v>EPA
Region 6
Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division
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Message from
This year, there has been a spotlight on the federal govern-
ment and the ability of federal departments and agencies to
adapt to tighter budgets. Can the government find ways to
better serve the American public? Can the U.S. Environmen-
tal Protection Agency tackle the challenges we face in new,
innovative ways? Will our agency's enforcement programs
continue to play a critical role in ensuring that our nation's
environmental laws are followed? And at the regional level,
will our Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division be
able to do more to serve the 38 million people living in the
five states and 66 federally-recognized Native Nations in our
region?
In the Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division, we say the answer is yes—we are as committed as ever to improv-
ing lives in the communities we serve and finding new ways to be more effective. The cover for this year's report highlights
one of the ways we are carrying out our work more efficiently. Using advanced surveillance techniques, such as aerial FLIR
flyovers, we are able to identify excess emissions and noncompliance at sites such as those on the report cover. The top
strips of photos show what the human eye can see, while the bottom strips show the view from an infrared camera—dark
plumes of air emissions. This fail alone, we were able to review 95 sites and identify 238 sources of visible emissions using
helicopter flyovers of the Eagle Ford Shale area near San Antonio, Texas.
Working with our many partners at EPA and other federal, state,
agencies, we are saying yes to the people we serve who are looking
them from pollution—yes, we can make a difference. Our efforts
cleaner air, water, and soil, as well as healthier communities.
In FY 2013, our tag line was "act with urgency every day." It was
while it can sometimes take months or longer to identify environ-
tions and return facilities to compliance, we must do all we can to
every day.
"We are saying yes to
the people we serve who
are looking to us to
protect them from
pollution"
99
Our tag line for FY 2014 is "change begins with me," because an
only as strong as its individual members, and at a time when our
ing to changes, including more limited resources, we will only be successful if everyone is part of the
effective and efficient.
tribal, and local
to us to protect
are producing
a reminder that,
mental viola-
make progress
organization is
agency is adapt-
effort to be more
I want to close with a heartfelt thank you to our employees and all the individuals and agencies who work with us on our
important mission here in Region 6. Your ability to adapt and better serve our communities is something we can all be
proud of, and I am looking forward to more successes in the year ahead.
pJL
Page i CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Contents
Results at a Glance 1
Key Performance Indicators 1
National Enforcement Initiatives 2
Regional Enforcement Priorities 3
Supplemental Environmental Projects 4
State Highlights 5
Air Enforcement 6
Hazardous Waste Enforcement 8
Water Enforcement 10
Other Region 6 Enforcement 12
National Environmental Policy Act 13
The Year Ahead 15
Mission
To promote compliance with Federal environmental regulations in partnership with our
states and tribes
Vision
To make environmental compliance commonplace and to establish a culture that promotes
going beyond compliance through collaboration, innovation and partnership
Values
Teamwork Open Communication Professionalism
Integrity Creativity Fairness
Page ii CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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OK
Results at a Glance
Using a full range of compliance and enforcement strategies and tools, we concluded over 400 actions
against environmental violators in fiscal year 2013, October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013.
/fey -=»rjx
1 ^ENFORCEMENT^ (J
tel
117 M pounds of
air arid water pollutants
will be reduced
61,300 cubic yards of
contaminated water
will be cleaned up
>430 Ivi poltroon controis&
cleanup
$509 M penalties
Direct Environmental Benefits *
Air Pollutants Reduced, Treated, or Eliminated (Pounds) 88,538,400
Water Pollutants Reduced, Treated, or Eliminated (Pounds) 28,559,000
Toxics and Pesticides Reduced, Treated, or Eliminated (Pounds) 57,500
Contaminated Water to be Cleaned Up (Cubic Yards) 61,300
Stream Miles Protected or Restored (Linear Feet) 2,500
Wetlands Protected or Restored (Acres) 14
People Protected by Safe Drinking Water Act Enforcement 37,850
Volume of Untreated Discharge Eliminated (Gallons) 65,000,000
Investments in Actions and Equipment to Reduce Pollution and Protect the Environment (Injunctive Relief) $430,287,000
Investments in Projects that Benefit the Environment and Public Health (Supplemental Environmental Projects) $176,700
Civil Penalties Assessed
Administrative Penalties Assessed $4,852,500
Judicial Penalties Assessed $504,988,700
State/Local Judicial Penalties Assessed From Joint Federal-State/Local Enforcement Actions $2,194,000
Stipulated Penalties Paid $6,950,500
Civil Enforcement and Compliance Activities
Referrals of Civil Judicial Enforcement Cases to Department of Justice 6
Supplemental Referrals to DOJ 3
Civil Judicial Enforcement Case Conclusions 10
Administrative Penalty Order Complaints 222
Final Administrative Penalty Orders 222
Administrative Compliance Orders 211
Cases with Supplemental Environmental Projects 5
Compliance Monitoring Activities
Inspections/Evaluations 1,280
Civil Investigations 8
* Estimated
Key Performance Indicators
The Key Performance Indicators below are measures the agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance monitors at
the national level to evaluate program effectiveness. As the figures for Region 6 indicate, our enforcement of federal environmental
laws and regulations has reduced pollution and decreased exposure to the communities in our region.
Key Performance Indicators
Region 6 Results
Pounds of pollution reduced
117,000,000
Volume of contaminated media addressed (cubic yards)
61,300
Number of civil case initiations
439
Number of civil case conclusions
443
Page 1 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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National Enforcement
Reducing Air Pollution
from the Largest Sources
Cutting Hazardous Air Pollutants
Because of the large number of facilities within our region, we rely heavily
on risk-based targeting to prioritize compliance evaluations and enforce-
ment activities. Using a multi-pronged approach that incorporates emis-
sions modeling and risk assessment, evaluation of process upset data, as-
sessment of permit exceedances, and evaluation of data within the Toxic
Release Inventory, we conducted evaluations at six facilities and closed
out one "no further action" case. We have also been successful in review-
ing consent decree requirements based on acid gas and tail gas flaring.
(See Consent Decree Requires Leak Detection to be Fully Implemented on
page 8, Valero Port Arthur Refinery Pays $5 Million Penalty for Flaring Vio-
lations on page 8, and Consent Decree Requires Leak Detection to be Fully
Implemented on page 8.)
