supplier. DWMAPS also lets users see if sources of their drinking water are polluted and if there are possible sources of pollution that could affect their communities’ water supply. DWMAPS can even guide users to ways they can get involved in protecting drinking water sources in their community.

“A key part of having safe drinking water is protecting the sources—the streams, rivers, and lakes where utilities withdraw water,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “DWMAPS is the latest example of how EPA is using technology and digital tools to better protect public health and the environment.”

Utilities and state drinking water program managers can also use DWMAPS with their own state and local data. It allows them to identify potential sources of contamination in their locations, find data to support source water assessments and plans to manage potential sources of contamination, and evaluate accidental spills and releases. DWMAPS also integrates drinking water protection activities with other environmental programs at the federal, state, and local levels.

DWMAPS can provide users with information to update source water assessments and prioritize source water protection in any location or watershed in the country. Specifically, DWMAPS helps users to:

  • Identify potential sources of contamination in locations defined by users
  • Find data to support source water assessments and plans to manage potential sources of contamination
  • Evaluate accidental spills and releases, identifying where emergency response resources for accidental releases must be readily available
  • Promote integration of drinking water protection activities with other environmental programs at the EPA, state, and local levels

The mapping system will not display the locations of Public Water System facility intakes, but it does contain a wide variety of data useful to the protection of drinking water sources. EPA developed DWMAPS in consultation with EPA regional drinking water programs, state drinking water regulators, and public water systems.

EPA and PMRA Update Templates Used for Submission of Pesticide Residue Chemistry Data

 The two regulatory agencies encourage registrants and applicants for registration to use the new DER templates to report all their residue chemistry studies.

California State Water Board Adopts Resolutions on the Human Right to Water, Beneficial Use

California’s Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) recently highlighted the important uses of water, both for drinking and cultural use, by adopting a pair of resolutions related to the human right to water, Native American tribal cultural uses of water and subsistence fishing.

 

The adopted resolution identifies the human right to water as a top priority and core value of the state and regional Water Boards “to preserve, enhance, and restore the quality of California’s water resources and drinking water for the protection of the environment, public health, and all beneficial uses, and to ensure proper water resource allocation and efficient use, for the benefit of present and future generations.”

The resolution affirms the State Water Board’s commitment to consider how its activities impact and advance the human right to safe, affordable and clean water to support basic human needs. Actions taken by the Water Boards in which the human right to water would be considered are those that implicate sources of drinking water. They include revising or establishing water quality control plans, policies and grant criteria; permitting; site remediation and monitoring; and water right administration.

Under the resolution, State Water Board staff will work with relevant stakeholders to—as resources allow—develop new or enhanced systems to collect data needed to identify and track communities that do not have, or are at risk of not having, safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.

 

 The resolution also directs the Board to consider the proposed beneficial use categories no later than April 2017.

The resolution also directed staff to engage Native American tribes in the public participation process when developing these beneficial use categories, as well as seek input from environmental justice groups, the regulated community and other interested stakeholders.

Ohio Publishes Spill Reports Online

The Ohio EPA Emergency Response Program compiles spill incident information that is developed into a report for each incident. 

Initial Pollution Incident Reports (IPIR) can be found by searching under the document category, “Incident Report.” The corresponding District Office Investigation Report (DOIR) can be found by selecting, “Investigation Report.”

Only IPIR documents that have a corresponding DOIR document are available in the system. If a DOIR was not completed to correspond with an IPIR report, a records request is needed to obtain the IPIR. Also, any supporting documents for the DOIR will require a public records request.

Ohio EPA is also working to add the 2015 spill incident reports to the database. In the meantime, 2015 and 2016 reports can be obtained through a public records request. 

 

EPA Publishes Scientific Framework for Describing Incremental Change in Aquatic Ecosystems

 It outlines a scientific framework, the biological condition gradient (BCG), which states, territories, and tribes can use to interpret biological responses to increasing effects of stressors on aquatic ecosystems. The BCG framework can be populated with state or regional data to develop a quantitative model using expert judgment and statistical approaches to describe ecosystem changes from an undisturbed condition to a severely altered condition. The document provides a common language that may be helpful to interpret the condition of aquatic resources across state and regional boundaries, even when biological assessment approaches may differ.

 

L.A. Regional Water Board Files Lawsuit Against U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Clean Water Act Violations

 

Filing a citizen complaint, the Regional Water Board alleges the Army Corps failed to obtain the requisite water quality certification under the federal Clean Water Act (Section 401) and federal regulations before embarking on two dredge and fill operations in the Los Angeles River and its tributaries. The alleged violations took place between 2011 and 2012.

“The Los Angeles Regional Water Board has made every effort to work with the Army Corps of Engineers in seeking compliance with the Section 401 requirements of the Clean Water Act and federal regulations. Unfortunately, the Army Corps has consistently demonstrated a failure to comply,” said Charles Stringer, chair of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. “Their actions have forced the Regional Board to file suit in federal court to ensure compliance with laws that protect the water quality and environment of the Los Angeles River and its tributaries.”

The complaint addresses non-emergency projects, and the Regional Water Board will not ask the court to delay any emergency flood control projects that will ensure public safety in this El Niño year. Instead, the State’s water boards have worked with the Army Corps to use existing state water quality certifications to ensure that emergency work can go forward before anticipated heavy rains.

