Office of November 1984
itection the Administrator
Washington DC 20460
vvEPA Accomplishments
Report
FY1984
-------
EPA
Accomplishments:
FY1984
This report presents EPA's
performance in fiscal year (FY)
1984. The results reflect the
first full year of operation of
EPA's new management
system. Modeled after
successful corporate systems,
the Strategic Planning and
Management System (SPMS)
sets broad goals and objectives,
calls for managers to make
specific program commitments,
and tracks progress against
them. This report tells how well
EPA did against its targets for
FY 1984 (October 1, 1983 to
September 30, 1984).
In short, EPA managers and
staff can take considerable pride
in their accomplishments. We
have made dramatic strides in
enforcement across the board
and have exceeded
expectations in water and
hazardous waste permitting,
both critical areas for achieving
environmental results. There
are, of course, areas where we
need to improve performance or
intensify our efforts such as in
approving municipal
pretreatment programs or State
issuance of water permits. In
other areas we need to set
more challenging targets.
Nonetheless, EPA has achieved
significant success overall in
meeting its program objectives
and commitments for FY 1984.
WATER
TARGET
BOY 1 234
QUARTERS
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Off '
Highlights of FY 1984
Increasing the level of EPA's
enforcement activities was one
of the Agency's highest
priorities. The response was
outstanding. In every program,
EPA and the States addressed
almost all of the significant
violators targeted at the
beginning of the year. The air
program addressed 99 percent
of the sources targeted, the
water program addressed 97
percent, and based on only 11
months of data, the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) program addressed over
102 percent of hazardous waste
handlers.
FY 1984 was the second best
year in the Agency's history for
enforcement activity. EPA's
Regional offices issued 3,036
administrative orders and
referred 263 civil actions and 35
criminal actions to
Headquarters. Another measure
of enforcement success is the
number of actions forwarded to
the Department of Justice
(DOJ). in FY 1984, 240 civil
cases and 31 criminal cases
were referred by EPA to DOJ
for further action. As the charts
show, EPA also made good
progress in improving
compliance among Federal
facilities in each program area.
During the fiscal year, EPA
removed imminent threats to
numerous communities from
uncontrolled hazardous waste
sites by conducting over 200
removal actions. EPA also
exceeded targets for identifying
hazardous waste sites requiring
long-term cleanup or remedial
efforts and conducted over
1,300 site inspections. In
addition, work was initiated at
over 240 priority sites to
remove leaking drums and other
immediate dangers, develop
long-term engineering solutions,
and undertake remedial cleanup
projects.
EPA also surpassed targets
for making final permit
determinations under the
Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act for facilities
handling hazardous wastes. Of
particular significance has been
EPA's success in permitting or
prompting the closure of land
disposal facilities, operations
that pose the greatest potential
for environmental harm.
EPA and the States have
moved forward in protecting the
Nation's water quality. Final
water discharge permits with
updated limits on toxic
pollutants have been issued for
over 3,000 industrial and
municipal sources. Construction
of new municipal treatment
works also continues with EPA
exceeding its targets for issuing
construction grants.
EPA and the States have
moved closer towards the goal
of protecting and enhancing the
Nation's air quality. Both
Headquarters and Regional
offices have improved their
performance in processing
revisions to State
Implementation Plans (SIPs) in a
timely way. EPA has worked
especially closely with areas in
nonattainment to design plans
to achieve acceptable air quality.
This year EPA has also made
significant progress in
requesting data necessary for
reregistering thousands of
pesticide products registered
before 1972. Many of these
products were originally
registered without important
health and environmental
effects data. EPA met its target
in FY 1984 for establishing 25
standards to collect data
necessary for reregistration. In
addition, EPA exceeded its
expectations for the
Asbestos-in-Schools Inspection
Program. EPA has completed
nearly 2,000 inspections to
ensure that schools monitor for
any unsafe exposures to
asbestos materials.
REDUCING NUMBER OF FEDERAL FACILITIES
IN SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPUANCE
LEGEND
I I WTUHHtD TO COUnjAMCt
£2 UDKSUB
M KNDUM
RCRA
TSCA
EPA's Strategic
Planning and
Management System
Fundamentally, EPA's success
in FY 1984 reflects the skill and
dedication of EPA managers and
their counterparts in State and
local governments. A key factor
in motivating and directing
these managers was the new
Strategic Planning and
Management System (SPMS).