Keeping Raw Sewage and Contaminated Stormwater
Out of Our Nation's Waters
Addressing sanitary sewer overflows continues to be a high priority for
our region. Excessive bacteria and pathogens are the most significant sur-
face water quality impairments in Region 6. Our region currently has 73
wastewater treatment systems with average daily flows exceeding 10 mil-
lion gallons per day, which have been the primary focus of the SSO national
initiative. Of these systems, 98.6 percent, including 142 satellite systems,
Reducing Pollution from Mineral Processing
Operations
In 2013, the Region worked with the Department of Justice, EPA's Of-
fice of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, and the Louisiana De-
partment of Environmental Quality to resolve outstanding compliance
issues at several phosphate fertilizer plants in Louisiana. Our efforts are
focused on sustained compliance and ensuring that adequate financial
resources are available in the future to clean up the sites when opera-
tions cease. Minerall Processing in Louisiana
have been addressed through the review of existing municipal imple-
mentation plans, issuance of orders by Region 6 or our state partners,
negotiated civil judicial settlements, and initiated federal enforcement
actions. We will continue to work with municipalities and our state part-
ners to address the remaining system.
Assuring Energy Extraction Activities Comply with
Environmental Laws
Preventing Animal Waste from Contaminating
Surface and Ground Water
Region 6 identified two states, Arkansas and
Louisiana, that may need EPA's assistance to
strengthen their concentrated animal feed-
ing operation programs. We recently con-
ducted numerous poultry inspections in
northwest Arkansas and northern Louisiana,
and because of our increased presence, we
were invited to participate in a number of
outreach activities designed to build and strengthen relationships with
poultry producers, stakeholders, and state counterparts. This year, our
activities included presentations at a University of Arkansas Poultry
Composter/Nutrient Management meeting, at the Arkansas Farm Bu-
reau's Annual State Convention, and a Louisiana Poultry Producers meet-
ing in Shreveport. We also hosted a very successful CAFO Workshop
with an emphasis on poultry issues, and it attended by over 100 state,
federal, and industry representatives. These venues allowed us to com-
municate our message to large groups of growers at one time, provided
growers opportunities to ask questions, and served as forums for EPA
and state regulators to present a unified message.
Addressing noncompliance with
the Clean Air Act New Source
Review requirements continued
to be a focus in 2013. Through
investigations and enforcement
reviews, we have evaluated non-
compliance at 85 percent of the
sulfuric acid/nitric acid plants and
94 percent of the cement plants,
as well as 42 percent of the coal-
fired power plants in the region.
We are still on track to achieve our
goal of 85 percent of the nation's
acid sector facilities by 2016. In
the glass industry, we have evalu-
ated noncompliance at over 80%
of this industry, and are success-
fully lodging two final orders for
referrals in both the coal-fired power plant and glass ectors.
We have continued to look at
gas processing facilities as part
of the National Energy Extraction
Initiative. Our efforts have been
focused on compliance with the
Clean Air Act and Clean Water
Act in the Barnett Shale forma-
tion, East Texas, the Eagle Ford
Shale play of South Texas, and gas
production areas in Oklahoma.
In FY 2013, we completed 31 in-
spections and issued and resolved
four enforcement cases under the
CAA. Under the CWA, we conducted 40 forty inspections and addressed
violations at 12 facilities through enforcement actions.
Page 2 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Regional Enforcement
Air Enforcement
Preventing Releases of Extremely Hazardous Substances
ment and disposal facilities (TM Deer Park Services Limited Partnership,
US Ecology, and Parker Solvents, Inc.). We also developed targeting tools
to share with the states and EPA Headquarters to help more systemati-
cally identify these illegal operations. One of the tools we created was
a TSD permit database for each state that allows us to compare waste
shipment data against permitted waste streams and technology to iden-
tify compliance issues like those addressed with the US Ecology enforce-
ment action (see Facilities Operating without Hazardous Waste Permit
on page 9).
In FY 2013, we implemented
an innovative Clean Air Act
general duty clause process.
We filed 18 consent agree-
ments and final orders to set-
tle violations of the clause,
which netted $763,000, and
three complaints and notice
of opportunity for hearing.
These cases involved a variety
of incidents, including fires,
explosions, hazardous sub-
stance releases, deaths, and
injuries. We are committed
to continuing this innovative program to quickly address incidents as they occur
in the Region.
Hazardous Waste Enforcement
Illegal Waste Treatment
and Disposal
In FY 2013, we investigated eight
treatment, storage, and disposal
facilities and issued enforcement
actions against three illegal treat-
We have implemented a multi-
faceted Risk Management Program
that allows us to focus our limited
inspection resources on high-risk fa-
cilities and facilities that have had a
major incident. We also have been
working with our partners in Su-
perfund to target, conduct, and re-
view inspections at Title V facilities.
illegal Waste Treatment and Disposal Enforce-
ment
We issued eight penalty orders to facilities to ensure compliance with
standards for the safe management of hazardous waste. The orders will
result in approximately 19 million pounds per year of pollutant reduc-
tions, and the assessed penalties approached one million dollars.
New Source Review initiative - Carbon Black
Under the national Carbon Black Initia-
tive, we have conducted 11 inspection
and issued six notice of violations to
companies located in Louisiana and
Texas. Of the 15 carbon black facilities
in the United States, 12 are in Region
6.
Petroleum Refinery Consent Decree Compliance
Transportation of Hazardous Waste to Unauthorized
Facilities
We reviewed waste shipments trends this year and compared waste
shipment data with
J waste received, and
we were able to de-
velop targeting infor-
mation to share with
states for future in-
vestigations. Using
this data, we issued
administrative orders
to Groendyke Trans-
port, Inc., of Port Al-
len, Louisiana, Texas
Barge and Boat, Inc.
of Freeport, Texas,
and Safety Kleen Systems, Inc., of Missouri City, Texas, for the transporta-
tion of hazardous wastes to an unauthorized facility. We believe this tar-
geting information will point to additional generators that are shipping to
unauthorized facilities. (See Orders Issued to Companies that Sent Haz-
ardous Waste to Unpermitted Facility on page 10)
Ensuring that companies follow through with
settlement commitments is a high priority for the
region. As a result of the successful national Petro-
leum Refinery Initiative, we have been tracking and
responding to consent decree deliverables from
flaring events at 44 refineries located throughout
the region. This year, we completed 132 responses
to root cause failure analysis reports required un-
der the decrees for acid gas, sulfur recovery plant
tail gas, and hydrocarbon flaring events. These re-
views resulted in the assessment and collection of
over $144,308 in stipulated penalties.
