[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 237 (Wednesday, December 10, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68893-68896]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-30593]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7597-8]


Stakeholder Comment on Preliminary National Enforcement and 
Compliance Assurance Priorities for Fiscal Years 2005, 2006 and 2007

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

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 
2005, 2006 and 2007. The information submitted by commentors will be 
considered as part of the process EPA uses to identify and select 
national enforcement and compliance priorities. Final priority 
selections will be 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 will 
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 (GPRA).

DATES: The agency must receive comments and recommendations on or 
before January 12, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Submit all electronic comments and recommendations to 
[email protected]. Please reference Docket Number OECA-2003-0154 in 
the submission. (Comments may be submitted on disk in WordPerfect 8.0 
or earlier versions) Written comments can be mailed to: Enforcement & 
Compliance Docket and Information Center (2201T). Docket Number OECA-
2003-0154. Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Penn. Ave., NW., Washington, DC 
20460. Please be aware that mail addressed to EPA headquarters may 
experience delays in delivery resulting from security screening. 
Comments may be delivered in person to: U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Public Reading Room, Room B102, EPA West Building, 1301 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Tolpa, Chief, Planning and 
Analysis Branch; Voice: (202) 564-2337, Fax: (202) 564-0034.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Contents

A. Background
B. Projected Time Frames
C. Review Information

A. Background

    On October 1, 2003, a new EPA Strategic Plan describing how the 
Agency will utilize its resources to meet its mission became effective. 
The new Strategic Plan covers fiscal years 2003-2008 and consists of 
five goals with OECA's activities contained in Goal 5--``Compliance and 
Environmental Stewardship.'' Outcome performance

[[Page 68894]]

measures in Goal 5 capture OECA's work efforts in terms of 
environmental results achieved. By focusing on environmental results, 
rather than the activities of Agency programs and organizational units, 
the goal structure allows for greater flexibility between EPA and its 
states and federally-recognized Indian tribes (tribes) for solving 
environmental problems. EPA consulted extensively with the states in 
the development of the Strategic Plan.
    OECA has now aligned its Fiscal Year 2005 through 2007 (FY 2005-
2007) work planning cycle with the Agency's strategic planning cycle. 
OECA's planning cycle sets out short term, annual and multi-year goals 
for the Office, establishes work planning requirements for the 
enforcement and compliance assurance programs within the Agency's ten 
Regional Offices, establishes a small set of national program 
priorities and requires the development of performance-based strategies 
to direct the work in the identified priority areas. By aligning its 
planning cycle with the Agency's Strategic Plan, OECA will be better 
able to correlate the environmental results achieved in the national 
enforcement and compliance priorities to the environmental outcomes 
projected in Goal 5 of the Strategic Plan. The intent of this Federal 
Register Notice (FR Notice) is to solicit from the public suggestions 
of new national enforcement and compliance assurance priorities for 
2005-2007, and comments on the candidate priorities described below.
    This past summer, OECA asked each EPA Regional Office to: (1) 
Conduct internal discussions about existing and potential national 
program priorities; and (2) engage its state and tribal regulatory 
partners in discussions of existing and potential national program 
priorities for fiscal years 2005-2007. EPA conducted outreach regarding 
the priorities at an environmental justice forum, which is a federal 
advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act 
(FACA). OECA received comments back from all EPA Regional Offices and 
six states.
    OECA will select the FY 2005-2007 national program priorities using 
the following criteria:
    (a) Significant Environmental Benefit: In what specific areas can 
the Federal enforcement and compliance assurance programs make a 
significant positive impact on human health or the environment? What 
are the known or estimated public health or environmental risks?
    (b) Noncompliance: Are there particular economic or industrial 
sectors, geographic areas or facility operations where regulated 
entities have demonstrated serious patterns of noncompliance?
    (c) EPA Responsibility: What identified national problem areas or 
programs are better addressed through EPA's Federal capability in 
enforcement or compliance assistance?
    Based on the analysis of all proposals received and ongoing work, 
OECA has developed the following preliminary list of suggested FY 2005-
2007 national priorities. While not all suggestions submitted appear on 
the preliminary list of candidates, the opportunity remains for those 
candidates to be adopted as regional, state, tribal, or local 
priorities. In considering the following list, please note that OECA 
remains committed to identifying a very limited number of national 
priorities to retain flexibility to address emerging problems or issues 
as they arise. In addition, some current priority areas may be carried 
forward or refined during the FY 2005-2007 work planning cycle to 
complete unfinished work. Two current priorities will not be continued 
through FY 2005-2007. The Petroleum Refining priority is anticipated to 
be completed by the end of calendar year 2005, and the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Permit Evaders priority will no 
longer include a focus on waste-derived fertilizer facilities and 
foundries. Work such as monitoring or tracking the implementation of 
Consent Decrees will continue for both as part of the Agency's core 
program activities.
    The following list of candidate priorities is divided into the 
current priorities and suggested new areas. The tables below include a 
brief description of the environmental problem in each priority area. 
Greater detail and background information on each priority area can be 
found at the DOCKET site identified in the address section of this 
Federal Register.

