[Federal Register: December 10, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 237)]
[Notices]
[Page 68893-68896]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10de03-74]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7597-8]
Stakeholder Comment on Preliminary National Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance Priorities for Fiscal Years 2005, 2006 and 2007
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Solicitation of recommendations and comments.
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SUMMARY: This Notice is a Federal Agency request for the public to
comment and provide recommendations on triennial national enforcement
and compliance assurance priorities to be addressed for fiscal years
2005, 2006 and 2007. The information submitted by commentors will be
considered as part of the process EPA uses to identify and select
national enforcement and compliance priorities. Final priority
selections will be incorporated into the EPA's Office of Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance Workplanning Guidance (which provides national
program direction for all EPA Regional offices). These priorities will
also affect implementation of the enforcement and compliance goals and
objectives outlined in the EPA Strategic Plan, as mandated under the
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).
DATES: The agency must receive comments and recommendations on or
before January 12, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Submit all electronic comments and recommendations to docket.oeca@epa.gov. Please reference Docket Number OECA-2003-0154 in
the submission. (Comments may be submitted on disk in WordPerfect 8.0
or earlier versions) Written comments can be mailed to: Enforcement &
Compliance Docket and Information Center (2201T). Docket Number OECA-
2003-0154. Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Penn. Ave., NW., Washington, DC
20460. Please be aware that mail addressed to EPA headquarters may
experience delays in delivery resulting from security screening.
Comments may be delivered in person to: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Public Reading Room, Room B102, EPA West Building, 1301
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Tolpa, Chief, Planning and
Analysis Branch; Voice: (202) 564-2337, Fax: (202) 564-0034.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Contents
A. Background
B. Projected Time Frames
C. Review Information
A. Background
On October 1, 2003, a new EPA Strategic Plan describing how the
Agency will utilize its resources to meet its mission became effective.
The new Strategic Plan covers fiscal years 2003-2008 and consists of
five goals with OECA's activities contained in Goal 5--``Compliance and
Environmental Stewardship.'' Outcome performance
[[Page 68894]]
measures in Goal 5 capture OECA's work efforts in terms of
environmental results achieved. By focusing on environmental results,
rather than the activities of Agency programs and organizational units,
the goal structure allows for greater flexibility between EPA and its
states and federally-recognized Indian tribes (tribes) for solving
environmental problems. EPA consulted extensively with the states in
the development of the Strategic Plan.
OECA has now aligned its Fiscal Year 2005 through 2007 (FY 2005-
2007) work planning cycle with the Agency's strategic planning cycle.
OECA's planning cycle sets out short term, annual and multi-year goals
for the Office, establishes work planning requirements for the
enforcement and compliance assurance programs within the Agency's ten
Regional Offices, establishes a small set of national program
priorities and requires the development of performance-based strategies
to direct the work in the identified priority areas. By aligning its
planning cycle with the Agency's Strategic Plan, OECA will be better
able to correlate the environmental results achieved in the national
enforcement and compliance priorities to the environmental outcomes
projected in Goal 5 of the Strategic Plan. The intent of this Federal
Register Notice (FR Notice) is to solicit from the public suggestions
of new national enforcement and compliance assurance priorities for
2005-2007, and comments on the candidate priorities described below.
This past summer, OECA asked each EPA Regional Office to: (1)
Conduct internal discussions about existing and potential national
program priorities; and (2) engage its state and tribal regulatory
partners in discussions of existing and potential national program
priorities for fiscal years 2005-2007. EPA conducted outreach regarding
the priorities at an environmental justice forum, which is a federal
advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act
(FACA). OECA received comments back from all EPA Regional Offices and
six states.
OECA will select the FY 2005-2007 national program priorities using
the following criteria:
(a) Significant Environmental Benefit: In what specific areas can
the Federal enforcement and compliance assurance programs make a
significant positive impact on human health or the environment? What
are the known or estimated public health or environmental risks?
(b) Noncompliance: Are there particular economic or industrial
sectors, geographic areas or facility operations where regulated
entities have demonstrated serious patterns of noncompliance?
