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Greenbytes: February 17, 2005 Edition
In this Issue
Greetings from EPA New England. We hope you find this edition of Greenbytes useful and we encourage you to give us feedback. For information on subscribing or unsubscribing see the section at the end of this message.
Feature:
EPA Presence in New England Results in Strong Enforcement
of National Environmental Standards
by Robert W. Varney
Regular readers of our Greenbytes newsletter will likely recall a recent feature, highlighting our innovative work promoting supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) as part of our office's enforcement settlements. This week I wanted to look at the bigger picture of how EPA's regional workforce protects human health and ecological integrity by enforcing environmental laws in the six New England states.
As you likely know, enforcement and compliance is a top priority of mine at EPA New England. I think you will agree that we made significant advances with strong enforcement results for the fiscal year that ended last Sept. 30.
Some highlights:
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Our field presence continued to increase. Inspections were up 13 percent in 2004, following a 33 percent increase in 2003. Inspections have now reached a six-year high.
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Violators paid $15.6 million to settle enforcement cases - an increase of 27 percent from 2003. In the past three years violators have paid a total of $40.3 million to settle EPA enforcement cases in New England. In fact, enforcement settlements during fiscal 2002, 2003 and 2004 are the three highest totals in the past ten years.
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The value of "supplemental environmental projects" - projects designed to benefit public health and the environment in communities where violations occurred -- reached a record-high $11.3 million in 2004. One such project will provide emission reduction retrofits and cleaner, low-sulfur fuel for 520 Boston school buses and 15-20 commuter trains -- eliminating hundreds of tons of air pollutants in a densely-populated urban area. Other settlements require the testing and abatement of lead paint hazards in thousands of residential units.
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We continue to encourage and provide incentives for self-audits and the voluntary disclosure and correction of violations. More than one hundred facilities took advantage of these incentives and disclosed violations in 2004.
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While maintaining a very strong enforcement program, we also continue to pursue a balanced approach that includes compliance assistance and outreach to regulated facilities. We have organized dozens of assistance workshops and sent thousands of assistance mailings targeted to municipalities, hospitals, marinas, schools and many others who could benefit from help in understanding how to comply with environmental regulations. Our regional assistance web site received over 296,000 page requests in 2004.
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As always, we continue to work closely with our New England state partners to ensure effective and fair enforcement across the region. Sustained support for state programs is particularly important in an era of severe constraints on state budgets.
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Finally, we maintain an active criminal enforcement program, including a $10 million fine against Tyco International for Clean Water Act violations, and a $10 million fine against the Bouchard Transportation Co. for violations related to the Buzzards Bay oil spill in 2003.
I thank our dedicated enforcement and compliance assistance staff, who have worked with great passion and creativity to protect New England's environment. I also thank our counterparts in state environmental programs, who have worked closely with us - this job cannot be done without the cooperation of all levels of government.
We are encouraged by the fact that political support for our enforcement program remains strong. Even in the face of strong budget-cutting pressure, Congress has directed that EPA's 2005 enforcement staffing levels remain at not less than the '04 levels.
Finally, while we take great pride in what we have achieved in our compliance program, we are always looking at areas that need continued attention and improvement. One ongoing challenge is to ensure that we are directing our resources toward the most important compliance problems. While we have had a great deal of success in the past several years, we recognize that future success depends on identifying emerging issues and problems, and continually adapting to changing conditions in the regulated community. We welcome your input and feedback on this issue, or any other ways to strengthen our program.
More information about our overall enforcement and compliance efforts can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcementandassistance/index.html . For annual reports on enforcement and assistance, see: http://www.epa.gov/region1/enforcementandassistance/reports/index.html . This site will also have our full 2004 report within several weeks; we'll let you know when it is available.
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Press Releases
Portsmouth NH - Hospital conducts self-audit; corrects violations
Pittsfield, MA - 30 day comment period on new info in final human health risk assessment
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Meetings & Conferences
Mass. Military
Range (MMR) Impact Area Review Team
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005
New Bedford Harbor Superfund Meeting - Community Forum
Thurs. Mar. 3, 2005, 11:00 a.m., 103 Sawyer St.
Raymark Advisory
Committee
Tues. Mar. 8, 2005
Mass. Military
Range (MMR) Plume Cleanup Team
Wed. Mar. 9, 2005, 6:00 p.m.
Fort Devens Restoration
Advisory Board
Thurs. Mar. 10, 2005, 7:00 p.m.
S. Weymouth Naval
Airstation Restoration Advisory Board
Thurs. Mar. 10, 2005, 7:00 p.m.
Northeast Regional
Community & Urban Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Conference (fee)
Tuesday/Wednesday Mar. 15-16, 2005; Manchester NH
How to Reduce and Prevent Beach Closures - New Hampshire
(Workshop; $35 fee)
Friday, March 18, 2005; Urban Forestry Center, Portsmouth NH
(was 02-11-05)
Public Hearing
on Draft NPDES Permit for the GE facility
Wed. March 23, 2005; Pittsfield MA (was 02-10-05)
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Regional
Diesel Idling - updated information for New Hampshire
Clean School Buses - minor updates
Electronic Waste Recyclers - updated resource directory
Brownfields - new info on What's New page
GE Housatonic River
Beede Superfund Site - 2 additions to technical documents page
Newport Naval Superfund Site - new 5-year report
RCRA Corrective Action - new environmental indicators determinations for:
- Summit Corp., Thomaston CT
- Century Brass, New Milford CT
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"In The News" is a free daily service that provides links to today's top newspaper stories about the New England environment and links to related EPA New England information.
In The News Email Service: As soon as today's edition of "In The News" has been posted we will inform you via email.