We also profiled centralized
wastewater treatment facili-
ties that discharge wastewater
into publicly owned treatment
works, and developed tech-
niques to screen those facili-
ties that may not be meeting
the terms of the wastewater
treatment unit exemption. We
believe that this analysis, in
conjunction with hazardous
waste shipment data review,
may help point to compliance
problems like those found at
U.S. Oil Recovery (See Orders
Issued to Companies that Sent Hazardous Waste to Unpermitted Facility
on page 10J
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Regional Enforcement
Corrective Action at High-Priority Facilities
EPA has identified 1,700 facilities nation-wide posing the greatest threat
from hazardous waste releases to the environment, with over 400 of them
in Region 6, The agency's goal is to complete clean up of all 1,700 facilities
by 2020. While state agencies are addressing most of these facilities in
our region, we issued administrative orders this year to fill critical gaps in
information needed to clean up sites, and we issued a unilateral compli-
ance order to Parker Solvents Company, Inc. of Little Rock, Arkansas, and
an agreed order on consent to the Premcor Refining Group, of Port Arthur,
Texas. Both orders require corrective measures to ensure the develop-
ment and implementation of analytical and work practices to prevent en-
vironmental releases. (See EPA Steps In after Solvent Company Noncom-
pliant with State Orders and Enforcement Action at Site on High-Priority
Clean Up List both articles are on page 11)
Water Enforcement
Brine Program
In FY 2013, our brine program continued its efforts to protect the envi-
ronment by issuing 33 administrative orders, nine administrative penalty
orders, and 11 consent agreements and final orders. There were two
judicial actions this year, including a court order for a default judgment
that ordered the operator to pay a $636,687 fine for joint produced wa-
ter discharges and Oil Pollution Action violations. The other judicial ac-
tion was the issuance of an administrative warrant and order for entry
and investigation (search warrant) to inspect produced water discharges
from oil and gas facilities in south Texas. Our brine program also made
significant strides in strengthening its relationship with the Texas Parks
and Wildlife "Kills and Spills Team." A joint effort with this state program
has resulted in direct action against unauthorized brine discharges that
posed an environmental threat to water of the United States and citizens'
well being.
Supplemental Environmental
Enforcement
Name
Final Order
Enter Date
Description
Category
SEP Cost
State
Primary
Law
Dow Chemical Co.
(Freeport, Texas)
05/07/2013
Purchase emergency response equipment for the Brazoria
County Sheriff's Office or its lawful designee.
Emergency
Planning and
Preparedness
$105,000
Texas
Clean Air Act
UOP LLC
04/18/2013
Purchase a hazardous material response truck and related
equipment for the City of Baton Rouge Fire Department
Other Program
Specific SEP
$40,745
Louisiana
RCRA
ENNIS PAINT, INC.
(NORTH PLANT)
03/27/2013
Construct a pollution reduction system at the South Plant
that will include ducting and filter media to reduce the
amount of particulate matter emitted from this facility by
an estimated 47.45 tons per year.
Public Health
$31,004
Texas
Emergency
Planning &
Community
Right-To-Know
Act
Page 4 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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State High
We continued our productive working relationships with the state
agencies in our region through regular face-to-face meetings with
each state's enforcement directors and management officials. In
addition, our Air, RCRA, and Water enforcement program staff
have monthly meetings with their state counterparts to coordi-
nate inspection and enforcement priorities and issues. This co-
ordination has been invaluable in building healthy enforcement
programs at both the state and federal level.
All of the states in our region have completed two rounds of State
Review Framework evaluations, and Round 3 reviews are under-
way. While we conduct inspections in each of the Region 6 states,
most of the inspections and enforcement actions in these states
are conducted by state agencies.
Arkansas
New Mexico
We are conducting a State
Review Framework evalua-
tion of the New Mexico En-
vironment Department's
Air and RCRA programs
this year, and EPA's Office
of Compliance is evaluat-
ing the Water program in
New Mexico, which is administered by EPA Region 6. A final report of
the evaluation is expected to be completed by March 2014.
NMED's most significant enforcement actions this year included Occi-
dental Permian ($920,000), Enterprise Products Operating ($633,000),
Advanced Chemical Transport ($250,000), and Frontier Field Services
($94,000).
Oklahoma
Round 3 of the State Review Framework evaluation of the Arkansas De-
partment of Environmental Quality's inspection and enforcement pro-
grams will be initiated in late 2014.
In 2013, ADEQ pursued substantial enforcement actions at Riceland
Foods ($390,000), Oilfield Compliance Solutions ($72,000), Great Lakes
Chemical ($200,000), and Bluebird Sand ($256,000).
Louisiana
Round 3 of the State Review Framework
evaluation of the Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality's inspection and en-
forcement programs will be conducted in
FY 2016. LDEQ's Round 2 review was com-
pleted in 2012.
This year, LDEQ pursued numerous en-
forcement cases in Air, Water and RCRA,
including Sasol North America ($350,000), ExxonMobil Corp ($300,000),
PPG Lake Charles ($400,000), City of Shreveport ($650,000), Firestone
Polymers ($87,000), and Shell Chemical ($80,000).
OKLAHOMA
DEPAaiMtW Of EWH0MN1M SUMITV |
tive and accurate. The review will
and enforcement data.
The State Review Framework evalu-
ation of Oklahoma Department of
Environmental Quality's enforce-
ment programs scheduled for July
2013 has been postponed until April
2014 due to substantial changes to
the review process during Round 3.
Region6 believes that this delay will
help to make the review more effec-
be conducted using 2013 inspection
Significant enforcement actions in Oklahoma in FY 2013 included
the City of Oklahoma City ($125,000), DCP midstream ($91,000),
Holly Refining ($886,000), Tallgrass Petroleum ($637,000), Owens
Brockway Glass ($105,000), and Wynnewood Refining ($985,000).
Texas
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality'
State Review Framework evaluation was conducted in
2013, and a final report is expected by the end of the
year. We anticipate completing the next review by the
end of FY 2017.