In the past two years, EPA
has significantly improved its
planning and management
process. Well in advance of
each coming fiscal year, the
Administrator and Deputy
Administrator establish clear
goals and objectives and priority
activities. Both Headquarters
and Regional managers are
involved in defining appropriate
strategies to fulfill these goals.
An important thrust is to direct
efforts where we will achieve
the greatest environmental
results. While we are making
progress in this respect, we
need to evaluate our program
commitments regularly to
determine what difference we
are making in environmental
terms. Equally important to
EPA's success has been the
follow through built into the
SPMS. Biweekly and quarterly
reports track and hold managers
accountable for their
performance. Over the past
year, EPA Headquarters'
activities have been closely
monitored through the Action
Tracking System (ATS). EPA
Regional efforts are tracked
primarily by quarterly reports.
Both reports are supplemented
by personal reviews by the
Deputy Administrator. This
system is reinforced by tying
EPA managers' pay raises or
bonuses to performance tracked
in the SPMS. The success
shown in FY 1984 is proof that
overall the system is working.
BOY 1
BOY
QUARTERS
123
QUARTERS
1 .2 3
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Hazardous
Wastes
EPA's highest priority is to
reduce the serious threats to
public health and the
environment posed by
uncontrolled hazardous waste
sites and by the handling and
disposal of hazardous wastes. In
FY 1984, the Agency made
substantial progress in
addressing both of these major
problem areas.
SUPERFUND ENFORCEMENT
ACTIVITY FDR FY 1984
RESPONSIBLE PARTY SEARCHES
200 -j
150-
100-
50-
Uncontrolled
Hazardous Sites
Uncontrolled or abandoned
hazardous waste sites may
seriously contaminate the
environment and threaten
human health. Under the
Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (CERCLA or
"Superfund"), EPA has made
considerable progress in
addressing the. problems posed
by these uncontrolled hazardous
sites.
All Superfund Enforcement
Targets Exceeded. One of
EPA's top 10 priorities is to
negotiate responsible party
cleanup at Superfund sites
where possible. This includes
pursuing legal means to recover
cleanup costs at sites where
Federal funds were used. Cost
recovery settlements returned
$3.4 million to the fund in FY
1984, raising the total amount
recovered to $6.1 million for the
history of the program. EPA
plans to place more emphasis
on cost recovery as EPA spends
more cleaning up sites. Private
party responses totaled $145.65
million in FY 1984. As the chart
shows, EPA exceeded all
enforcement targets.
LEGEND
1234
ENFORCEMENT MANAGED
RI/FS INITIATED
40-|
30-
20-
10-
COST RECOVERY CASES
REFERRED TO HQ
40-i
,.« 30-
20-
10-
Accelerated Actions To
Remove Imminent Threats.
EPA has set as its highest
priority the identification and
stabilization of those hazardous
sites that pose imminent threats
including the potential for fire or
explosions or for contamination
of a drinking water supply. As
the chart illustrates, EPA
initiated 204 immediate removal
actions in 1984 to address such
imminent threats. In addition,
the Agency completed removal
actions at 205 sites in FY 1984,
almost double what was
accomplished in FY 1983.
SUPERFUND REMOVAL ACTIVfTIES
INITIATED
250-
200-
150-
100-
50-
1234
COMPLETED
250-1
200-
150 J
100-1
50-
1234
QUARTERS
LEGEND
1234
QUARTERS
1234
QUARTERS
Assess Sites for Action. EPA's
second highest priority is to
complete the longer-term
environmental restoration of
hazardous sites. Starting in
1980, EPA and the States began
a concerted effort to identify all
uncontrolled hazardous waste
sites. To date, this effort has
produced an inventory of over
18,500 potential sites with the
possibility of as many as 22,000
eventually being identified.
EPA must review these
thousands of sites to determine
which require attention and
establish their relative priority.
The first step of this process is
a preliminary assessment in
which all available background
information on a site is
collected. EPA completed 1,898
preliminary assessments in FY
1984, bringing the total number
to over 10,500.
Completed 1,311 Site
Inspections. The next step in
EPA's effort to identify priority
hazardous sites is a site
inspection. EPA has found that
about 1 in 3 sites that have
received a preliminary
assessment require a site
inspection. EPA set a target of
1,300 site inspections for FY
1984 and exceeded that target
by conducting 1,311. A total of
3,613 site inspections have now
been completed. Where a site
has been found to pose an
imminent threat, EPA has
initiated emergency removal
actions as described above.
