Enforcement

EPA's enforcement offices hold persons or companies legally accountable for either civil or criminal violations of our nation's environmental laws and regulations. Responsibility for the various actions that make up EPA's enforcement program are divided among different Headquarters offices, the EPA Regions, and state agencies.

• Types of Enforcement Actions
• • Civil Administrative Actions
  • Civil Judicial Actions
  • Criminal Actions
  
  
• Related Topics
• • Enforcement Response Policies (ERPs)
  • Enforcement Alerts Newsletters
  • Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)
  • Compliance Incentives and Auditing
  • Economic Enforcement Models
  
  
• Enforcement Results
• • Settlements
  • Civil Penalties
  • Criminal Penalties
  • Incarceration
  • Injunctive Relief
  • Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)
  • Superfund Penalties
  
  
• Enforcement Results Reports
• • Annual Results
  • OECA Accomplishments Reports
  
  
• Other Types of Activities
• • Compliance Monitoring
  • Compliance Incentives
  • Compliance Assistance

Types of Enforcement Actions

Civil Administrative Actions -- These are enforcement actions taken by EPA or a state under its own authority, without involving a judicial court process. An Informal Administrative Action is generally any communication from EPA or a state agency that notifies the regulated entity of a problem. A Formal Administrative Action by EPA or a state agency may begin with notice of violation or with the issuance of an Administrative Order (either with or without penalties) to bring about compliance. More on Civil Enforcement...

Civil Judicial Actions -- These are formal lawsuits, filed in court, against persons or entities that have failed to comply with statutory or regulatory requirements or with an Administrative Order. These cases are brought to court by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of EPA and by the State's Attorneys General for the states. More on Civil Enforcement...

Criminal Actions -- EPA or a state may also enforce against an entity or person through a criminal action, depending on the nature and severity of the violation. As opposed to civil actions, criminal actions are usually reserved for only the most serious violations, those that are willful, or knowingly committed. Court conviction can result in the imposition of fines or imprisonment. More on Criminal Enforcement ...

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Enforcement Results

Settlements -- A settlement is generally an agreed-upon resolution to an enforcement case. In an administrative action, settlements are often in the form of Consent Agreements/Final Orders (CA/FOs). In a judicial context, settlements are embodied in Consent Decrees signed by all parties to the action and filed in the appropriate court. More on Civil Settlements...

Civil Penalties -- These are monetary assessments to be paid by a person or regulated entity in connection with a violation or noncompliance. Penalties act as an incentive for coming into compliance and staying in compliance with the environmental statutes and regulations. Penalties are designed to recover the economic benefit of noncompliance as well as an amount to account for the seriousness of the violation. More on Civil Enforcement...

Criminal Penalties -- Federal, state or local fines imposed by a Judge at the sentencing stage of a trial. In addition to criminal penalties, an order of restitution, where a defendant is ordered to pay those affected by the violation a monetary amount, for example, a defendant may be ordered to pay a local fire department the cost of responding to and containing a hazardous waste spill. More on Criminal Enforcement...

Incarceration -- When a violation is determined to be criminal in nature, "jail time" is a possibility. Incarceration is a deterrent to those who might be considering the option of violating our Nation's environmental laws to cut corners in doing business, for example. More on Criminal Enforcement...

Injunctive Relief -- Injunctive relief consists of the tasks that a violator must carry out to come into compliance. More on Civil Enforcement...

Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) -- These are environmental improvement projects that a violator voluntarily agrees to perform, in addition to actions required to correct the violations, as part of an enforcement settlement. More on SEPs...

Superfund Penalties - The Superfund statutory penalty provisions authorize EPA to seek statutory penalties of up to $32,500 for each day of non-compliance. Stipulated penalties may be included in a settlement agreement as an incentive for the party to comply with the settlement terms. More on Superfund Penalties...

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Enforcement Results Reports

Annual Results -- At the end of each fiscal year, EPA announces the results of compliance assurance and enforcement activities. Annual results of the compliance and enforcement program and highlights of specific accomplishments are available below. Another presentation of the program's results can be found in the compliance assurance and enforcement Accomplishment Reports.

OECA Accomplishments Reports -- The Accomplishments Reports provide results on the entire spectrum of the enforcement and compliance assurance programs from compliance assistance to inspections to formal enforcement actions. The report provides summary discussions of national results by category of activity, and highlights specific cases, pilot projects or trend data through narrative and graphs.

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Models and Data Bases

Settlement Economic Models
(BEN, ABEL, MUNIPAY, INDIPAY, etc.)

Compliance and Enforcement Data Systems

Related Topics

Enforcement Response Policies (ERPs) -- ERPs are EPA enforcement policies that describe how the Agency will treat violations and instances of noncompliance or the action that should be taken. These are developed based on each statute or for particular programs within each statute (e.g., the wetlands program under the Clean Water Act).

In connection with this, EPA publishes "Enforcement Alert" Newsletters which inform the regulated community of specific areas where EPA is finding significant noncompliance.

Often, as a part of the settlements with EPA for violations and noncompliance, the facilities will carry out voluntary projects that are beneficial to the environment, known as Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs).

In order to facilitate EPA's enforcement activities, EPA makes extensive use of its Compliance Incentives and Auditing programs which allow facilities to self-assess and disclose their compliance status under programs which place limits on liability.

EPA's Economic Enforcement Models are tools for use in self-assessments.

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Other Types of Activities

EPA's enforcement activities also include: compliance monitoring, compliance incentives, and compliance assistance.

Basically, compliance monitoring includes inspections and information gathering. This may include formal information requests, a formal inspection visit, examination and review of records, taking of samples, and observation of operations. If violations of the environmental statutes and regulations are found, generally a notice of violation is issued to the violator. In some instances, a warning letter may instead be issued for first-time violations that are neither highly significant in nature, nor present an imminent hazard or endangerment.

The issuance of the warning letter or the notice of violation by the lead-Agency is often the first formal step in the enforcement process. Such notification should be taken by the regulated entity as notice to correct the existing problems and come into compliance as quickly as possible. More on OECA's Compliance section...

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