EPA Budget Provides Clues about Long Term Enforcement Priorities
02/19/2016
With most of the country’s attention focused on the upcoming presidential election, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quietly released its proposed budget for FY 2017. While it’s fair to say the EPA budget won’t have as much enduring influence as the vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat, it’s important to remember that many pending actions from the Obama Administration will have lasting impacts, no matter who occupies the White House in 2017. In particular, the proposed budget provides insight into EPA’s 2017-2019 National Enforcement Initiatives, which direct how the agency prioritizes enforcement resources for the next three years.
The review process for the 2017-2019 National Enforcement Initiatives (NEIs) is already underway, and for the first time in six years, EPA is proposing to expand the program in a meaningful way. The current, 2014-2016 NEIs have been in place since 2011 because the agency decided to retain the 2011 NEIs with no changes. Another core component of EPA’s enforcement strategy is moving forward with what the agency calls Next Generation Compliance approaches. These focus on using advanced detection technology, moving toward more electronic records, and making compliance information more publically available.
EPA is proposing to retain the six current NEIs. As a reminder, they include: 1) reducing air pollution from the largest sources, 2) cutting hazardous air pollutants, 3) ensuring energy extraction activities comply with environmental laws, 4) reducing pollution from mineral processing operations, 5) keeping raw sewage and contaminated stormwater out of the nation’s waters, and 6) preventing animal waste from contaminating surface and ground water.
In addition to the current NEIs, EPA has proposed adding three new enforcement priorities for 2017-2019: 1) expand the current toxic air emissions NEI to include a focus on organic liquid storage tanks and hazardous waste facilities, 2) focus on industrial water pollution from the mining, chemical manufacturing, food processing and primary metals manufacturing sectors; and 3) reduce the risks and impacts of industrial accidents involving highly toxic substances.
The agency expects to finalize the 2017-2019 NEIs by September, and one can glean some insight into the EPA’s plans from the budget proposal. First, the proposed budget would increase the agency’s enforcement funds by about $58 million from the previous year. This overall increase to the enforcement budget is consistent with expanded enforcement goals. The budget discusses chemical facility safety at some length and includes $23.7 million for the State and Local Prevention and Preparedness program that deals with chemical facility safety, an increase of $8.4 million above the FY 2016 level. EPA notes that while the agency has initiated some work within current resources, additional funding is necessary to improve chemical facility safety and security and other activities related to the President’s Executive Order on Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security. The FY 2017 proposed budget would also increase surface water protection program budgets by about $28 million, although much of that increase is targeted at infrastructure improvements, and most of the discussion about water enforcement goals focuses on existing NEI priorities rather than the expanded scope.
In an election year when most EHS professionals expect not much will happen in terms of new laws or regulations, it’s important to remember that agencies like the EPA are conducting business as usual and that some of these decisions will have lasting impacts long after the next president moves into the White House.
