Environmental Compliance and EPA’s 2015 Record-Setting Settlements

by | Dec 29, 2015 | Blog |

How busy was the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2015? According to the EPA’s December 2015 press release, “In fiscal year 2015, EPA secured record-setting hazardous waste, Clean Air Act, and Superfund settlements…” Here are some of the highlights from this past year:

  • $7 billion in investments by companies in actions and equipment to control pollution and clean up contaminated sites.
  • $404 million in combined federal administrative, civil judicial penalties and criminal fines.
  • $4 billion in court-ordered environmental projects resulting from criminal prosecutions.
  • 129 combined years of incarceration for sentenced defendants.
  • $1.975 billion in commitments from responsible parties to clean up Superfund sites.

Environmental Enforcement

We reported on several of these enforcement actions along with some other notable environmental trends over this past year in our blogs.

While the EPA has made it clear that they are pursuing “high impact cases,” they, too, have non-traditional industry sectors in their enforcement sites, such as health care providers.

This year’s news will likely be dominated by the election, so environmental enforcement may keep a lower profile, or enforcement may be very selective. To get an idea of where the EPA may focus their efforts in the latter half of this decade, see our October 17th blog.

Environmental Compliance Calendar

With all of this as a backdrop, we are again providing our annual Michigan Environmental Compliance Calendar to assist you in your planning for 2016.

2016 Env. Compliance Calendar 2

Additional Compliance News and Notes

Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans (SPCC):

SPCC plans must be reviewed every five years.  Also, make sure your plan is signed and implemented.

NPDES Permitting:

If you are among the 7,000 smaller communities affected by the MS4 Phase II implementation, pay close attention to developments in 2016 as a final rule is due later this year.

For Industrial Stormwater Discharge Permits, if you are not sure if you need an NPDES Industrial Discharge Permit, see our blog from last spring. Also, make sure you are aware of the new (significant) sampling requirements.

Biennial Hazardous Waste Report:

Reporting is in even years only. See our recent blog regarding some proposed substantive changes to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

GHG Emission Reporting:

Greenhouse Gases (GHG) are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and other fluorinated gases, including nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and hydrofluorinated ethers (HFE).

ROP Excess Emission Reporting:

Some permits may require more frequent reporting. Certain deviations have immediate reporting obligations.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list.  Environmental regulations are dynamic, and the chemical handling practices at your facility are likely not static.  You should, therefore, consider local, state, and federal environmental reporting requirements in light of a changing regulatory environment.

Finally, you might want to consider an environmental compliance assessment to evaluate your compliance status. If you would like information about compliance assessments, contact Matthew Schroeder, P.E. (mschroeder@dragun.com) at 248-932-0228, ex 117.