The first violation took place at the Verdugo Wash, which is a tributary of the L.A. River in Glendale, just north of downtown Los Angeles. This area of the L.A. River is known as the Glendale Narrows, and between October 24 and November 7, 2011, the Army Corps dredged 6.5 acres in Verdugo Wash, including the confluence of the Wash and the L.A. River. The Army Corps failed to acquire the Congressionally-mandated state certification to do this work, and the Regional Water Board was not made aware of this project until January 13, 2012.

On December 29, 2012, the Regional Water Board learned the Army Corps committed another violation of the Clean Water Act and federal regulations by removing riparian vegetation along Haskell Creek, a tributary to the L.A. River located in the Sepulveda Basin in December 2012. The Army Corps also conducted dredge and fill operations in the L.A. River itself during this time period. The Basin is a 2,000-acre flood management basin and wildlife reserve located on the upper portion of the L.A. River in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County.

In both instances the Army Corps used heavy equipment to remove vegetation, and it is alleged that during both dredge and fill operations little was done to mitigate the discharges of oil, grease, and other pollutants into these waters of the United States. These two activities are also alleged to have discharged sediment into the L.A. River that could affect water quality and aquatic life and wildlife habitat. Excessive discharges of sediment can limit sunlight from entering the water and in turn inhibit the growth of aquatic plants and destroy spawning habitats for bottom-dwelling organisms and larval fish. Neither instance involved the Army Corps’ authority under the Clean Water Act or federal regulations to alleviate an immediate emergency through repair or protection activities, and the Regional Water Board is not alleging that the Army Corps misused or is misusing this authority.

If the Army Corps had complied with the Section 401 certification process in the Clean Water Act for both projects in Verdugo Wash and the Sepulveda Basin, the Regional Water Board could have imposed conditions on these operations to guard against potential water quality impacts.

The Regional Water Board alleges that these violations of federal requirements are just two examples in a long history of non-compliance by the Army Corps. The Regional Water Board asserts that these types of violations have and will continue to occur as the Army Corps operates six flood risk management facilities, and approximately 34 miles of flood control channels and levees within Los Angeles County. Regional Water Board staff contends the Army Corps will continue to violate Section 401 requirements if it engages in clearing activities with heavy machinery, removing debris and vegetation below the ordinary high water mark of the L.A. River, conduct channel bed and bank repair activities, and do in-water work on water diversion structures.

The Regional Water Board’s complaint seeks a court order declaring the Army Corps’ discharge activities without a Section 401 certification constitute violations of the Clean Water Act, and direct the Army Corps to comply with the Clean Water Act, including ceasing all dredge and fill operations and discharges of pollutants into the L.A. River and its tributaries unless it obtains a valid Section 401 certification for each operation, or demonstrates compliance with the Clean Water Act.

 

 

PW Environmental Clients Fined for Underground Storage Tank Violations

 

The settlement comes after environmental consultant Jordan-Botke Enterprises, Inc., doing business as PW Environmental, pled no contest to a felony charge of grand theft related to overbilling the State Water Board’s Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund, and paid $19,000 in restitution.

As a result of the plea, the five site owners agreed to waive claims and appeals pending with the Cleanup Fund for work performed by PW Environmental at sites in Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange counties. The settlements resulted in a savings of more than $389,000 to the Cleanup Fund.

“This administrative action serves as a warning to site owners who are not actively monitoring their environmental consultant,” said Cris Carrigan, director of the Office of Enforcement. “Claimants are responsible for thoroughly examining requests for reimbursement before they submit them to the Cleanup Fund, and should question costs that they do not understand, or that appear unwarranted or excessive.”

In addition to PW Environmental’s criminal plea, a stipulated judgment was entered against the company on Sept. 10, 2015, in Ventura County Superior Court. As part of this civil action, PW paid $281,000 to the Cleanup Fund in civil penalties, and co-owners Richard “Dick” Botke, William “Bill” Jordan, and Kim Jordan were debarred from doing further business with any programs governed by the State Water Board.

In 2014 Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed into law Senate Bill 445, placing new safeguards to fight fraud against the Cleanup Fund. The law gives the State Water Board the authority to bar claimants and consultants from participating in the Cleanup Fund, impose penalties of up to $500,000 per violation, recover costs for investigation and prosecution, and grants administrative authority to prosecute cases.

Palouse Farmers Honored for Commitment to Clean Water

 

The Washington Department of Ecology presented district staff and the board of supervisors with an Environmental Excellence award, the agency’s highest honor.

The district has worked with private landowners to reduce erosion and improve shade along 40 miles of streams and rivers in the Palouse region by planting more than 100,000 native trees.

When presenting the award, Heather Bartlett, the Water Quality program manager at Ecology, took a moment to highlight the district’s forward thinking.

“Their work and steadfast commitment to conservation farming practices will benefit clean water now and into the future,” said Bartlett. “The district continues to secure funds for programs that keep agricultural lands working in an environmentally friendly way.”

More than 45,000 acres have benefited from direct-seed tillage under the district’s cost-sharing program since 2010.

 

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Trivia Question of the Week

How many gallons of water does the average U.S. household use each day?

a) 30

b) 100

c) 300

d) 1,000