[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR25.12]

[Page 282-283]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
               CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
 
PART 25_PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAMS UNDER THE RESOURCE CONSERVATION 
 
Sec. 25.12  Assuring compliance with public participation requirements.

    (a) Financial assistance programs--(1) Applications. EPA shall 
review the public participation work plan (or, if no work plan is 
required by this chapter for the particular financial assistance 
agreement, the public participation element) included in the application 
to determine consistency with all policies and requirements of this 
part. No financial assistance shall be awarded unless EPA is satisfied 
that the public participation policies and requirements of this part 
and, any applicable public participation requirements found elsewhere in 
this chapter, will be met.
    (2) Compliance--(i) Evaluation. EPA shall evaluate compliance with 
public participation requirements using the work plan, responsiveness 
summary, and other available information. EPA will judge the adequacy of 
the public participation effort in relation to the objectives and 
requirements of Sec. 25.3 and Sec. 25.4 and other applicable 
requirements. In conducting this evaluation, EPA may request additional 
information from the assisted agency, including records of hearings and 
meetings, and may invite public comment on the agency's performance. The 
evaluation will be undertaken as part of any mid-project review required 
in various programs under this chapter; where no such review is required 
the review shall be conducted at an approximate mid-point in continuing 
EPA oversight activity. EPA may, however, undertake

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such evaluation at any point in the project period, and will do so 
whenever it believes that an assisted agency may have failed to meet 
public participation requirements.
    (ii) Remedial actions. Whenever EPA determines that an assisted 
agency has not fully met public participation requirements, EPA shall 
take actions which it deems appropriate to mitigate the adverse effects 
of the failure and assure that the failure is not repeated. For ongoing 
projects, that action shall include, at a minimum, imposing more 
stringent requirements on the assisted agency for the next budget period 
or other period of the project (including such actions as more specific 
output requirements and milestone schedules for output achievement; 
interim EPA review of public participation activities and materials 
prepared by the agency, and phased release of funds based on compliance 
with milestone schedules.) EPA may terminate or suspend part or all 
financial assistance for non-compliance with public participation 
requirements, and may take any further actions that it determines to be 
appropriate in accordance with parts 30 and 35 of this chapter (see, in 
particular, Sec. Sec. 30.340, Noncompliance and 30.615-3, Withholding 
of Payments, and subpart H of part 30, Modification, Suspension, and 
Termination).
    (b) State programs approved in lieu of Federal programs. State 
compliance with applicable public participation requirements in programs 
specified in Sec. 25.2(a) (6) and (7) and administered by approved 
States shall be monitored by EPA during the annual review of the State's 
program, and during any financial or program audit or review of these 
programs. EPA may withdraw an approved program from a State for failure 
to comply with applicable public participation requirements.
    (c) Other covered programs. Assuring compliance with these public 
participation requirements for programs not covered by paragraphs (a) 
and (b) of this section is the responsibility of the Administrator of 
EPA. Citizens with information concerning alleged failures to comply 
with the public participation requirements should notify the 
Administrator. The Administrator will assure that instances of alleged 
non-compliance are promptly investigated and that corrective action is 
taken where necessary.