[Federal Register: February 9, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 27)]
[Notices]
[Page 6239-6241]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09fe07-47]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8277-5]
Stakeholder Comment on Proposed National Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance; Priorities for Fiscal Years 2008, 2009 and 2010
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Solicitation of recommendations and comments.
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SUMMARY: This Notice is a Federal Agency request for the public to
comment and provide recommendations on triennial national enforcement
and compliance assurance priorities to be addressed for fiscal years
2008, 2009 and 2010. EPA intends to consider information submitted by
commentors during the priority identification process. Final priority
selections are generally incorporated into the EPA's Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Workplanning Guidance (which
provides national program direction for all EPA Regional offices).
These priorities also affect implementation of the enforcement and
compliance goals and objectives outlined in the EPA Strategic Plan, as
mandated under the Government Performance and Results Act.
DATES: The Agency must receive comments and recommendations in writing
on or before March 12, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OECA-2007-0066, electronically using http://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method) or by e-mail to docket.oeca@epa.gov, or by mail to:
EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), Environmental Protection Agency,
Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center, mail code
(2201T), 1200 Penn. Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicholas Franco, Director, National
Planning Measures and Analysis Staff; telephone: (202) 564-0113 or
facsimile: (202) 564-0027.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Contents
A. Background
B. Projected Time Frames
A. Background
EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) selects
multi-year national priorities focusing on specific environmental
problems, risks, or patterns of noncompliance. A performance-based
strategy is developed for each national priority to characterize
[[Page 6240]]
the problem and set goals for addressing it. The intent of this Notice
is to invite comments from the public on EPA's enforcement and
compliance assurance priorities for the years 2008-2010 and provide a
summary of the process EPA used to identify this proposed list of
National Priorities.
This past summer, EPA Regions were asked to review the national
priority selection criteria to help inform their recommendations on
which priorities, in part or in whole, EPA should continue through FY
2010. In addition, the EPA Regions discussed the priorities with the
states and tribes, to get their opinion on whether the existing
priorities should be continued, in part or in whole, for the next three
fiscal years.
States and tribes were also encouraged to put forward any new
suggestions for priorities that they would like to see considered at a
national level. Feedback to date from EPA Regions, states and tribes
has been generally supportive of continuing with the existing set of
national priorities. OECA uses the following criteria to select
national priorities:
(a) Significant Environmental Benefit. Can significant
environmental benefits be gained, or risks to human health or the
environment be reduced through focused EPA action directed at specific
regulated entities, geographic areas, industrial or governmental
sectors, or environmental program areas?
(b) Pattern of Noncompliance. Are there identifiable and important
patterns of noncompliance among specific regulated entities, industrial
or governmental sectors, in geographic areas, or within environmental
statutes or programs?
(c) Appropriate EPA Responsibility. Are the environmental risks,
human health risks or the patterns of noncompliance sufficient in scope
and scale such that EPA is best suited to take action or pursue a
collaborative approach in which EPA leverages other resources?
The proposed set of FY 2008-2010 national priorities are shown
below.
Clean Water Act--Stormwater.
Clean Water Act--Combined Sewer Overflow.
Clean Water Act--Sanitary Sewer Overflow.
Clean Water Act--Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations.
Clean Air Act--New Source Review/Prevention of Significant
Deterioration.
Clean Air Act--Air Toxics.
RCRA & CERCLA--Financial Assurance.
RCRA--Mining & Mineral Processing.
Tribal.
The FY 2005-2007 Petroleum Refining priority will not continue into
FY 2008-2010 as a national priority. The priority has met its primary
goal of addressing 80% of the national refining capacity. It is
important to note that discontinuation as a national priority does not
mean that the Agency will no longer focus on these areas, but rather
the work will continue as part of the Agency's core program activities.
The table below includes a brief description of the environmental
problem in each priority area. Greater detail and background
information on each priority area can be found at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/planning/priorities/index.html.
Information on end of
year results for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance,
including national priorities, can be found at http://epa.gov/compliance/data/results/annual/fy2006.html
.
National Priorities
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Priority Nature of concern
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Clean Water Act--Stormwater.......... Stormwater runoff from urban
areas can include a variety of
pollutants, such as sediment,
bacteria, organic nutrients,
hydrocarbons, metals, oil and
grease.
Clean Water Act--Combined Sewer Combined sewer systems are
Overflow. designed to collect rainwater
runoff, domestic sewage and
industrial wastewater in the
same pipe. During periods of
rainfall or snow melt, the
wastewater volume in a combined
sewer system can exceed the
capacity of the system or
treatment plant, leading to an
overflow.