                          I. Current Priorities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Priority                         Nature of concern
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Safe Drinking Water Act--           Ensure public water systems provide
 Microbials Plus.                    clean and safe drinking water that
                                     pose minimal health risks and are
                                     largely free from microbiological,
                                     chemical or radiological
                                     contamination. Efforts would focus
                                     upon microbial rules, nitrate
                                     requirements and emergency orders
                                     to protect public health from
                                     contaminants presenting an imminent
                                     and substantial endangerment. The
                                     suggested priority would also
                                     address situations where multiple
                                     violations, at one system or
                                     different systems in the same
                                     geographic area, present an
                                     unacceptable cumulative risk to
                                     public health.
Clean Water Act/Wet Weather.......  Ensure compliance with CWA
                                     requirements addressing storm water
                                     runoff, overflows from combined and
                                     sanitary sewers, and concentrated
                                     animal feeding operation (CAFO)
                                     discharges. These discharges can
                                     contain bacteria, pathogens and
                                     other pollutants that may cause
                                     illnesses in humans, lead to water
                                     quality impairment, including beach
                                     and shellfish bed closures and harm
                                     our nation's water resources.
Clean Air Act (CAA)/New Source      Ensuring that NSR and PSD
 Review/Prevention of Significant    requirements of the CAA are
 Deterioration (NSR/PSD).            implemented. Failure to comply with
                                     NSR/PSD requirements may lead to
                                     the inadequate control of emissions
                                     resulting in the release of
                                     thousands of tons of pollution to
                                     the air each year, particularly of
                                     nitrogen oxides, volatile organic
                                     compounds, and particulate matter.
Clean Air Act (CAA)/Air Toxics....  Reduce public exposure to toxic air
                                     emissions by ensuring compliance
                                     through directed monitoring and
                                     enforcement with the Maximum
                                     Achievable Control Technology
                                     (MACT) standards. This is the
                                     second phase of this priority
                                     following four years of compliance
                                     assistance and the development of
                                     implementation tools.
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 68895]]


