Report on federal facilities environmental compliance

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

U.S. EPA's latest evaluation of environmental compliance at federal
facilities, "The State of Federal Facilities: An Overview of
Environmental Compliance at Federal Facilities, FY 2001-2002," Program
Reports (EPA 300-R-04-001) - (1/30/04) is now available on line at
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/reports/accomplishments/federal/soff0102.pdf.
Note that it is a large (2.5 Megabyte) PDF file. 

EPA found, "From FY [Fiscal Year] 1993 to FY 2002, the federal facility
RCRA [Resource Conservation and Recovery Act] compliance rate increased
steadily from 55 percent to 94 percent. In contrast, the compliance rate
for CWA/NPDES [Clean Water Act/National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System] decreased from 94 percent to 52 percent in FY 2001. Although the
CWA/NPDES compliance rate in FY 2002 increased from the prior year, it
remained nearly 30 percent below the FY 1993 levels."

Inside EPA (February 17, 2004) suggested that the relatively poor state
of Clean Water Act compliance may result from reduced inspections and
from the fact that Congress legislated a waiver of sovereign immunity -
acknowledging state enforcement powers - for RCRA in 1992, but the Clean
Water Act contains no such explicit waiver.

Weaker enforcement has more than a direct effect of federal agency
environmental performance. In the absence of a clear regulatory driver,
it is difficult for the managers of federal facilities to obtain the
funds they need to meet environmental goals.

Lenny
-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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