Office of        November 1984
                       the Administrator
                       Washington DC 20460
v>EPA     Accomplishments
           Report
           FY1984

-------
EPA
Accomplishments:
FY 1984
      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
            BOY  1    2   3
                 QUARTERS

-------
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 NONCOMPLJANCE
                       LEGEND
                       I  I KioKMto TO niinjiuici
                          SAODMtUD
                          pimura
                                          RCRA
                                            TSCA
                                                                                         TMOCT
                       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    2   3
        QUARTERS
   BOY
1    2   3
QUARTERS
                                                                   BOY
1   .2   3    4
QUARTERS

-------
 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 FOR FY 1984

   RESPONSIBLE PARTY SEARCHES
   200
   150-
   100-
    50-
      ENFORCEMENT MANAGED
          RI/FS INITIATED
 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
COST RECOVERY CASES
   REFERRED TO HQ
    40-i
    30-
    20-
                               40-,
a-
m
                             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 ACTIVITIES


                                        INmATED
                            250-


                            200-


                             150-


                             100-


                             50-
                                                                  01234

                                                                          COMPLETED
                                                               250-1
                                                               200-
                                                               150-
                                                               100-
                                                               50-
                                                                        1234
                                                                          QUARTERS
                                                                                      LEGEND
             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 I.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.

-------
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
    100 -i
    75-
    50-
    25-
      Remedlal Investigations/
          Feasibility Studies
            Engtneerfng
              Designs
     20-i
     10-
Ul
tfi
fc
c>
             Remedlal
              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 finaj
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
                                                                600 -i
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   234
                                                                             QUARTERS
                                                                 LEGEND
                                                                 I   I UTimNUTocMnMiiu
                                                                 E3 IUUICT ra mroMiMNT AcnM
                                  LEGEND
              QUARTERS
                                                                TARGETS ARE THROUGH SEPTEMBER.
                                                                 WHILE STATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
                                                                ARC REPORTED THROUGH AUGUST.

-------
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 Fedeial 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    ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY THROUGH
                           35/ENDING AS OF OCTOBER 1,1983
                                                         TARGET
                                500-
                                                                400-
                                                                300-
                                                                200-
                                                                100-
                                        FOURTH QUARTER
                                 BOY  1   2    3
                                        QUARTERS
                               LEOEKD
                               t~n «nu«iiiDToe»i»u»ii«
                               P?q on *eevM»u noouus
                                   gMUICT TO BOTHtmOIT «CnON
                                   NMIIM MTIM*
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

-------
   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 limits included 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
pplycyclic organic matter, but
did list coke oven emissions.

-------
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).
                           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 REPERMITT1NG BY EPA

                                                                 INDUSTRIAL
                                                      500 T
                                                      400-
                                                      300-
                                                      200-
                                                      100-
                                                      NUMBER WHICH HAVE EXPIRED
                                                      OR WILL EXPIRE BY:    EOY 83
                                                                      EOY 8*

                                                                 MUNICIPAL
                                                      2501
                                                                                                 200-
                                                  507
                                                  •10
                                                                                               15 BO-
                                                                                               K
                                                                                               LJ
                                                                                               0-100-
                                                                                               L_
                                                                                               o
                                                                                               m
                                                                                               p
                                                                                                          123
                                                                                                             QUARTERS
                                                                                                 National Governors' Association
                                                                                                 to identify means to improve
                                                                                                 State permitting efforts in FY
                                                                                                 1985.
               REDUCING NUMBER OF MAJOR INDUSTRIALS
                    IN SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPUANCE
             WITH FINAL
           EFFLUENT LIMITS
                            WITH CONSTRUCTION
                         SCHEDULE/INTERIM LIMITS
       BOY
1    2   3
QUARTERS
BOY
1    2   3
QUARTERS
                           LEGEND
                           I   I mumo TO eoimuNci
                                                                JOO-i
                                                                250-
                                                                200-
                                                                150-
                                                                100-
                                                                 50-
                                                                REDUCING NUMBER OF MAJOR MUNICIPALS
                                                                    IN SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPUANCE
                                    WITH FINAL
                                  EFFLUENT LIMITS
                                                           WITH CONSTRUCTION
                                                         SCHEDULE/INTERIM LIMITS
BOY
    2   3
QUARTERS
BOY
1234
QUARTERS
                                                                       HNBIH*

-------
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
           OBLIGATIONS
              OUTLAYS
3DOOn
?000-
                                   0-*
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 UIC 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.
                                 LEGEND
                                •IVKl.
                                           1      2     3
                                             QUARTERS

-------
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-m 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-i
300-
                                                                                                200-
                                                                                                100-1
                                                                                                          NO. OF PENDING
                                                                                                      APPLICATIONS WHOSE TIME
                                                                                                      LIMIT HAS BEEN EXCEEDED
                                                                                                         1234
                                                                                                            QUARTERS
                                                                                                  400
                                                                                                  300-
                                                                                                             MICNOCD    OLD
                                                                                                           HCeUTHATIOM CHEMICALS
                                                                                                  RECEIPTS:
                                                                                                             U.2S2
                                                                                                                      8,671
8

-------
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-m-Schools program,
over 75 percent more than
expected. As a result, EPA
issued 1025 notices of
noncompliance and 82
administrative 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
 •f 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 previou^lv
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-,
  40-
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 to 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.
                                                                        1     2    3
                                                                          QUARTERS

-------