Enforcement

Enforcement consists of actions taken in response to violations of environmental law or regulations by a person or company. Enforcement actions depend primarily on the seriousness and circumstances of the violation. In choosing the most appropriate enforcement action, EPA and state agencies generally try to achieve several goals. These goals include:

• Correcting the violation as quickly as possible
• Deterring future violations
• Being fair to the regulated community by treating similar violations with similar enforcement actions
• Punishing serious violations through criminal sanctions
• Effectively using enforcement resources to achieve environmental and health goals with the least amount of spending in terms of time and money

There are various types of enforcement mechanisms available to a regulatory agency. These range from informal responses, such as warning letters, to formal responses that can include legal orders and civil or criminal actions.

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 have greatly strengthened the authority of EPA and other agencies designated to enforce the provisions of the Act. For example, EPA is empowered to impose administrative penalties of up to $25,000 per day for violations of air pollution regulations. Previously, only the judicial branch of the government could establish such penalties. The amendments also authorize EPA to establish a field citation program for minor violations. This essentially allows inspectors to issue "tickets" of up to $5,000 for any violation discovered during a routine inspection. In addition, the amendments strengthen EPA's power to enforce both civil and criminal sanctions.

The amendments also authorize private citizens to seek civil penalties against polluters in citizen suits. This provision has the potential to increase the number of citizen suits related to air pollution. The amendments allow courts to assess penalties and issue violations.

Another enforcement feature of the amendments is the use of market forces to ensure emissions reductions. To address the problem of acid rain, the amendments established an emissions trading scheme for reducing sulfur dioxide emissions. Sources are allocated allowances based on required emissions reductions and past energy use. An allowance is worth one ton of sulfur dioxide and is fully marketable. Sources must hold allowances equal to their level of emissions, or face a $2,000 per excess ton penalty and a requirement to offset excess tons in future years.

More information on compliance and enforcement can be found at
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/