(c) EPA Responsibility: What identified national problem areas or
programs are better addressed through EPA's Federal capability in
enforcement or compliance assistance?
Based on the analysis of all proposals received and ongoing work,
OECA has developed the following preliminary list of suggested FY 2005-
2007 national priorities. While not all suggestions submitted appear on
the preliminary list of candidates, the opportunity remains for those
candidates to be adopted as regional, state, tribal, or local
priorities. In considering the following list, please note that OECA
remains committed to identifying a very limited number of national
priorities to retain flexibility to address emerging problems or issues
as they arise. In addition, some current priority areas may be carried
forward or refined during the FY 2005-2007 work planning cycle to
complete unfinished work. Two current priorities will not be continued
through FY 2005-2007. The Petroleum Refining priority is anticipated to
be completed by the end of calendar year 2005, and the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Permit Evaders priority will no
longer include a focus on waste-derived fertilizer facilities and
foundries. Work such as monitoring or tracking the implementation of
Consent Decrees will continue for both as part of the Agency's core
program activities.
The following list of candidate priorities is divided into the
current priorities and suggested new areas. The tables below include a
brief description of the environmental problem in each priority area.
Greater detail and background information on each priority area can be
found at the DOCKET site identified in the address section of this
Federal Register.
I. Current Priorities
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Priority Nature of concern
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Safe Drinking Water Act-- Ensure public water systems provide
Microbials Plus. clean and safe drinking water that
pose minimal health risks and are
largely free from microbiological,
chemical or radiological
contamination. Efforts would focus
upon microbial rules, nitrate
requirements and emergency orders
to protect public health from
contaminants presenting an imminent
and substantial endangerment. The
suggested priority would also
address situations where multiple
violations, at one system or
different systems in the same
geographic area, present an
unacceptable cumulative risk to
public health.
Clean Water Act/Wet Weather....... Ensure compliance with CWA
requirements addressing storm water
runoff, overflows from combined and
sanitary sewers, and concentrated
animal feeding operation (CAFO)
discharges. These discharges can
contain bacteria, pathogens and
other pollutants that may cause
illnesses in humans, lead to water
quality impairment, including beach
and shellfish bed closures and harm
our nation's water resources.
Clean Air Act (CAA)/New Source Ensuring that NSR and PSD
Review/Prevention of Significant requirements of the CAA are
Deterioration (NSR/PSD). implemented. Failure to comply with
NSR/PSD requirements may lead to
the inadequate control of emissions
resulting in the release of
thousands of tons of pollution to
the air each year, particularly of
nitrogen oxides, volatile organic
compounds, and particulate matter.
Clean Air Act (CAA)/Air Toxics.... Reduce public exposure to toxic air
emissions by ensuring compliance
through directed monitoring and
enforcement with the Maximum
Achievable Control Technology
(MACT) standards. This is the
second phase of this priority
following four years of compliance
assistance and the development of
implementation tools.
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[[Page 68895]]
II. Suggested New Areas
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Title Nature of concern
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Resource Conservation and Recovery Reduce the potential hazard from
Act (RCRA)/Underground Storage UST's that can leak petroleum or
Tanks (UST). other hazardous substances into the
soil and contaminate groundwater,
the source of drinking water for
nearly half of all Americans.
Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Minimize or eliminate exposure to
Act (AHERA)/Asbestos in Schools. airborne friable asbestos in
schools. Asbestos is a known
carcinogen, and poses a significant
potential health risk if students
are in an environment where they
inhale asbestos fibers.
Financial Responsibility.......... Strengthen compliance with financial
responsibility requirements found
under various environmental laws to
ensure that individuals or
companies handling hazardous waste,
hazardous substances, toxic
materials or pollutants have
adequate funds to close their
facilities, cleanup any releases,
and compensate any parties affected
by their actions.
