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Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Priority:
Financial Responsibility
Planning Topics
Financial responsibility requirements in federal law ensure an operator has adequate funds to address the closure of facilities that handle hazardous wastes, hazardous substances, toxic materials, or other pollutants. The funds provide for the ability to clean up those materials so they do not contaminate soils, groundwater, surface waters or the air. Having the financial resources to perform closure and cleanup are an important part of protecting human health and the environment from solvents, dioxins, oils, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and other dangerous pollutants that contaminate soils, groundwater, surface waters, and sediments.
The enforcement strategy for ensuring full compliance with the financial responsibility requirements seeks to prevent improper handling and release of hazardous materials and wastes and defaults that would shift the costs from the responsible parties to others, including state and federal taxpayers.
EPA initiated a phased approach in the examination of compliance and enforcement issues. OECA has initiated its review by looking at RCRA Subtitle C closure/post-closure, RCRA corrective action, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). OECA then plans to evaluate the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and RCRA Subtitle I to determine if the financial assurance programs under these laws should be included in this priority. The phased approach allows OECA the ability to assess the information as it is gathered and focus its activities on significant environmental or compliance problems as well as adjusting its responses (e.g., enforcement, compliance assistance, etc.) when dealing with several environmental statutes that may have uniquely associated compliance and environmental concerns.
For each of the national priority areas, EPA has developed a strategy designed to achieve specific outcomes. The following Strategy Summary of 2008 - 2010 for Financial Responsibility Under Federal Laws (PDF) (2pp, 23K,About PDF) contains a description of the environmental problem or noncompliance problem; why the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is addressing the problem; how the problem will be addressed; and, highlights the progress made by the Strategy Summary of 2005 - 2007 for Financial Responsibility Under Federal Laws (PDF) (3pp, 44K,About PDF). As the Financial Responsibility National Priority evolves, EPA will provide additional information for each financial responsibility program. Meanwhile, you can find compliance assistance resources in the "Online Resources" section below.
Online Resources
EPA has identified over 400 links to online compliance and enforcement resources that may be helpful in implementing these performance-based strategies. These links can be accessed through the Compliance Assurance Resources Compendium for Fiscal Year 2008 - 2010 National Enforcement and Compliance Priorities (PDF) (60pp, 775K,About PDF), current as of February 2008, is also available.
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) maintains a focused list of links to its policy, guidance and other relevant Compliance and Enforcement Resources.