The National Priority List
Expanded. The final step in
identifying sites for priority
attention is their ranking for
placement on the National
Priorities List (NPL). Sites are
ranked based on such factors as
the type, quantities, and toxicity
of wastes; the number of
people potentially exposed; and
the importance of underlying
aquifers. EPA has now placed
538 sites on the NPL with an
additional 248 proposed for
listing.
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Numerous Clean-up
Procedures Initiated. Once a
site has been listed on the NPL,
a carefully designed field
investigations and engineering
study is performed called the
Remedial Investigation and
Feasibility Study (RI/FS). In FY
1984. EPA initiated 98 RI/FS
studies, substantially exceeding
its target (see chart below). EPA
FY 1984 SUPERFUND
SITE REMEDIAL ACTIVITIES INITIATED
Remedial Investigations/
Feasibility Studies
75-
50-
25-
40-i
1234
Engineering
Designs
20-
20-i
10-
LL.
o
1234
Remedial
Actions
also started final engineering
designs for 19 sites in FY 1984.
Although short of the target of
32 designs, it still represents a
significant increase over the six
engineering designs started in
1983. Actual construction began
at 13 sites exceeding the FY
1984 target and bringing the
total number to 33. This is in
addition to the 380 emergency
removals described previously,
over 125 of which were
completed at National Priority
List sites. Final restorations
have been completed at six
sites and responsibility given
back to State governments for
managing the sites to prevent
future health or environmental
damage. Cleanup activities have
also been completed at five
other sites although monitoring
efforts to verify the
effectiveness of these cleanups
are still underway.
Active Hazardous
Waste Handling
Facilities
Under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), EPA's fundamental
means for controlling
newly-generated hazardous
wastes is to establish
requirements for hazardous
waste generators, transporters,
and facility operators. There are
now some 1700 land disposal
and incineration facilities and
over 3000 storage and
treatment facilities that are
currently operating under
"interim status standards" To
remain in operation, these
facilities must now meet more
stringent standards and obtain
final permits. Issuing fina.1
permits for these individual
facilities is one of EPA's highest
priorities.
Enforcement Efforts
Outstanding. A priority for FY
1984 was to achieve a high
level of compliance by
hazardous waste handlers with
RCRA regulations including both
interim status standards and
final permit requirements. EPA
and the States conducted 4,115
PROGRESS IN RETURNING MAJOR
RCRA HANDLERS WITH CLASS I
VIOLATIONS TO COMPLIANCE
600n
inspections of RCRA facilities in
1984, almost 25 percent above
the target of 3,301. EPA and the
States also exceeded their
targets for returning significant
RCRA violators into compliance
(see chart). Of the 535
identified at the beginning of FY
1984, 186 significant violators
have been returned to
compliance and another 249
have been subject to
enforcement actions. This
leaves 100 violators in the
pending status, which is better
than the FY 1984 year-end
target of addressing all but 107.
Targets For RCRA Permitting
Exceeded. In FY 1984, EPA
made final permit
determinations to issue or deny
permits for 741 facilities,
exceeding its target of 730 by
eleven. Of significant note are
the 112 final determinations for
disposal and incineration
facilities, over a third more than
the 83 targeted. Permitting
these facilities is particularly
significant as they pose the
greatest potential health and
environmental impacts. Since
the inception of the RCRA
permit program in 1982, 284
permits have been issued. Of
that number, 203 or 71 percent
were issued in FY 1984.
TARGET
BOY 1 23
QUARTERS
LEGEND
I I IKTUIIMOnCOMHUMU
'
1234
QUARTERS
LEGEND
TARGETS ARE THROUGH SEPTEMBER.
WHILE STATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
ARE REPORTED THROUGH AUGUST.
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Air
Despite considerable progress
in improving air quality over the
past decade, air pollution is still
a significant environmental
problem in many areas of the
United States. Under the Clean
Air Act, EPA is responsible for
working with the States to
improve and protect the
Nation's ambient air quality.
Traditionally, EPA efforts have
focused on the "criteria air
pollutants": ozone, carbon
monoxide, airborne particulates,
sulfur dioxide, lead, and nitrogen
dioxide. These air pollutants are
generated by a number of
sources and are often a problem
in major metropolitan areas.
