Compliance and Enforcement Annual Results 2011 Fiscal Year
2011 Region 8 Compliance and Enforcement Annual Results
EPA Region 8 serves Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
Overview
EPA Region 8 Office of Enforcement, Compliance and Environmental Justice enforces federal environmental law in a variety of ways, including strategic planning and targeting, setting enforcement priorities, developing compliance monitoring programs, undertaking inspection activities, and pursuing appropriate enforcement actions. We assist and coordinate with state and tribal enforcement programs and help promote effective enforcement strategies. We also engage in various compliance assistance and incentive activities.
EPA air monitoring activities in the Uinta Basin in Utah
This year, our concluded cases achieved almost 36 million pounds of pollutants reduced, treated or eliminated from the environment. EPA Region 8 also collected over $76 million in total injunctive relief and supplemental environmental projects from regulated entities to resolve alleged violations of laws that protect public health and the environment. Region 8 enforcement staff conducted over 1,600 inspections in our six state region and reached over 15,000 entities through compliance assistance efforts. We initiated 110 administrative compliance orders, 84 administrative penalty order complaints, and 91 administrative penalty order conclusions. The total value of federal penalties exceeded $4.5 million.
Federal Case Highlights
- Poplar Oil Field: In response to detections of low levels of oil production-related contaminants in the public water supply that serves the City of Poplar, Montana and the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, EPA issued an order to require the companies to monitor Poplar’s municipal water supply wells and also the private wells of residents in the potentially affected area, upon resident request. The order benefits the community, which includes minority and low-income areas.
- Gasco Energy will install air emission controls at its Riverbend compressor station on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation near Vernal, Utah. The settlement is expected to reduce air pollution by more than 550 tons per year, including 122 tons of carbon monoxide and 427 tons of ozone-forming volatile organic compounds and other hazardous air pollutants. The settlement benefits nearby communities, which include minority and low-income populations, by providing emission controls on dehydrators, compressor engines and storage tanks at the compressor station.
- Dyno Nobel: Australia-based Dyno Nobel will improve risk management and maintenance of equipment used to store and process hazardous chemicals at the company’s plant in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Under the Clean Air Act, facilities that handle large quantities of hazardous materials must develop a risk management plan to assist with emergency preparedness, chemical release prevention, and minimization of releases that occur. The agreement requires Dyno Nobel to improve accident prevention and preparedness and pay a penalty of $110,000.
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Bar One Ranch will complete restoration of wetlands and a stream channel adjacent to Ninemile Creek as part of a settlement. During construction activities along the southern banks of Ninemile Creek, 13.9 acres (approximately the size of 13 football fields) of wetlands were destroyed and millions of pounds of sediment were discharged. Bar One Ranch will complete restoration activities and pay a penalty of $275,000 for unauthorized construction activities affecting wetlands.
Bar One Ranch, Missoula County, Montana
- ConocoPhillips will reduce emissions of air pollutants at their compressor station on the Southern Ute Reservation in Colorado’s San Juan Basin as part of a settlement. The station removes water and compresses natural gas for transportation through high pressure gas pipelines. Measures taken as a result of the settlement will reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds by 137 tons per year, hazardous air pollutants like formaldehyde and benzene by 89 tons per year, and carbon monoxide by 33 tons per year. Air pollution mitigation investments at the compressor station will total $300,000 along with a penalty of $198,000.
Accomplishments at a Glance:
| Civil Cases | ||
|---|---|---|
| Estimated pollution reduced, treated or Eliminated (Pounds)1 | 33,523,518 | |
| Estimated hazardous waste treated, minimized, or properly disposed of (Pounds) 1 | 14,000 | |
| Estimated contaminated soil and water to be cleaned up (Cubic Yard) | 8,092,879 | |
| Enforcement Activities | ||
| Case initiations | 212 | |
| Case conclusions | 211 | |
Sources for Data displayed in this document: Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Information System (CERCLIS).
Footnotes:
- Projected reductions to be achieved during the one year period after all actions have been completed. (return to text)