NEWS GOVERNMENT Massachusetts aims to eliminate permits for 70% of businesses By year's end, Massachusetts plans to have in place a program that would eventually eliminate state environmental permits for 10,000 companies—70% of all Massachusetts businesses with state or federal environmental permits. Supporters say the "Environmental Results Program" will save the state money and give companies greater flexibility in deciding how to control emissions. Critics warn that the program may wind up as a shell game in which industries hide pollution cincl crg^ an undeserved break. Under the plan, state regulators will develop emissions limits for categories of pollution and polluters, rather than preparing technology-specific, individually tailored operating permits for each pollution source, which is the case today. Companies have the freedom to choose how they want to comply with the standard, but to be part of the program, a participating company's chief executive officer must sign a legally binding contract each year certifying that the com.D3.riv is meeting the limits Massachusetts will enforce the law through dom and targeted inspections similar to Internal Revenue Service audits according to Doug Fine head of the state demonstration project Massachusetts Dlans to shift staff from writing nermits to making inspections The goal of Massachusetts' self-certification program, Fine said, is similar to that of trial programs under way in California, Minnesota, and other states: Give companies emissions limits and let them figure out how best to comply. These programs, according to state officials, are intended to fix an overburdened system in which environmental staff spend huge amounts of time writing state permits that are seldom enforced and strongly disliked by businesses. Everyone from environmentalists to manufacturers appears
"The state hopes to get some sort of magic out of the shift from permitting to self-certification," said Robert Russell, a Conservation Law Foundation attorney and a member of the project's advisory panel. Despite Massachusetts' desire to move away from specific permits, the nature of the 10,000 small companies may drive state regulators back to permits, Russell said. In many cases, these facilities have many small emissions sources and lack a big single point source that can be easily monitored and controlled. Consequently the state may have to rely on technology-specific requirements to cut pollution and to ease concerns of environmentalists and residents living near these factories Russell warned The Massachusetts plan covers state permits and will not affect companies in the federal system. Overall, Fine estimates that the state conducts 1000 inspections a year, and 500 of those are at the 10,000 companies with state permits. The new program would
increase staff for additional inspections, according to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, by moving them out from behind desks and into the field to track down environmental violators. But, Fine said, "We are not saying we are definitely going to increase the compliance and enforcement resources at these small sources. We haven't decided what is the right mix. But we are saying we want better use of our own compliance and enforcement resources. The case-by-case permit reviews at these smaller sources aren't getting the bang for the buck we thought, and we are going to shift those resources over to compliance and enforcement somewhere." Fine emphasized that of equal importance was the program's goal of giving industry more flexibility in determining how it complies However he stressed that the state expects to get better compliance In April, Massachusetts conducted multimedia compliance audits of 23 companies that volunteered to take part in a selfcertification pilot program. More than 60% of the companies were found to be out of compliance with state and federal laws. Most were in violation of what Fine said were less significant manage-
EPA tries "StarTrack" permits in New England Massachusetts is one of four states taking part in a pilot program initiated by EPA Region I to ease federal permitting for companies with stellar environmental records. Called "StarTrack," the EPA program allows companies in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts to escape close permit oversight if they volunteer for third-party environmental audits and are certified as in compliance with environmental laws, have no major pending violations, and have an operating environmental management system. At the core of the program is EPA's reliance on independent environmental auditors who will certify that companies are in compliance, according to George Hawkins, senior advisor in EPA's New England regional office. Hawkins compared the auditors with certified public accountants who monitor corporate fiscal performance for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nine companies are interested in the pilot, Hawkins said, which begins this summer. In return for opening their books, qualifying companies would not be cited for minor violations or subjected to routine inspections, would have more flexible permit limits, and would receive expedited attention from EPA for permit modifications, Hawkins said. Certified companies would not be required to disclose audit details to EPA and hence would be shielded from possible enforcement actions springing from matters revealed through the audit, he said. The region's proposal is one of several demonstration projects under EPA's Environmental Leadership Program intended to ease permitting for companies with good environmental records, Hawkins said. —JEFF JOHNSON
to \A/fiTit such a
change but achieving it may not be easy 2 8 6 A • VOL. 30, NO. 7, 1996 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