EPA is also concerned with
"hazardous air pollutants" that
are usually local problems,
typically found in the vicinity of
specific industrial sources. For
example, arsenic is a hazardous
air pollutant emitted by
processes such as cooper
smelting and glass
manufacturing.
Criteria Air Pollutants'
Enforcement of Stationary
Sources Improves.
Enforcement of air quality
standards is critical for assuring
continued improvement and
maintenance of the Nation's air
quality. EPA and the States
have made significant progress
in enforcing air pollution
controls.
In FY 1984, EPA returned to
compliance 126 of the 271
significant violators targeted.
Another 51 of these significant
violators were put on acceptable
schedules for attaining
compliance and 92 are subject
to enforcement actions (see
chart below). These significant
violators are large emitters of air
pollutants usually found in areas
where ambient pollution
standards are exceeded.
Returning these significant
violators to compliance is
essential to achieving good air
quality.
Overall, 92 percent of all
major sources were in
compliance and another 2
percent met approved
schedules for eventual
attainment. Compliance by
those sources required to meet
the stricter New Source
Performance Standards
(NSPS's) was also good with 90
percent in compliance and
another 2 percent meeting
attainment schedules.
In order to confirm these
compliance rates, EPA and the
States have recognized the
need to improve the frequency
at which sources are inspected.
In FY 1984, EPA and the States
conducted inspections at nearly
90 percent of the major source
facilities. For those facilities
required to meet NSPS's, EPA
and the States conducted
inspections at 88 percent of the
facilities.
EPA enforcement efforts led
to the issuance of 116
administrative orders. EPA
Regional Offices also
referred 79 cases for civil court
action, surpassing the FY 1984
SPMS target of 48 cases.
EPA efforts at enforcing air
pollution requirements at
Federal facilities were also
notable. EPA addressed all of
the Federal facilities targeted as
significant violators. By the end
of FY 1984, 300 or 92 percent
of all Federal facilities with
major pollution control
requirements were in
compliance and another 4
percent were on approved
PROGRESS IN RETURNING AIR VIOLATORS TO COMPLIANCE
REDUCTION OF SIGNIFICANT VIOLATORS
AS OF OCTOBER 1,1983
ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY THROUGH
500. FOURTH QUARTER
400-
TARCCT
BOY 1 2 3
QUARTERS
LEGEND
I 1 MTUMDTOCWFLUUKt
PS?3 o«*cem»«i£«e«oui£«
53 Miner TO nroKiMiir ACTION
§• KNOIIM terra*
schedules for attaining
compliance. Moreover, all 10
Federal facilities required to
meet the more stringent New
Source Performance Standards
were in compliance by the end
of the fiscal year.
Progress In Approval of SIPs.
Since 1970, State
Implementation Plans (SIPs)
have been the chief regulatory
means to reach the healthful
levels of air quality as defined
by the National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) for
each criteria pollutant. A SIP
lays out what control technology
will be applied to which sources
in an area to reduce air pollution
to meet the standards.
Responsibility for completing,
implementing and enforcing
SIPs rests with the States, with
support from EPA.
Although air quality has
generally improved, many of the
SIPs have proven inadquate to
meet national air quality
standards by the deadlines
established by the Clean Air
Act. In some cases, pollution
control measures required by
SIPs have not been
implemented or enforced. A
high priority for EPA is to have
SIPs that will ensure attainment
of national health-related
standards as expeditiously as
possible and no later than
December 31, 1987. In FY
1984, EPA made final
determinations on 398 SIP
actions. Most of the SIPs, 89
percent, were processed on
time. Most of the others were
on hold pending resolution of
court cases or new policy
formulations.
•INCLUDES SOURCES ON
ACCEPTABLE SCHEDULES
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EPA also tracks SIPs that
require special attention. The
first of these are the 1982
ozone/carbon monoxide SIPs for
those areas without extensions
to the 1982 deadline. By the
end of FY 1984, EPA made
determinations on 35 of the 47
SIPs required to be submitted
for action by the States.
In addition, nine areas of the
country were determined by
EPA to be in serious
noncompliance with the 1982
attainment deadlines. Although
sanctions will be proposed,
progress to correct the
deficiencies is good. Other SIPs
receiving special attention are
those for lead. EPA and the
States met virtually all 1984 SIP
development due dates.
