EPA WATCH New risk-based enforcement strategy under review EPA is assessing options that, when implemented, will fundamentally change the agency's enforcement strategy. All six options under consideration are modeled on a riskbased assessment. The agency said the new approach would help target industrial sectors—and specific facilities—that represent the most significant threat to public health and the environment. "The agency decided to try and do a better job identifying the areas of highest risk then targeting our regulation and enforcement accordingly," said Elaine Stanley, director of EPA's compliance office. Although details of the options are sketchy, the six models combine traditional emissions data, including emissions and other releases, with information on health effects. Stanley said several of the options also take into account a company's overall compliance record. She said, for example, a repeated violator would be looked upon more seriously as an enforcement target than one who "had a one-time excursion." One option seriously considered is a pilot program in EPA's Region III. The regional model, called a "chemical indexing system," uses a complex system to cross-reference health effects information with air and water permit compliance data and Toxics Release Inventory reports. The indexing system also can be used to correlate chemical releases with sensitive, at-risk populations, including children. EPA bases enforcement decisions almost solely on a company's pollution control technology and its record of permit compliance. Stanley said the review of EPA's enforcement program is part of an agency-wide evaluation launched by Administrator Carol Browner in 1995. Although the six possible options were to be completed in October, Stanley declined to estimate when EPA might revise its current enforcement strategy.
Children's health research initiative launched EPA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Sept. 3 announced plans to establish a number of research centers that will focus on the effects of environmental hazards on children's health. With $10 million allocated for the first year of the program, the agencies said they hope to establish six federal research centers nationwide. The funding will come from the fiscal 1998 budgets of EPA and HHS' National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. "Sound science is a crucial prerequisite in our efforts to protect children's health from environmental hazards," said EPA Administrator Carol Browner. The centers, set to open in September 1998, are expected to focus on possible environmental causes for a range of childhood illnesses and disorders, including respiratory disease, intellectual development, and growth. Grant applications are expected from medical schools, schools of public health, or consortiums formed from the two groups. Applications are due by Jan. 21,1998. The research centers are part of a broader 1996 White House initiative to strengthen children's health protection under existing regulatory programs. Browner also has created an Office of Children's Health Protection to coordinate the agency's efforts. Further information on the grants is available at http://www. epa.gov.ncerqa.
Legal tools to combat nonpoint source pollution The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) has teamed up with EPA on a project to help states combat nonpoint source water pollution. The comprehensive study, now in draft form, focuses on infrequent enforcement mechanisms that states could use to reduce runoff from nonpoint sources. Set for completion this month, the study also will be used as guidance for Congress while rewriting the nonpoint source provisions of the Clean Water Act. Legislative action could occur during the current session of Congress. "There isn't at the national level a sense of what's out there in terms of enforcement mechanisms," said James McElfish, ELI senior attorney. Produced joindy by the institute and EPA's Office of Water, the study assesses relevant state laws that could be used to combat nonpoint source pollution. Although some argue that agencies lack enforcement tools, researchers have found that "almost every state has some enforceable avenues to deal with nonpoint source pollution," McElfish said. The study examined relevant
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state laws for a number of pollution sources, including agriculture, fertilizer management, forestry, construction, urban runoff, highways, and dams. McElfish said the report helps states understand how others are tackling the problem. "If there are innovative uses of authority out there, you'd want to know about them," he said. The study also identifies state incentives to encourage voluntary reductions in runoff pollution. For example, some states offer tax breaks if farmers buy no-till planting equipment; others reduce property taxes for cropland that is set aside for environmental restoration. With the success of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System program in reducing pollution from point sources, regulators are increasingly concerned about the challenge of reducing pollutants from urban and rural runoff. In many cases, including the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and Gulf of Mexico, reducing nonpoint source pollution is considered the key to improving overall water quality. "The stakes are pretty high," McElfish said.
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