Numerous enforcement actions were completed in Tex-
as this year, including Amelia Dairy ($152,000), Arrow
Fabricated Tubing ($124,000), Chevron Phillips Chemi-
cal ($428,000), City of Chico ($242,000), City of Orange
($157,000), Conoco ($425,000), East Texas Gas Plant ($651,000), Econ-
omy Mud Products ($151,000), Haldor Topsoe ($203,000), Houston
Refining ($1,200,000), Lubrizol ($240,000), Dow Chemical Salt Dome
Operations ($1,300,000), and WRB Refining ($227,000).
Page 5 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Air Enforcement
In 2013, we continued to focus our investigatory efforts on the re-
gion's most significant environmental noncompliance issues. We
issued 28 information requests and conducted 159 on- and off-site
evaluations to determine compliance with New Source Review, air
toxics, and energy extraction regulations. We are also continuing
our efforts at facilities where explosions or fires have occurred,
utilizing the general duty clause of the risk management plan re-
quirements.
Settlement with Largest Source of Illegal Air Pollution
in Louisiana
Louisiana Generating, an electric generating company owned by
NRG Energy, Inc. agreed to a settlement at its Big Cajun II coal-
fired power plant that will result in the elimination of over
27,300 tons of harmful emissions per year.
Using the expedited administrative penalty process imple-
mented in 2012 under the national Air Toxics Initiative, we con-
tinue to explore new enforcement initiatives including carbon
black New Source Review permitting compliance, benzene Na-
tional Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants compli-
ance at chemical plants, and excess emissions at chemical man-
ufactures, tanks, and terminal plants. We were able to meet or
exceed all of our commitments, while issuing over 48 alterna-
tive monitoring plan responses.
We continue to focus our inspection resources on Clean Air
Act Title V risk management plan requirements to reduce the
risk of chemical accidents, explosions, and spills. Our goal is to
swiftly address noncompliance in order to prevent and reduce
the potential for accidents, explosions, and releases.
Consent Decree Requires Leak Detection to be
Fully Implemented
An inspection at Westlake Petrochemicals in Sulphur, Lousiana,
revealed that the facility had a leak detection and repair pro-
gram in place but had not implemented a regulatory provision
that reduced leak detection from 1000 parts per million to 500
ppm. As a result, EPA entered a consent decree that includes a
certification by Westlake of compliance with the proper leak defini-
tion and a $500,000 civil penalty.
"HUH
1 ilV I: J
»*R|f
Page 6 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Air Enforcement
This Clean Air Act settlement is the largest one in Louisiana his-
tory and requires Louisiana Generating to spend approximately
$250 million to reduce air pollution, pay a civil fine of $3.5 mil-
lion, and spend $10.5 million on environmental mitigation
projects. Sulfur dioxide emissions will be reduced by ap-
proximately 20,000 tons and nitrogen oxides emissions will
be cut by about 3,300 tons. The company has also agreed
to further air pollution reductions by 2025 that will reduce
sulfur dioxide by at least an additional 4,000 tons each year.
Valero Port Arthur Refinery Pays $5 Million Penalty
for Flaring Violations
In 2013, the Valero Port Arthur Refinery paid a $5,197,847 stipu-
lated penalty for failure to accurately and timely submit notifica-
tion of two flaring events, including one that lasted 228 days and
emitted 2,177 tons of sulfur dioxide and 23.6 tons of hydrogen
sulfide. Valero was under a consent decree that required it
to perform a root cause failure analysis for acid gas, tail gas,
and hydrocarbon flaring events that result in emissions of 500
pounds of sulfur dioxide in a 24-hour period, identify correc-
tive actions to prevent a recurrence of the flaring, and submit
the findings of the analysis with a schedule of implementation
of corrective actions to EPA within 60 days of the end of the
flaring event.
Consent Decree Amendment Addresses Leak De-
tection at Formosa Plastics
In 2013, we entered an amendment to the consent decree
with Formosa Plastics Corporation of Texas for leak detection
and repair violations. Pursuant to the original decree, Formosa
was subject to a stipulated penalty of $175 for each piece of
equipment found one year afterthe date of lodging that should
have been included in its LDAR program but was not Formosa
disclosed that it failed to include over 8,000 pieces of equip-
ment in its program and failed to timely monitor 145 connec-
tors. In addition to paying a stipulated penalty of $1,447,925,
Formosa agreed to initiate a comprehensive third-party evalu-
ation to ensure that regulated components are properly identi-
fied and included in the facility's leak detection and repair pro-
gram.
Helicopter Inspections at Industrial Areas and
Oil and Gas Facilities
In late August and eariy September, we
conducted aerial surveillance to iden-
tify toxic air emissions from industrial
areas along the Eagle Ford Shale locat-
ed in and around San Antonio, Texas.
The helicopter flyovers utilized an in-
frared camera to investigate volatile
organic compound air emissions. We
were able to review 95 sites and found
238 leaks, and we are reviewing all aerial surveillance data col-
lected and evaluating it for noncompliance.
infrared camera view
Page 7 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Hazardous Waste Enforcement
In FY 2013, we targeted and redirected our efforts toward the ar-
eas that could have the greatest environmental impact in order to
make the best use of limited resources. Although we did fewer
inspections in some areas, we achieved greater environmental
outcomes through enforcement.
We continued focusing on the disposal of hazardous waste to keep
waste out of commerce. This year, we inspected 28 facilities that
generate, transport, treat, store, or dispose of hazardous waste
and issued penalty orders to 10 facilities. The inspections were
conducted at high risk facilities to ensure the most environmental-
ly-beneficial results, and our actions relieved impacted communi
ties and supported state compliance efforts. Focus areas included
operations that treated, stored and disposed of hazardous waste
illegally and released hazardous waste into the environment.
In addition to our RCRA hazardous waste activities, we conducted
23 inspections under the Lead Renovation and Remodling Pro-
gram. This program helps protect human health from lead expo-
sure due to lead-based paint dust and particles during renovation
activities.
illegal Waste Treatment and Disposal
Hazardous Wastewater Not Characterized Prior to
Disposal
An inspection conducted at TM Chemicals Limited Partnership, a batch
organic chemical production facility located in Deer Park, Texas, revealed
that wastewater was not being properly characterized prior to disposal.
In two years, over two million gallons of hazardous wastewater was dis-
posed of without performing the required hazardous waste determina-
tions. As a result, we issued a consent agreement and final order to the
facility requiring proper hazardous waste determinations prior to waste
disposal and payment of a $69,450 penalty.
Facilities Operating without Hazardous Waste Permit
An inspection of US Ecology of Texas and TD*X Associates, co-located haz-
ardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities in Robstown, Tex-
as, that were operating together to provide thermal treatment services,
revealed that they were processing and treating hazardous waste without
RCRA permit authorization.
Following the inspection, we issued a consent agreement and final order
to the companies to address the violations, ordered them to obtain proper
permit authorization, and imposed interim conditions until they could ob-
tain the permit. In addition the companies agreed to a $788,000 penalty.
Order Issued to Exide Technologies Battery Recycling
Our inspections of Exide Technologies Battery Recycling, of Frisco, Texas, re-
vealed violations of the company's RCRA hazardous waste permit, including
failure to maintain facilities in a way that prevented releases of pollutants to
the environment and failure to perform required waste determinations.
Exide Technologies Battery Recycling, Frisco, Texas
As a result, we issued a consent agreement and final order to the company
demanding payment of a $225,000 penalty, documentation that compli-
ance has been achieved, and submission of a closure plan for areas of lead
US Ecology of Texas in Robstown, Texas
Page 8 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Hazardous Waste Enforcement
contamination to the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. The
facility, which ceased operations in 2013, reclaimed, produced, and stored
batteries.
Large Quantity Generator Treating and Storing Hazardous
Waste without a Permit
Inspections conducted at UOP LLC, a large quantity generator of haz-
ardous waste in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, revealed that hazardous waste
was being transported for disposal without making a hazardous waste
determination and was being treated and stored without a permit. Con-
sequently, we issued a complaint, consent agreement, and final order
in April for failure to make a hazardous waste determination on spent
acetone, for treating hazardous waste without a permit, and for storing
hazardous waste without a permit.
The order required UOP, which is located in an area of potential Environ-
mental Justice concerns, to pay a penalty of $10,000 and spend at least
$40,000 on a supplemental environmental program.
Orders Issued to Companies that Sent Hazardous
Waste to Unpermitted Facility
Following our discovery in 2009 that U.S. Oil Recovery's centralized
wastewater treatment facility in Pasadena, Texas, was illegally storing
and disposing of hazardous waste, we have issued enforcement actions
to several generators that shipped hazardous waste to the facility. In FY
2013, we concluded four such cases, with final orders issued to Pipes-
tream, Inc., of Houston, Texas; Groendyke Transport, Inc., of Port Allen,
Louisiana; Texas Barge and Boat, Inc., of Freeport, Texas; and Safety Kleen
Systems, Inc., of Missouri City, Texas, for shipping hazardous waste to an
unpermitted facility. These companies failed to ensure that their hazard-
ous waste went to permitted treatment storage and disposal facilities.
The USOR site is now a Superfund site, and prior to these recent actions,
criminal charges were successfully prosecuted.
rami
In February, we issued an administrative order to Parker Solvents Com-
pany requiring it to develop a sampling and analysis workplan to monitor,
test, and analyze the nature and extent of the hazards posed by the haz-
ardous wastes present at or released from the site, and to implement the
work plan upon obtaining approval from EPA. The solvent blending, tem-
porary bulk storage, and distribution company located in Little Rock, Ar-
kansas, had been noncompliant with orders issued by the Arkansas De-
partment of Environmental Quality to address potential releases of
hazardous waste and to conduct sampling.
Enforcement Action at Site on High-Priority Clean
Up List
In April, we issued an agreed order on consent to the Premcor Refining
Group, Inc., of Port Arthur, Texas, requiring it to develop a sampling and
analysis workplan to monitor, test, and analyze the nature and extent
of the hazards posed by hazardous wastes present at or released to the
environment at its facility. The facility, which has a processing capacity
of about 325,000 barrels of crude oil per day, is on the agency's high-
priority clean up list. Historical releases have included volatile organic
compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds, and there are visible
signs of soil and ground water contamination. This order will fill a critical
information gap regarding the nature and extent of contamination at the
site, which is needed to complete site clean up.
Corrective Action
EPA Steps In after Solvent Company Noncompliant
with State Orders
Page 9 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Water Enforcement
With regard
to surface wa-
ters, we is-
sued over 100
administra-
tive orders
and 19 admin-
istrative pen-
alty order
complaints to
address water
quality prob-
lems caused
by sewage
treatment facilities, animal feeding operations, industrial facili-
ties, inadequate storm water control, and land-based oil and gas
production facilities.
*r- '
Our highest priority is to provide quality drinking water that
meets national health-based standards, working closely with our
state partners and tribal drinking water systems. This year, we is-
sued over 75 drinking water administrative orders, which resulted
in protecting the health of over 37,000 people. The orders issued
required monitoring and reduction or elimination of bacteria, ar-
senic, nitrate, and disinfection by-products (haloacetic acid and
trihalomethanes) from drinking water systems.
The protection of drinking water aquifers remains a high regional
priority. We developed 13 administrative orders to properly con-
trol the disposal of produced and flow back waters from oil and
gas production activities in the region,
Overall, it was another successful year even though our budget for
travel, personnel, and case development continued to be signifi-
cantly reduced. Our effective and collaborative working relation-
ships with our state partners, usage of the Enforcement Targeting
Tool for drinking water systems, and the sustained commitment
of staff and counsel continued to make Region 6 a healthier place
to live.
Agreement Enables New Orleans to More Efficiently
Address Sewer System Work
At the request of
the Sewerage and
Water Board of New
Orleans, EPA negoti-
ated a second modi-
fied consent decree
to extend deadlines
for the completion of work addressing effluent and sanitary sewer over-
flow problems. The schedule, which had been impacted by Hurricane Ka-
trina damage, was modified to facilitate and coordinate the rehabilitation
of the sewer system, stormwater drainage system, drinking water system,
and road rehabilitation to obtain the most efficient use of federal, state
and local funding.
Baton Rouge Consent Decree Modified to Im-
prove Wastewater Plant Operations
A modification to our consent decree with the City of Baton Rouge was
entered at the city's request to extend by three years the deadline to
achieve compliance at the North Wastewater Treatment Plant. The
agreement adds several worthwhile voluntary projects to the existing
plan that can improve operation and maintenance issues and serve to re-
duce sanitary sewer overflows, and only extends the schedules of lower-
priority and non-critical capacity projects. EPA also helped facilitate the
settlement of a Clean Water Act lawsuit filed by the Louisiana Environ-
mental Action Network against the city, in which buyouts of residential
properties close to the treatment plant were essential.