Start Dates Met for Majority
of I/M Programs. As a result of
the inadequacy of a number of
SIPs in bringing about
attainment of air standards,
some areas have had to
incorporate vehicle inspection
and maintenance (I/M) programs
within their revised SIPs. EPA
tracks the implementation of
these I/M programs in the
Strategic Planning and
Management System. This
fiscal year, 10 I/M programs
began operations as scheduled.
States are also implementing
programs which discourage
people from using leaded fuel in
cars designed for unleaded. This
practice destroys the catalytic
converter, resulting in higher
carbon monoxide emissions and
makes it more difficult for the
State to achieve the ambient
standards. During FY 1984,
States implemented 12 new
programs to remedy this
problem.
Delegation of NSPS Slips. By
the end of FY 1984, EPA had
given authority to the States to
control sources subject to New
Source Performance Standards
(NSPS) for 1,772 of the 1,932
applicable NSPS categories
nationwide. This represents a
drop in overall NSPS delegation
to States from 95 percent to 92
percent. This was due to the
addition of newly applicable
NSPS regulations.
Good Progress on
Development of Regulations.
In FY 1984, EPA finalized five of
seven targeted NSPS and
proposed another seven
standards for public comment.
Final NSPS limitsSncluded those
developed for dry cleaners,
synthetic fiber production, and
refinery equipment leaks. Those
that were proposed included
limits on industrial boilers and
the storage of volatile organic
liquids. These are national
standards for the "criteria air
pollutants" designated by the
Clean Air Act.
EPA also proposed for public
comment two of the three
National Ambient Air Quality
Standards due for revision. The
proposed standards are for
nitrogen dioxide and particulate
matter.
Finally, EPA met its targets
for developing mobile source
standards. The Agency
proposed standards for
particulate and nitrogen oxides
emissions for heavy duty
diesels.
Hazardous Air
Pollution
EPA establishes National
Emission Standards for
Hazardous Air Pollutants
(NESHAPS) to set Federal
emission limits for new and
existing sources of hazardous
air pollutants. At the beginning
of FY 1984, compliance with the
NESHAPS was 93 percent. By
the end of FY 1984, NESHAPS
compliance slipped to 92
percent. This slippage is most
likely due to greater discoveries
of noncompliance as a result of
a major increase in the number
of NESHAPS inspections
conducted in FY 1984. Of
special note: compliance among
the 10 Federal facilities subject
to NESHAPS requirements was
100 percent.
Development of NESHAPS
Regulations Progressed. EPA
promulgated final standards on
five of the seven NESHAPS
targeted for FY 1984, including
standards for asbestos, and
benzene. The Agency also
proposed regulations for
benzene emissions from coke
ovens. In addition, EPA made
decisions on 3 of the 20 to 25
pollutants being considered for
listing as hazardous air
pollutants. Specifically, EPA
decided not to list toluene or
polycyclic organic matter, but
did list coke oven emissions.
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Water
The EPA, in partnership with
State and local governments,
has responsibility for protecting
water quality. These efforts
have historically focused on
reducing pollution of surface
waters such as rivers, lakes,
streams, coastal waters,
estuaries, and wetlands. Today,
efforts are also underway to
prevent contamination of ground
waters or underground
formations of water-saturated
rock and sand. EPA controls
water pollution by placing
limitations on discharges
through a national permit
system. For this permit system
to work, compliance with the
limits in the permits must be
enforced by EPA and the
States.
Surface Waters
Obtaining Compliance a Major
Success. One of the most
important measures EPA tracks
is our success in returning to
compliance significant violators
of water pollution discharge
permits. "Significant violators"
discharge pollution in quantities
that threaten to degrade the
environment or harm human
health. Of the 1,024 significant
violators identified at the
beginning of FY 1984, all but
three percent have been
brought back into compliance or
addressed by an enforcement
action.
EPA also tracks compliance
rates for all facilities with
permitted discharges. As a
result of EPA and State
enforcement efforts, the
compliance rate for facilities on
final effluent limits increased to
94 percent for industrial facilities
and 89 percent for municipal
facilities. As the charts show,
these compliance rates exceed
the FY 1984 targets for industry
and municipalities.
An important check on the
validity of compliance statistics
is the level of inspections. In FY
1984, EPA focused its
inspection efforts on municipal
facilities, exceeding its target by
20 percent (5364 actual
inspections; 4475 targeted).