Ports of Entry.................... Reduce illegal handling or disposal
of hazardous waste stemming from
lack of knowledge of hazardous
waste management regulations by
managers at port of entry
warehousing facilities. A potential
Homeland Security issue, it is also
a potential Environmental Justice
(EJ) focus area because many ports
of entry facilities are located in
low income or non-English speaking
neighborhoods.
Tribal............................ In Indian country and tribal areas
in Alaska, address significant
human health and environmental
problems associated with drinking
water and waste management. Ensure
compliance within targeted areas
and address adjacent noncomplying
facilities impacting Indian country
and tribal areas.
Auto Salvaging Sector............. A significant environmental problem
due to significant potential of
pollutants such as waste oils, gas,
mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), and lead reaching the
environment from auto salvaging
facilities. This sector includes
salvage yards, shredders and their
residue and dismantlers. Auto yards
are located throughout the United
States, and many are small
businesses.
RCRA--Mineral Processing.......... Evidence gathered in recent
inspections indicates that mineral
processing facilities are failing
to obtain the necessary permits and
adequately manage their wastes. EPA
has found that the mishandling of
mineral processing wastes has
caused significant environmental
damage and resulted in costly
cleanups. These highly acidic
wastes have caused fish kills and
the arsenic and cadmium that these
wastes often contain have been
found in elevated levels in
residential drinking water wells.
Federal Facilities................ Improve and better maintain
compliance at Federal Facilities
through more effective
implementation of environmental
management systems (EMS). An EMS is
an organization's overall plan for
handling resources, procedures,
processes, and policies to advance
environmental protection and
performance.
Miscellaneous Plastics............ Reduce public exposure to hazardous
wastes and pollutants released to
the land, air, and water by the
miscellaneous plastic products
manufacturing sector.
Environmental Justice............. Ensure that no racial, ethnic or
socioeconomic group bears a
disproportionate share of negative
environmental consequences
resulting from industrial,
municipal, and commercial
activities; or from the execution
of federal, state, local and tribal
programs and policies. Target one
or more areas within each Region
for focused attention.
Fuels Management.................. Potentially large quantities of
hazardous pollutants are being
emitted to air, surface and ground
water, and soil from the storage,
distribution and ancillary
operations at liquid petroleum and
natural gas handling facilities.
Ensure compliance across a broad
spectrum of environmental statutes
to minimize releases.
Significant Noncompliance (SNC) Ensure proper management of the
Oversight. enforcement and compliance programs
under the CAA, the CWA--National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System, and RCRA by ensuring that
instances and patterns of
significant noncompliance are
identified and addressed by EPA and/
or States in a timely manner.
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At this time OECA is inviting comments on this preliminary list,
and any suggestions for other FY 2005-2007 priorities. When submitting
responses to this FR Notice, please rank which of the areas listed
above should be a top concern for national focus, as well as suggesting
others not included on the current list. If additional problem areas
are identified, please provide supporting information on the
suggestions and be sure to relate them to the selection criteria.
Again, suggested priority areas that are not chosen may be candidates
for individual regional, state, or tribal attention and/or continued
investigation.
B. Projected Time Frame
After receiving stakeholder responses to this FR Notice OECA will
complete its analysis of candidate priorities and present a list
recommendations for final approval to the Assistant Administrator for
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in late January, 2004. In February
2004, EPA will issue the draft FY 2005-2007 OECA Work Planning Guidance
to Regional Offices, states and tribes for final review. This draft
guidance will include the selected EPA enforcement and compliance
assurance national priorities.
C. Review Information
Persons interested in obtaining further background information
regarding current or proposed FY 2005-2007 national enforcement and
compliance assurance priorities may submit a request for hard copy or electronic version of information to: docket.oeca@epa.gov, or contact
the docket clerk at (202) 566-1514. Please reference Docket Number
OECA-2003-0154 in the request. A reasonable fee may be charged by EPA
for copying docket materials.
[[Page 68896]]
Dated: December 4, 2003.
John Peter Suarez,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance.
[FR Doc. 03-30593 Filed 12-9-03; 8:45 am]
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