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Compliance and Enforcement Annual Results FY2008:
Important Environmental Problems/National Priorities:
Tribal
FY2008 Annual Results Topics
Problem:
Pollution of the air, water and land in Indian country and in other tribal areas poses significant threats to the health and environment of members of the 563 federally-recognized Indian tribes. Pollution seriously damages ecosystems and tribal members face increased risk from pollution because of subsistence hunting, fishing, religious, cultural purposes. EPA’s FY 2008-2010 national priority for federally recognized Indian tribes is to address problems associated with drinking water, solid waste, and environmental risks in tribal schools through capacity building and compliance monitoring.
Key Results:
| Fiscal Year | Estimated Investments in Pollution Control ($)* |
Civil Penalties ($) ** |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2007 | $ 0.4 Million | $ 0.1 Million |
| FY 2008 | $49 Million | <$ 0.01 Million |
* Estimated Investments in Pollution Control is an estimate of the defendant’s cost to comply with consent decrees through the installation of appropriate pollutant controls. The value for FY 2007 is adjusted for inflation using the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics calculator.
** Civil Penalties are penalties assessed, not collected. The value for FY 2007 is also adjusted for inflation.
Highlights:
- EPA initiated five enforcement actions in FY 2008 to protect the safety of drinking water in Indian country. EPA issued emergency orders to the Fort Belknap Indian Community, Prairie Mountain Utilities, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, and an administrative penalty order to the Northern Arapaho Utilities, Wind River Indian Reservation, for various violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
- EPA issued a unilateral order after Gila River Indian Community’s Department of Environmental Quality discovered a groundwater contamination plume below the facility where Plymouth Tube operated from 1975 until 2000. The plume is composed of industrial solvents including trichloroethylene in concentrations well above the legal standards for drinking water. Groundwater is the sole source of drinking water for GRIC. The order requires Plymouth Tube to investigate the nature and extent of contamination in groundwater below the facility.
- EPA also initiated an enforcement action against the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), a Bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, for owning and/or operating two underground storage tanks at the Turtle Mountain Reservation bus garage facility that BIE failed to properly monitor for releases of petroleum to the environment in violation of the underground storage tank provisions of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. EPA pursued the action and sought penalties against BIE.
Annual Results by Fiscal Year:
FY2008 | FY2007 | FY2006 | FY2005 | FY2004 | FY2003 | FY2002 | FY2001 | FY2000 | FY1999