REDUCING NUMBER OF MAJOR INDUSTRIALS
IN SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPUANCE
WITH FINAL
EFFLUENT LIMITS
WITH CONSTRUCTION
SCHEDULE/INTERIM LIMITS
300-i
250-
35-1
BOY
1 2 3
QUARTERS
123
QUARTERS
One consequence of the
emphasis appears to be that
EPA fell short of its target for
inspecting industrial facilities by
11 percent (3069 actual; 3463
targeted). Nonetheless, these
levels of inspection activity
made the compliance rates
credible.
Permitting Efforts Continued.
Through the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES). EPA and the States
issue permits placing limitations
on pollution discharges from
industrial, municipal and Federal
facilities. EPA's seventh highest
priority is to update all NPDES
permits consistent with new
technology-based effluent
standards. These standards
require additional monitoring
and place new discharge limits
on a number of toxic pollutants.
As the chart shows, progress in
FY 1984 towards meeting this
objective continued. For those
permits where EPA has direct
issuing authority, the Agency
exceeded the FY 1984 SPMS
target of 585 by permitting 645
facilities, eliminating almost 70
percent of the backlog of
expired major permits. Where
NPDES permitting authority has
been delegated, the States
completed the permitting of 992
facilities, eliminating only 35
percent of their backlog. EPA
will be meeting with the
NPDES REPERMITTING BY EPA
INDUSTRIAL
500-j
400-
300-
200 H
100-
LEGEND
•TA»gn_.
NUMBER WHICH HAVE EXPIRED
OR WILL EXPIRE BY: EOY SS 507
EOY 64 610
MUNICIPAL
250-T
200-
Of.
UJ
0-100-
1234
QUARTERS 224
355
National Governors' Association
to identify means to improve
State permitting efforts in FY
1985.
REDUCING NUMBER OF MAJOR MUNICIPALS
IN SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPUANCE
WITH FINAL
EFFLUENT LIMITS
WITH (CONSTRUCTION
SCHEDULE/INTERIM LIMITS
300-i
250-
200-
150-
100-
50-
BOY
1 2 3
QUARTERS
1 2 3
QUARTERS
LEGEND
tNfOIKCnilT ACTION TAKI*
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Pretreatment Targets Not
Met. In many communities,
industrial plants discharge their
wastes directly into the
municipal sewage system. An
EPA priority is to implement a
pretreatment program whereby
industry would remove toxic
substances before sending any
discharge to a municipal
treatment plant that would
otherwise disrupt the treatment
process or prove harmful to the
environment. As a first step,
EPA is requiring the submission
of pretreatment regulatory
programs from the 1,530
municipalities whose treatment
plants receive industrial
discharges. For FY 1984, EPA
set a target of approving 397 of
these municipal pretreatment
programs but only approved 229
of them. The States achieved
approximately 60 percent of
their target, approving 180 of
327 programs.
To improve performance in
this area, EPA and the States
are working with a number of
municipalities to help develop
proper control programs. EPA
will also take administrative and
enforcement actions as
necessary to prompt recalcitrant
municipalities to submit
proposed programs. In FY 1984,
EPA issued 314 administrative
orders; the States issued 128
orders. Through these actions,
EPA expects to expedite
submission and approval of
acceptable municipal
pretreatment programs in FY
1985. If necessary, EPA will
proceed with direct
implementation of pretreatment
programs where a municipality
or State lacks the legal authority
to implement the program.
Construction Grant Targets
Met. The Construction Grants
Program provides grants to
cities and counties to restore
the quality of the Nation's
waterways.through the
construction of cost-effective
and environmentally sound
municipal wastewater treatment
facilities. As the chart shows,
EPA exceeded its planned FY
1984 target by 26 percent for
construction grants obligations
with over $3.7 billion obligated.
EPA also fell within the plus or
minus 5 percent range of the
target of $2.7 billion dollars for
actual outlays of construction
grants.
CONSTRUCTION GRANTS
OBLIGATIONS AND OUTLAYS
4000-
3500-
3OOO-
2500-
2000-
1500-
1000-
500-
0-'
OBLIGAT10NS
OUTLAYS
3000-1
2000-
Ground Water
Ground water is a major source
of water for agricultural and
industrial purposes. It is also an
important source of drinking
water for about half of all
Americans and about 95 percent
of people living in rural areas.
