http://leanweb.org/our-work/air/epa-must-improve-oversight-of-state-enforcement
On December 9, 2011, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Inspector General issues a report entitled EPA Must Improve Oversight of State Enforcement.
The
EPA Office of Inspector General evaluated the enforcement in 50 states
and 10 EPA regions of three environmental enforcement programs: Clean
Water Act, NPDES program, Clean Air Act Title V program and the RCRA
Subtitle C program over the time period, fiscal year 2003 through 2009.
The findings contained in the report include:
"EPA does not administer a consistent national enforcement program."
"State enforcement programs frequently do not meet national goals."
"States do not always take necessary enforcement actions."
"State enforcement programs are under performing."
"EPA's
enforcement programs cannot assure equal and sufficient protection of
human health and the environment to all U.S. citizens."
Louisiana Enforcement
According
to the Office of Inspector General's report, from Fiscal Year 2003
through Fiscal Year 2009, Louisiana had the lowest enforcement activity
level of all of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 states. EPA
Region 6 consist of the states of Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, and Arkansas.
Louisiana Ranked
- in the lower half of states in the US for Clean Water Act enforcement
- in the lower quartile of states in the US for Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (regulation of Hazardous Waste) enforcement
Louisiana was one of five states that emerged as persistently underperforming over the analysis period.
Based
on interviews with officials from the state of Louisiana and EPA Region
6, as well as external personnel, Louisiana attributed their poor
enforcement performance to:
- Lack of resources
- Natural disasters
- A culture in which the state agency is expected to protect industry.
The
first major disaster to impact Louisiana during the review time frame
(Fiscal Year 2003 through 2009) occurred in August 2005, Hurricane
Katrina.
Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality personnel indicated the agency
could not enforce because it was overwhelmed by a natural disaster.
EPA's
goal establishes that 100% of major emitting facilities and large
quantity waste generation facilities be inspected every two years (Clean
Water Act, Clean Air Act, RCRA).
Louisiana Clean Water Act Enforcement
Only 9% of facilities inspected
Significant Non Compliance identified 3%
22% of final enforcement actions contained penalties
22% of final enforcement actions contained penalties
Louisiana Clean Air Act Enforcement
Only 31% of facilities inspected
Significant Non Compliance identified 15%
18% of final enforcement actions contained penalties
Louisiana RCRA Enforcement
Only 2% of facilities inspected
Significant Non Compliance identified 2%
8% of final enforcement actions contained penalties
In
2001, citizen's organizations filed a petition with EPA to withdraw the
Louisiana Clean Water Act NPDES program authority. The petition was
based on many failures of the program including the lack of timely
review of permit applications and the lack of adequate enforcement.
Louisiana Environmental Action Network was one of the citizens
organizations that filed the petition.
In
addition citizens also filed petitions with EPA to withdraw the Clean
Air Act and RCRA delegated programs from the state of Louisiana.
Louisiana Environmental Action Network was one of the Citizens
organizations involved in these two petitions.
LEAN
was involved extensively in meetings with EPA and the Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality concerning the petitions to withdraw
the EPA delegated programs from the state of Louisiana.
Office of Inspector General Recommendations:
Establish
clear and consistent national enforcement benchmarks so that EPA's
enforcement expectations are clear and consistent for state governments
and the regulated community.
Establish
a clear and credible escalation policy for EPA intervention in states,
that provides steps that EPA will take when states do not act to ensure
that the CAA, CWA and RCRA are enforced.
Establish procedures to reallocate enforcement resources to intervene decisively when appropriate under its escalation policy.
Develop a state performance scorecard to publicly track state enforcement activities and results from year to year.
The full report can be downloaded from this link:
