Compliance & Enforcement at Federal Facilities

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EPA has explicit authority to assess fines at federal facilities violating environmental statutes. EPA's federal facilities civil enforcement program helps protect public health and the environment by assuring that federal facilities comply with federal environmental laws.

EPA also enforces environmental cleanup requirements at federal facilities. Cleanup enforcement authority is derived from several statutes: the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), including the Underground Storage Act (UST) program, and the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), a part of the Clean Water Act (CWA). These statutes, as well as Presidential Executive Orders, require federal facilities to clean up environmental contamination at their facilities.

For guidance on EPA's policy for recovering the cost savings of noncompliance, see Guidance on Calculating the Economic Benefit of Noncompliance by Federal Agencies (9/30/99) (PDF), (334K, 7 pp). For subsequent guidance reconfirming the Agency's federal facility economic benefit policy and practice in light of the Fort Wainwright litigation, see Guidance on Calculating the Economic Benefit of Noncompliance by Federal Agencies (2/13/06) (PDF) (131K, 3 pp).

EPA established the Federal Facilities Multi-Media Enforcement/Compliance Initiative (FMECI) in order to assess the compliance status of federal facilities with environmental laws using a multi-media approach. For the results of this initiatve, see Federal Facilities Multi-Media Enforcement/Compliance Initiative: Final Report (PDF)(893K, 117 pp).

Please also visit FedCenter, an interagency environmental stewardship and compliance assistance center for federal facilities.