There is increasing evidence
that ground water supplies are
being contaminated in a number
of locations around the country.
Established Office of Ground
Water. EPA currently is
addressing ground- water
contamination problems under
several statutes. For example,
the Superfund and the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA) address contamination
of ground water from hazardous
waste sites and the Federal
Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
addresses contamination from
pesticide use. To coordinate
these and a number of other
ground-water protection efforts,
EPA established the Office of
Ground-Water Protection. The
Office has recently completed a
ground-water protection
strategy that aims to coordinate
the actions of Federal, State and
local governments to protect
this critical resource.
Delegating the DIG Program.
Another high priority in EPA's
efforts to protect ground water
is the implementation of an
underground injection control
(UIC) program. EPA's strategy is
to require permits for facilities
that present the greatest threat
to underground sources of
drinking water.
EPA estimates that nearly 60
percent of all hazardous waste
disposal occurs by underground
injection. Given the large and
growing number of injection
wells nationwide, EPA must rely
heavily on the States to
implement control programs. In
FY 1984, EPA delegated full
authority for the UIC program to
17 States missing the target of
24 but bringing the total number
of States with full authority to
29. These 29 States contain
almost 80 percent of all the
Nation's injection wells.
In FY 1985, EPA will shift its
emphasis from regulatory
development and State
delegation to the actual testing
and permitting of wells.
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Pesticides and
Toxic
Substances
Earlier sections of this report
describe EPA's progress in
controlling harmful exposures by
regulating air emissions, water
discharges, and the disposal of
chemical wastes on land. This
section describes progress EPA
has made in controlling the risks
from pesticides and other
commercially produced chemical
substances. Under the Federal
Insecticide. Fungicide and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the
Toxic Substances Control Act
(TSCA), EPA has authority to
ban or restrict the manufacture
and use of new and existing
pesticides and chemical
substances to prevent or control
unreasonable risks to human
health or the environment.
Pesticides
Enforcement of Pesticide
Regulations Excellent. Nearly all
States have direct authority for
enforcing pesticide regulations.
Both EPA and the States take a
variety of enforcement actions
to ensure compliance including
administrative orders, criminal
referrals, warning letters, orders
to stop sale or use or recalls
and import detentions. In FY
1984, EPA and the States
conducted over 53,000
inspections, issued nearly 6,300
Administrative Orders, and
referred more than 140 criminal
cases.
EPA Met Registration
Standards Target. Under
FIFRA, EPA has authority to
control the risks of pesticides
primarily through a registration
process. All proposed uses of a
pesticide product must first be
approved by EPA. In addition to
registering new pesticides, one
of EPA's highest priorities is to
reregister approximately 45,000
pesticide products that were
registered before 1972, many
with little or no chronic health
effects data. EPA's objective is
to require the necessary acute
and chronic health and
environmental effects data for
these pesticides and review
them with today's registration
standards.
PESTICIDE REGISTRATION STANDARDS
CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF
STANDARDS ESTABLISHED
As a first step in its
reregistration effort, EPA is
requesting and reviewing
information on approximately
578 basic active ingredients
used in pesticide products. EPA
is establishing registration
standards that identify health
and environmental effects data
required to reregister any
pesticide product containing
these active ingredients. EPA
met its target of issuing 25
registration standards in FY
1984 (see chart). A total
of 90 registration standards
have now been completed
covering 26 percent of the
volume of pesticides in use.
Approximately 445 additional
standards are necessary to
cover the universe of active
ingredients used in pesticide
products.
EPA Exceeded Targets for
Data Call-Ins. To accelerate the
reregistration process, EPA is
requesting industry to submit
the data needed to make a
decision on existing pesticides.
In FY 1984, EPA exceeded its
data call-in target of 70 by
requesting information on 81
pesticides. Requests for
information focused on chronic
toxicity and the potential for
ground-water contamination.
EPA Surpassed Target for
Special Reviews. If major
health or environmental
concerns are raised about a
currently used pesticide, EPA
will initiate a Special Review.
This can result in an immediate
suspension, permanent
cancellation, or restriction of
some or all uses of a pesticide *
if it should be found to present
an unreasonable risk. EPA
completed 18 Special Reviews
in FY 1984, bettering the target
of 15.
New Pesticides Registration
Targets Met. As the chart
shows, EPA continues to meet
its commitments for new
pesticide registration. The
program has done an excellent
job of expeditiously reviewing
applications to register new
products, new uses of old
products, and changes in
product labels.