                         II. Suggested New Areas
------------------------------------------------------------------------
               Title                          Nature of concern
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resource Conservation and Recovery  Reduce the potential hazard from
 Act (RCRA)/Underground Storage      UST's that can leak petroleum or
 Tanks (UST).                        other hazardous substances into the
                                     soil and contaminate groundwater,
                                     the source of drinking water for
                                     nearly half of all Americans.
Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response  Minimize or eliminate exposure to
 Act (AHERA)/Asbestos in Schools.    airborne friable asbestos in
                                     schools. Asbestos is a known
                                     carcinogen, and poses a significant
                                     potential health risk if students
                                     are in an environment where they
                                     inhale asbestos fibers.
Financial Responsibility..........  Strengthen compliance with financial
                                     responsibility requirements found
                                     under various environmental laws to
                                     ensure that individuals or
                                     companies handling hazardous waste,
                                     hazardous substances, toxic
                                     materials or pollutants have
                                     adequate funds to close their
                                     facilities, cleanup any releases,
                                     and compensate any parties affected
                                     by their actions.
Ports of Entry....................  Reduce illegal handling or disposal
                                     of hazardous waste stemming from
                                     lack of knowledge of hazardous
                                     waste management regulations by
                                     managers at port of entry
                                     warehousing facilities. A potential
                                     Homeland Security issue, it is also
                                     a potential Environmental Justice
                                     (EJ) focus area because many ports
                                     of entry facilities are located in
                                     low income or non-English speaking
                                     neighborhoods.
Tribal............................  In Indian country and tribal areas
                                     in Alaska, address significant
                                     human health and environmental
                                     problems associated with drinking
                                     water and waste management. Ensure
                                     compliance within targeted areas
                                     and address adjacent noncomplying
                                     facilities impacting Indian country
                                     and tribal areas.
Auto Salvaging Sector.............  A significant environmental problem
                                     due to significant potential of
                                     pollutants such as waste oils, gas,
                                     mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls
                                     (PCBs), and lead reaching the
                                     environment from auto salvaging
                                     facilities. This sector includes
                                     salvage yards, shredders and their
                                     residue and dismantlers. Auto yards
                                     are located throughout the United
                                     States, and many are small
                                     businesses.
RCRA--Mineral Processing..........  Evidence gathered in recent
                                     inspections indicates that mineral
                                     processing facilities are failing
                                     to obtain the necessary permits and
                                     adequately manage their wastes. EPA
                                     has found that the mishandling of
                                     mineral processing wastes has
                                     caused significant environmental
                                     damage and resulted in costly
                                     cleanups. These highly acidic
                                     wastes have caused fish kills and
                                     the arsenic and cadmium that these
                                     wastes often contain have been
                                     found in elevated levels in
                                     residential drinking water wells.
Federal Facilities................  Improve and better maintain
                                     compliance at Federal Facilities
                                     through more effective
                                     implementation of environmental
                                     management systems (EMS). An EMS is
                                     an organization's overall plan for
                                     handling resources, procedures,
                                     processes, and policies to advance
                                     environmental protection and
                                     performance.
Miscellaneous Plastics............  Reduce public exposure to hazardous
                                     wastes and pollutants released to
                                     the land, air, and water by the
                                     miscellaneous plastic products
                                     manufacturing sector.
Environmental Justice.............  Ensure that no racial, ethnic or
                                     socioeconomic group bears a
                                     disproportionate share of negative
                                     environmental consequences
                                     resulting from industrial,
                                     municipal, and commercial
                                     activities; or from the execution
                                     of federal, state, local and tribal
                                     programs and policies. Target one
                                     or more areas within each Region
                                     for focused attention.
Fuels Management..................  Potentially large quantities of
                                     hazardous pollutants are being
                                     emitted to air, surface and ground
                                     water, and soil from the storage,
                                     distribution and ancillary
                                     operations at liquid petroleum and
                                     natural gas handling facilities.
                                     Ensure compliance across a broad
                                     spectrum of environmental statutes
                                     to minimize releases.
Significant Noncompliance (SNC)     Ensure proper management of the
 Oversight.                          enforcement and compliance programs
                                     under the CAA, the CWA--National
                                     Pollutant Discharge Elimination
                                     System, and RCRA by ensuring that
                                     instances and patterns of
                                     significant noncompliance are
                                     identified and addressed by EPA and/
                                     or States in a timely manner.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    At this time OECA is inviting comments on this preliminary list, 
and any suggestions for other FY 2005-2007 priorities. When submitting 
responses to this FR Notice, please rank which of the areas listed 
above should be a top concern for national focus, as well as suggesting 
others not included on the current list. If additional problem areas 
are identified, please provide supporting information on the 
suggestions and be sure to relate them to the selection criteria. 
Again, suggested priority areas that are not chosen may be candidates 
for individual regional, state, or tribal attention and/or continued 
investigation.

B. Projected Time Frame

    After receiving stakeholder responses to this FR Notice OECA will 
complete its analysis of candidate priorities and present a list 
recommendations for final approval to the Assistant Administrator for 
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in late January, 2004. In February 
2004, EPA will issue the draft FY 2005-2007 OECA Work Planning Guidance 
to Regional Offices, states and tribes for final review. This draft 
guidance will include the selected EPA enforcement and compliance 
assurance national priorities.

C. Review Information

    Persons interested in obtaining further background information 
regarding current or proposed FY 2005-2007 national enforcement and 
compliance assurance priorities may submit a request for hard copy or 
electronic version of information to: [email protected], or contact 
the docket clerk at (202) 566-1514. Please reference Docket Number 
OECA-2003-0154 in the request. A reasonable fee may be charged by EPA 
for copying docket materials.


[[Page 68896]]


    Dated: December 4, 2003.
John Peter Suarez,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance 
Assurance.
[FR Doc. 03-30593 Filed 12-9-03; 8:45 am]
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