[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 86 (Thursday, May 4, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22063-22064]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-11033]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[Docket No. 95F-00 FRL-5202-8]
Interim Revised Clean Water Act Settlement Penalty Policy Issued
AGENCY: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Environmental
Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Assistant Administrator Steve Herman of the Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance issued an ``Interim Revised Clean
Water Act Settlement Penalty Policy'' on February 28, 1995. This
Interim Policy supersedes the 1986 Clean Water Act Penalty Policy and
six subsequent guidances.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
David Hindin, 202-564-6004 or Kenneth Keith, 202-564-4031, Office of
Regulatory Enforcement, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M
Street SW., Washington, DC 20460.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 309 of the Clean Water Act (CWA),
(33 U.S.C. 1319) authorizes the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (``EPA'' or ``Agency'') to bring civil judicial and
administrative actions against persons who violates various Federal
water pollution control standards and requirements in the CWA. In such
actions the Administrator may seek civil penalties.
EPA brings enforcement actions to require alleged violators to
promptly correct the violations and remedy any harm caused by the
violations. As part of an enforcement action, EPA also seeks monetary
penalties. Penalties promote environmental compliance and help protect
public health by deterring future violations by the same violator and
deterring violations by other members of the regulated community.
Penalties also help ensure a national level playing field by ensuring
that violators do not obtain an unfair economic advantage over
competitors who have done whatever was necessary to comply on time.
Penalties also encourage companies to adopt pollution prevention and
recycling techniques, so that they minimize their pollutant discharges
and reduce their potential liabilities.
This Policy guides EPA in establishing appropriate penalties in
settlement of civil judicial and administrative actions. Subject to the
circumstances of a particular case, this Policy provides the lowest
penalty figure which the Federal Government should accept in a
settlement. This Policy is drafted so that violators whose actions, or
inactions, resulted in a significant economic benefit and/or harmed or
threatened public health or the environment will pay the highest
penalties.
The purpose of this Policy is to further four important
environmental goals. First, penalties should be large enough to deter
noncompliance. Second, penalties should help ensure a level playing
field by ensuring that violators do not obtain an economic advantage
over their competitors. These two goals generally require that
penalties recover the economic benefit of noncompliance, plus an
appropriate amount reflective of the gravity or seriousness of the
violations. Third, CWA penalties should be generally consistent across
the country. This provides fair and equitable treatment to the
regulated community wherever they may operate. Fourth, settlement
penalties should be based on a logical calculation methodology to
promote swift resolution of enforcement actions and the underlying
violations.
This interim revision of the Clean Water Act Penalty Policy
provides numerous improvements to the 1986 Policy. First, this revision
establishes an alternative approach to use in appropriate cases to
determine penalties against municipalities. This approach, called the
national municipal litigation consideration, is based in part on the
penalties obtained in prior case settlements and on an evaluation of
four factors: size of the facility (as measured by service population),
duration of violations, environmental impact and economic benefit.
Second, the methodology for evaluating the gravity of violations has
been revised to reduce redundancy, improve national consistency, and
provided broader coverage for all types of violations.
[[Page 22064]] Finally, two new gravity adjustments have been
established to provide incentives for quick settlements and to mitigate
penalty amounts for small facilities.
The Agency is issuing this Policy in an interim version because it
may be subsequently revised based on public comments and our experience
in using it. (It is being issued as an Interim Policy, rather than as a
draft, because this revision is superior in many ways to the existing
1986 version of the Policy.) The Agency is specifically interested in
comments on how well the national municipal litigation consideration
and gravity adjustment factors function, and how the Policy should
apply in conjunction with EPA's new Voluntary Environmental Self-
Policing and Self-Disclosure Interim Policy Statement, 60 FR 16875
(April 3, 1995).
Comments from the public are welcome and should be sent within 90
days of the date of this publication to: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Water Enforcement Division (2243A), 401 M Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20460.
Dated: April 17, 1995.
Steven A. Herman,
Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance.
[FR Doc. 95-11033 Filed 5-3-95; 8:45 am]
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