San Antonio Sanitary Sewer Overflow Problems
Addressed in Consent Decree
The San Antonio Water System, which had chronic sanitary sewer
overflows and violated various
terms of its Texas Pollutant Dis-
charge Elimination System permits,
agreed to pay a $2.6 million pen-
alty to settle violations of the
Clean Water Act. The water sys-
tem also agreed to conduct a com-
prehensive assessment of its sewer
collection system regarding condi-
tion and capacity and to implement a program to improve maintenance
of its sewer collection system.
Page 10 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Water Enforcement
Arkansas Companies Settle for Violations of Permit
Limit
Great Lakes Chemical Corp
Great Lakes Chemical Corporation will perform injunctive relief estimated
to cost $510,000 and pay a $300,000 penalty, and Lion Oil Company will
pay a penalty of $504,000, under consent decrees lodged this year. The
two companies are parties to an agreement with Ei Dorado Chemical
Company and the City of El Dorado Water Utility under which a newly-
constructed pipeline will carry effluent from their respective facilities to
the Quachita River.
Livestock Auction in New Mexico Settles for Manure
Discharge
Roswell Livestock Auction
Sales, Inc. agreed to pay a
penalty of $40,000 to set-
tle violations resulting
from improper storage and
management of manure.
For many years, the facility
discharged contaminated
stormwater runoff from a
huge manure stockpile and
from its animal confine-
ment area into the nearby
North Spring River, a tribu-
tary of the Rio Hondo River
that discharges into the Pecos River, a water of the U.S. As part of this
settlement, the facility agreed to remove any stockpiled manure from the
facility, cease the practice of stockpiling manure close to the North Spring
River, and construct a storm water retention structure to minimize any
future discharges of storm water runoff from the animal confinement
area into the North Spring River.
Millions of Gallons of Waste to be Removed from
Arkansas Egg Lagoons
Arkansas Egg, a concentrated animal feeding operation that had dis-
charges from its waste lagoon structures, agreed to pay a $10,000 pen-
alty and address lagoon waste. The penalty was negotiated due to the
company's inability to pay, but the injunctive relief, which will result in
the removal of in that 75,000 tons or lb million gallons of waste from the
lagoons, was very significant.
Drinking Water Initiative in Texas
As a result of noncompliance by numerous public water systems in Texas,
we undertook an enforcement initiative targeting noncompliant systems
and issued over 80 administrative orders in 2013 for violation of MCL
limits and sampling requirements. The orders required the systems to
submit plans specifying preventative measures they will implement to
achieve compliance with MCL limits, along with schedules for imple-
menting the measures. Some orders also required the systems to pro-
vide drinking water to pregnant women and infants. The orders involved
MCL violations for nitrates, arsenic, radionuclides, selenium, flouride,
and disinfection byproducts. Over 200,000 residents will receive safer
drinking as a result.
e-NOI a success for the Outer Continental Shelf
General Permittees
The newly-issued Outer Continental Shelf General Permit included many
innovations for EPA and the permittees, including one of the most signifi-
cant changes, an all-electronic format for applications and data submit-
tals. To make the transition to the electronic notice of intent as smooth
as possible, staff in our office and in Headquarters, along with contract staff,
spent much of the first quarter helping permittees, consultants, and industry
representatives format their information, submit their applications, and get
their subscriber agreements submitted and approved.
Our efforts have been
successful, with many
customers outside EPA
sending thank you let-
ters and emails regard-
ing the customer ser-
vice they received from
our staff.
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- ,;4j «.L
Page 11 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Water Enforcement
Training/Assistance/Outreach Initiatives
Region 6 Assists with Hurricane Sandy Recovery
from EPA, state agencies, and technical service providers attended
the workshop. An additional 32 participants joined the workshop via a
live webcast, saving nearly 10 tons of carbon dioxide and over $20,000
in travel costs.
Following the
landfall of Hurri-
cane Sandy off
the coast of New
Jersey and New
York, EPA's New
York office re-
quested our as-
sistance in the
recovery of two
wastewater
treatment
plants that suf-
fered severe
flood damage due to the storm surge. Due to their previous experi-
ence with New Orleans recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina in
2005, two of our staff were able to assist two plants with their recovery,
including the fifth largest plant in the U.S.
" * ' ~Y ¦ ' tm
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation Enforcement
Workshop
In April, we held our biennial Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
Enforcement Workshop in Addison, Texas. This year, the workshop fo-
cused on issues related to poultry production. A total of 70 participants
Other Region 6
Pesticides Enforcement FY 2013 was also critical for implementing an electronic system to report
pesticide production. We processed 1,065 reports for pesticide produc-
tion and found eight to be delinquent, and they will either be inactivated
or receive an enforcement response for late reporting. To date, 107 es-
tablishments have been inactivated. These establishments were either
already out of business or in the process of being sold to other compa-
nies.
Wetlands Enforcement
In 2013, the wetlands enforcement program issued a total of 21 formal
actions and resolved 14 new or on-going cases. In addition, 46 site
inspections were conducted. These efforts led to the direct protection
of 77.7 acres of wetlands and 3,450 linear feet of streams. We collected
$120,400 in penalties and required the expenditure of approximately
$254,000 to return destroyed or damaged aquatic habitats back to
compliance with the Clean Water Act. In partnership with the eight U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers districts within the region, we took enforcement
actions in all five of our states. As always, the Corps reports to us that
the deterrence effect of our enforcement partnership with them protects
many times more than the actual acreage amount involved in the cases
we pursue.
In FY 2013, the Pesticides Enforcement Team conducted 11 inspections
and filed 11 enforcement actions that resulted in $ $24,750 in penalties.
Imports continued to be
a national focus area. U.S.
Customs and Border Pro-
tection regulations pro-
hibit the importation of
pesticides without a
completed notice of ar-
rival, so we worked
closely with CBP to re-
view 9,458 NOAs and
identify potentially illegal
pesticides entering the
U.S. Our enforcement
actions filed this year re-
sulted from the process-
ing of 76 incidents—tips
and complaints received
from other entities.