Clean Water Act--Sanitary Sewer The main pollutants in raw sewage
Overflow. from SSOs are bacteria,
pathogens, nutrients, untreated
industrial wastes, toxic
pollutants, such as oil and
pesticides, and wastewater
solids and debris.
Clean Water Act--Concentrated Animal The major environmental problem
Feeding Operations. associated with CAFOs is the
large volume of animal waste
generated in concentrated areas.
Pollutants associated with
animal waste primarily include
nutrients, mainly nitrogen and
phosphorus, but animal waste may
also include organic matter,
solids, pathogens, pesticides,
antibiotics, hormones, salts and
various trace elements
(including metals). If manure
and wastewater are not properly
managed, pollutants can be
released into the environment
through discharges from manure
storage areas or land
application.
Clean Air Act--New Source Review/ Ensuring that New Source Review
Prevention of Significant (NSR) and Prevention of
Deterioration. Significant Deterioration (PSD)
requirements of the Clean Air
Act (CAA) are implemented.
Failure to comply with NSR/PSD
requirements results in
inadequate control of emissions,
thereby contributing thousands
of unaccounted tons of pollution
each year, particularly of
Nitrogen Oxides, Volatile
Organic Compounds, and
Particulate Matter.
Clean Air Act--Air Toxics............ Reduce the public exposure to
toxic air emissions by ensuring
compliance with the Maximum
Achievable Control Technology
(MACT) standards.
RCRA & CERCLA--Financial Assurance... Strengthen compliance with RCRA &
CERCLA financial assurance
requirements to ensure that
persons handling hazardous waste
have adequate funds to close
facilities, cleanup any
releases, and compensate any
affected parties.
RCRA--Mining and Mineral Processing.. Reducing risk to health and the
environment by achieving
increased compliance rates
throughout the mineral
processing and mining sectors
and by ensuring that harm is
being appropriately addressed
through compliance assistance
and enforcement.
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Tribal............................... Tribal members face significant
threats to human health and the
environment posed by pollution
of the air, water, and land in
Indian country and other tribal
areas, including in Alaska,
where federally-recognized
tribes and tribal members have
recognized rights and interests
protected by treaty, statute,
judicial decisions, and other
authorities. A diverse spectrum
of regulated facilities exists
in Indian country, including
drinking water and wastewater
treatment systems, manufacturing
facilities, facilities
discharging pollutants into the
air or water, facilities
storing, treating or disposing
of solid or hazardous waste,
abandoned waste sites, and other
pollution sources.
National Priority returned to Core Using compliance and enforcement
Program--Petroleum Refining. tools to reduce air emissions
and eliminate unpermitted
releases from operable domestic
petroleum refineries. This
priority has met its goal of
addressing 80% of refinery
capacity, and therefore, is
returning to the core program.
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At this time we are inviting comments on this list of national
priorities and welcome recommendations on other areas that you think
should be considered as national priority candidates. EPA intends to
consider public comments as we develop a limited number of recommended
FY 2008-2010 priorities. When submitting responses to this Notice,
commentors should rank which of the areas listed above should be a top
concern for national focus, as well as suggest others not included on
the current list. If additional problem areas are identified, the
commentor should provide supporting information relating to the
previously listed criteria. Suggested priority areas that are not
chosen may be candidates for individual Regional or State attention
and/or continued investigation. Direct your comments to Docket ID No.
EPA-HQ-OECA-2007-0066. Please ensure that your comments are submitted
within the specified comment period. Comments received after the
closing date will be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if
time permits. It is EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in
the public docket without change and to make the comments available
online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided, unless a comment includes information claimed to
be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov
or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access''
system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you
send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through
http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured
and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket
and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic
comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact
information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you
submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties
and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to
consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special
characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or
viruses. For additional information about EPA's public docket visit the
EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
B. Projected Time Frames
After receiving comments in response to this Notice, we expect to
complete an analysis of proposed priorities and provide a list of final
recommendations to OECA's Assistant Administrator for approval. EPA
will share the final recommendations with the Regions, states and
tribes in a subsequent Federal Register Notice this spring. OECA
expects to issue its final FY2008 Work Planning Guidance, which will
include the final list of 2008-2010 national priorities, in April 2007.
Dated: February 6, 2007.
Michael M. Stahl,
Director, Office of Compliance, Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance.
[FR Doc. E7-2179 Filed 2-8-07; 8:45 am]
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