For years, EPA routinely announced national enforcement initiatives, focusing its enforcement and compliance resources on the most serious environmental violations at facilities across the nation. In August 2018, EPA announced that it intended to “evolve” the enforcement initiatives into compliance initiatives. EPA stated at the time that increased compliance is the ultimate goal and enforcement-oriented actions are not the only tool to achieve that goal.

Following up on its announcement, in June 2019 EPA issued its National Compliance Initiatives (NCIs) for fiscal year (FY) 2020-FY 2023, in which it established six priority areas as NCIs. EPA stated that it will utilize the full range of compliance assurance tools such as compliance assistance, self-audits and informal enforcement, but that formal enforcement will remain an important tool to address serious noncompliance and create general deterrence. Continue reading “EPA Turns from Enforcement to Compliance Initiatives” →