Last week, our co-founder Ryan sat down with Alison Torbitt from Nixon Peabody to discuss environmental regulations and review the EPA’s progress on their 2020-2023 National Compliance Initiatives (NCIs). They also discussed how the recently announced 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan might impact upcoming initiatives. We’ve captured the summary below, but catch the full recording of the webinar here.
In 2020, the EPA released six National Compliance Initiatives focusing on Air, Hazardous Chemicals, and Water regulations. You can see below the impact of enforcement for each of these environmental compliance areas so far.
1. Creating cleaner air for communities by reducing excess emissions of harmful pollutants
2. Stopping aftermarket defeat devices for vehicles and engines
Results:
• EPA enforcement actions resulted in 15.7 million pounds of methane reduction & 6.7 million pounds of VOC and HAP reduction
• Resolution of 40 civil enforcement actions, stopping the manufacture and sale of defeat devices for FY 2021
1. Reducing hazardous air emissions from hazardous waste facilities
2. Reducing risks of accidental releases at industrial and chemical facilities
Results:
• FY 2021 enforcement action conclusions have doubled, allegedly reducing over 680,000 pounds of pollutants
• FY 2021 enforcement penalty action conclusions have surpassed any prior FY since the initiation of NCIs.
1. Reducing significant non-compliance with NPDES permits
2. Reducing non-compliance with drinking water standards at community water systems
Results:
• EPA enforcement actions: Baseline SNC halved from 20.3% to 10.1% between FY 2018 and FY 2022
• Delivery of safe water to communities by improving Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) compliance
With the release of the EPA 2022-26 strategic plan, a series of goals and immediate priorities that the EPA plans to focus on in the near future was announced. While the new NCIs have yet to be released, recent announcements regarding PFAS indicate that air, hazardous chemicals, and water will continue to be a focal point for EPA enforcement actions.