These actions also en-
sured that 410,683
pounds of pesticides ei-
ther entered U.S. com-
merce legally or were
prevented from entering
the U.S. from foreign
shipment of misbranded pesticides countries.
Page 12 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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National Environmental
NEPA requires federal agencies to consider the potential environmen-
tal consequences of their proposed action, and any reasonable alter-
natives before deciding whether and in what form to take the action.
NEPA compliance may take three forms: a Categorical Exclusion, an
Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact, or an En-
vironmental Impact Statement. The EIS requires the most intensive
level of analysis and is appropriate for actions that are expected to
result in significant environmental impacts.
ENERGY
Sun Zia Transmission Line Project
The Bureau of Land Man-
agement developed an Envi-
ronmental Impact State-
ment for the proposed Sun
Zia Southwest Transmission
Project. EPA Regions 6 and 9
responded to BLM on the
Draft and Final EIS and Re-
source Management Plan
Amendments. BLM is pre-
paring a Record of Decision
document to complete the NEPA review process and allowing project
construction to begin.
South Texas Units 1 and 2 Nuclear Reactor Re-Licensing
The South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company submitted a license
application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure nuclear
power generation capability beyond the current lease expiration date in
2028. Units 1 and 2 are located in Matagorda County, Texas. EPA partici-
pated in national conference calls with the NRC and the Office of Federal
Activities regarding the NRC's strategy for addressing radioactive waste
storage in upcoming EIS's. EPA reviewed and responded to the NRC draft
General EIS in February 2013 and rated it Environmental Concerns-2. EPA
has concerns about impacts to groundwater and off-site impacts of the
uranium fuel cycle.
Baryonyx Wind Farm
We became a Cooperating Agency on the proposed wind farm this year,
which enables us to participate in planning and discussions of environ-
mental issues early in the development process. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers received a permit application for a Department of the Army
permit from Baryonyx Corporation, Inc., to construct and operate ap-
proximately 300 wind turbines in an offshore wind farm near South Padre
Island, Texas. The Corps will prepare an Environmental ImpactStatement,
and we will meet with them to monitor the progress of the project.
We reviewed the
U.S. Forest Ser-
vice's Draft EIS for
the mine permit
application from
Roca Honda Re-
sources to devel-
op and conduct
underground ura-
nium mining op-
erations in the Ci-
bola National
Forest, and we rated it Environmental Objections-Inadequate. The proj-
ect is within the Grants Mineral Belt, a region with many tribal communi-
ties that has legacy issues related to past uranium mining and milling.
There are potentially significant adverse impacts to groundwater quanti-
ty and quality from the proposed mine. The Draft EIS is inadequate be-
cause it does not provide detailed information on how the USFS will pro-
vide the financial assurance needed to implement post-closure
obligations. There is also concern about the impact of the mine on trib-
al cultural resources and environmental justice communities.
Liquifided Natural Gas Projects
Due to the increased world demand for LNG, on-shore and offshore ter-
minals are being proposed and developed. In Region 6, there are cur-
rently 12 existing and proposed LNG import and/or export facilities along
the Texas and Louisiana coasts under U.S. Coast Guard or Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission jurisdiction. Draft and Final EIS's are required to
document the potential impacts of these facilities on the environment.
We are actively engaged in the environmental review process through
cooperating agency agreements that enable us to participate early in the
developmental process.
NET Mexico Pipe-
line Project
We provided comments and
agreed to be a Cooperating
Agency to assist the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commis-
sion in the NEPA review
process for the NET Mexico
project, which will be an im-
portant source of natural gas to meet Mexico's growing demand. The gas
will be produced from the Eagle Ford Shale formation in Texas, and NET
Mexico proposes to construct a new border crossing at the international
boundary in Starr County, Texas. The project would consist of approxi-
mately 1,400 feet of 48-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline, directionally
drilled underneath the Rio Grande. FERC intends to prepare an Environ-
mental Assessment.
NEPA Coordination/Reviews
41
Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements
9
EPA Special Appropriation Environmental Assessments/Findings
of No Significant Impact or Categorical Exclusion for drinking
water and wastewater projects
1
EPA/US Mexico Border EA/FNSI for Drinking or Wastewater
projects
20
Environmental Assessments Review from Other Agencies
16
Scoping and Information Requests
8
Cooperating and Participating Agency Agreements
299
Project Notifications
Roca Honda Uranium Mine
Page 13 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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National Environmental
TRANSPORTATION
Harbor Bridge Replacement
EPA, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Texas Department of
Transportation are evaluating the impacts of replacing the Harbor Bridge
in Corpus Christi. The bridge replacement and related roadway improve-
ment will address structural deficiencies and improve safety, connectivity,
and level of service in the area. In FY 2013, we participated in oversight
and planning meetings and began reviewing and providing comments on
the Preliminary Draft EIS. The project recently gained momentum when
TxDOT secured funding for the project. The Draft EIS should be complet-
ed in early 2014.
Texas and Oklahoma Rail Evaluations
EPA was invited by the Federal Railroad Commission, along with the Texas
Department of Transportation and the Oklahoma Department of Trans-
portation, to be involved in the early planning phases of the projects. A
Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study was initiated to study the poten-
tial for new and/or improved high-speed intercity passenger rail service
along an 850-mile corridor extending from Oklahoma City to the south
Texas cities of Laredo and Brownsville. A Tulsa-Oklahoma City Passenger
Rail Plan was initiated to evaluate passenger rail alternatives for the 106-
mile corridor between the two cities. EPA is monitoring the progress of
both projects.
GULF OF MEXICO
Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico Project
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to construct the Morganza
to the Gulf hurricane and storm damage risk reduction system to prevent
future disasters in southern Louisiana. We reviewed and responded to
the Draft and Final Revised Programmatic EIS's. Our concerns relate to
potential significant adverse impacts to environmental justice and tribal
communities, coastal wetlands, navigation, and fisheries. In addition, the
DRPEIS did not contain sufficient information to fully assess direct, indi-
rect, and cumulative impacts. The Corps addressed EPAs concerns, but
the project still has the potential to cause profound long-term impacts to
wetlands, water quality, fisheries, and navigation.