PESTICIDE REGISTRATION
APPLICATIONS
NUMBER OF FY 1984 APPLICATIONS
PROCESSED
SIZE OF BACKLOG
400-,
300-
200-
100-
NO. OF PENDING
APPUCATIONS WHOSE TIME
LIMIT HAS BEEN EXCEEDED
83
400-i
300-
200-
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LEGEND
(ACTUAL
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RECEIPTS:
6,571
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EPA Issues Fewer Emergency
Exemptions. An emergency
exemption may be granted to
allow a State to authorize the
use of a pesticide for purposes
EPA has not yet registered. An
EPA audit of this program led to
concern for possible abuse or at
least overuse of these
exemptions. EPA is now
reviewing emergency
exemptions more circumspectly.
In FY 1984, EPA denied
requests for 113 emergency
exemptions (compared to only
18 denied in FY 1982). The
Agency received fewer
applications for emergency
exemptions than expected (510
against a projected 924), and
was able to take action on all of
these as well as reduce the
backlog.
Eighty-Nine Percent of
Tolerance Petitions Reviewed.
Pesticide use often results in
low-level residues in food. EPA
must determine the highest
level of pesticide residue to be
tolerated in each food
commodity. EPA set a target to
review 600 tolerance petitions
in FY 1984 but completed only
531. The difference is due in
part to certain complex scientific
issues that require in-depth risk
assessment. EPA expects to
improve its performance in the
next fiscal year.
Toxic Substances
Enforcement Effort Was
Outstanding. In FY 1984, EPA
excelled in its efforts to enforce
regulations under the Toxic
Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The Agency accomplished 150
percent of its FY 1984 SPMS
target of 2695 TSCA
inspections. For example, EPA
inspected hundreds of electrical
transformers and capacitors for
leakage of polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs). EPA also
undertook over 1700
enforcement actions, greatly
increasing TSCA enforcement
efforts.
Of particular note are the
nearly 2,000 inspections
conducted under the
Asbestos-in-Schools program,
over 75 percent more than
expected. As a result, EPA
issued 1025 notices of
noncompliance and 82
admininstrative orders. Much of
the successs in school
inspections is attributable to the
efforts of senior citizens through
an EPA grant with the American
Association of Retired Persons
(AARP).
EPA also exceeded its FY
1984 SPMS target for
conducting laboratory audits by
nearly 25 percent, completing
162 audits. The laboratory audits
are essential to ensure that the
data developed by EPA
contractors and industry are
reliable.
EPA Moves Ahead on Existing
Chemicals. The Agency has
developed a multi- faceted
approach for determining which
chemicals to select for initial
review, thoroughly evaluate,
test further, or regulate. An
early step is to require the
environmental and health data
necessary to assess the effects
of the chemicals of concern. An
nteragency Testing Committee
(ITC) was established under
TSCA to refer suspect
chemicals to EPA for further
testing. In FY 1984, EPA made
final decisions for testing on 31
chemicals, satisfying
requirements for newly referred
ITC chemicals and eliminating
the backlog of previously
referred chemicals. Eleven final
test rules or negotiations
resulted from these reviews.
In FY 1984 EPA initiated
evaluations of health and
environmental effects data for
48 chemicals suspected of
posing threats to human health
or the environment. More
importantly, the Agency took 16
risk management actions (againt
a target of 14) by issuing
chemical advisories or proposed
or final regulations to ban or limit
the production, distribution, use
or disposal of chemical
substances (see chart below).
For example, EPA is taking
steps to regulate MBOCA, a
TSCA EXISTING CHEMICAL REVIEWS
For FY 1984
INITIATED
50-i
40-
30-
curing agent used in plastics
manufacturing which has been
shown to be carcinogenic in
several species of animals.
Another example is MDA, a
high production chemical also
shown 10 have serious
carcinogenic potential.
Review of New Commercial
Chemicals Continues. Another
of EPA's primary tasks under
TSCA is to review the potential
risks of new chemicals before
industry introduces them into
commerce. In FY 1984, EPA
reviewed over 1,500
premanufacture notices for new
chemicals. As a result of EPA's
review, over one-third of these
chemicals were suspended,
withdrawn, referred for
follow-up, or subjected to orders
that prohibited or limited their
manufacturing, distribution, use
or disposal.
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