South Padre Island Second Access
A second bridge to South Padre Island is being planned to improve safety,
increase mobility, increase economic development, and provide efficient
hurricane evacuation. The project is in an environmentally-sensitive area,
which includes endangered species and their habitat, wetlands, mud-
flats, and sea grasses. We have reviewed and responded to the Draft EIS
that was rated as Environmental Objections-2 due to significant impacts
to the natural environment. The project team has performed multiple
evaluations, and in the near future, will hold individual meetings with
each commenting agency to discuss alternatives and criteria.
Spacex Texas Launch Site
We reviewed and commented
on the Federal Aviation Admin-
istration's Office of Commercial
Space Transportation SpaceX
Draft EIS, which evaluates po-
tential environmental impacts
resulting from the FAA/AST
proposal to issue launch licens-
es and/or experimental per-
mits allowing Space Explora-
tion Technologies Corporation
(SpaceX) to launch the Falcon 9
and Falcon Heavy orbital verti-
cal launch vehicles and a vari-
ety of reusable suborbital
launch vehicles from a launch
site on privately-owned prop-
erty in Cameron County, Texas.
As proposed, we believe, the
proposed action could have significant adverse impacts on special aquat-
ic sites of national importance. Our comments strongly recommend the
dispute resolution process be completed prior to filing and releasing the
Final EIS for agency and public review. Any mitigation should be made
part of the Record of Decision document. Other impacts of concern in-
clude alternative analysis, air quality, vegetation, wildlife, environmental
justice, tribal coordination, secondary and indirect impacts, and com-
pensatory mitigation.
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
EPA Special Appropriations For Drinking and
Wastewater Projects
In FY 2013, NEPA assessments were conducted on nine projects that will
directly benefit 2,647,400 local residents. The projects, which received
$4,563,016 in federal funds, involve construction or rehabilitation/reno-
vation in four of the five Region 6 states: the City of Baton Rouge (waste-
water) and the City of Golden Meadow (drinking water) in Louisiana;
Bernalillo County (wastewater), the City of Espanola (drinking water and
wastewater), and the City of Las Cruces (drinking water) in New Mexico;
the Cherokee Nation (wastewater) in Oklahoma; and the City of Lorena
(wastewater), the City of Lubbock (wastewater), and the Richmond-
Rosenberg Local Government Corporation (drinking water) in Texas.
BECC Wastewater Improvements for Carmargo,
Mexico
EPA is preparing an environmental assessment to support the Comision
de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado of Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, plan
to rehabilitate existing wastewater infrastructure for the City of Camargo
and construct a new wastewater collection system for neighboring co-
lonias that lack adequate treatment facilities. The Border Environment
Cooperation Commission project would utilize $887,794 in EPA funds
and $814,046 local funds to treat approximately 1.17 million gallons of
wastewater a day. This project is being constructed because the exist-
ing wastewater treatment system for Camargo is inadequate and has the
potential to contaminate local aquifers and surface water.
Page 14 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
mm
camargo
r-*, e: si r
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The Year Ahead
Air Enforcement
In FY 2014, we will continue to focus on noncompliance that is impacting
communities and nonattainment areas, and we will increase our efforts
to improve the efficiency of our processes, working toward our primary
goal of returning facilities to compliance and securing emission reduc-
tions quickly.
We are moving forward in our plans to expand the use of our administra-
tive authorities. Historically, we have relied heavily on the judicial pro-
cess to secure compliance and injunctive relief for air enforcement, but
this process often involves multiple years of negotiation prior to settle-
ment. As we increase our use of administrative authorities, we will still
refer cases to the Department of Justice with complex, multi-year injunc-
tive relief schedules and multi-million dollar penalties.
While we will continue to support the national enforcement initiatives
relating to New Source Review, we will begin decrease the number of
new investigations and focus our efforts on resolving those cases already
referred to the Department of Justice.
With respect to air toxics, we will continue to focus on leak detection and
repair, benzene, excess emissions, and industrial flares in nonattainment
areas and environmental justice communities. Our goal is to increase flar-
ing investigatory activities given the significant potential for emissions
reductions and the corresponding impact on communities.
As oil and gas exploration continues in the Barnett, Fayetteville and Eagle
Ford shale areas, we will continue our efforts to ensure that these extrac-
tion activities are in compliance with air regulations. We will utilize in-
novative technology and real-time enforcement to evaluate and address
noncompliance in a timely manner.
Addressing accidental releases from industrial facilities will be an ex-
panded area of focus for FY 2014. We made great strides in FY 2013 in
developing an investigatory and settlement approach utilizing the gener-
al duty clause, with the goal of investigating and expeditiously addressing
these releases within 60 days. We believe this effort is already sending a
strong message to industry and nearby communities that EPA takes these
releases seriously.
We will also increase our risk management plan investigations and en-
forcement at high-risk facilities. We have the largest number of high-risk
facilities nationally, and ensuring that these facilities are in compliance
with their plan is a significant concern to communities at the fence-line.
Additionally, we are increasing our communication with fence-line com-
munities, with the goal of encouraging community-focused projects as
part of our settlements.
Hazardous Waste Enforcement
In the year ahead, we will focus our compliance inspections and enforce-
ment on those sectors or facilities that have been operating under the
radar and that we suspect should be regulated because of significant po-
tential for environmental harm. We see our role emerging in two areas-
prioritizing our efforts to produce more significant impacts in our core
RCRA program, and moving from reacting to problems to acting to pre-
vent problems. We have developed a targeting plan to conduct inspec-
tions in FY 2014 that will result in the greatest environmental impact.
Our Corrective Action program will use enforcement authorities to ad-
vance site clean up at high-priority facilities and stabilize sites posing sub-
stantial endangerment to human health or the environment.
Water Enforcement
The protection of drinking water again will continue to be our highest
priority in FY 2014. We will continue to work with our state partners to
ensure that all public water supply systems provide drinking water consis-
tent with national drinking water standards and the implementing rules.
It is anticipated that the water enforcement program may need to issue
over 50 administrative actions during FY 2014 to protect drinking water.
Addressing sanitary sewer overflow discharges to surface waters also
continues to be a priority. We will focus our efforts on resolving exist-
ing judicial cases and dedicate resources to evaluating previously unad-
dressed systems with average flows greater than 10 million gallons per
day. With the support of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance and the Department of Justice, we will evaluate or resolve
problems with three to four large municipal sanitary sewage collection
systems this fiscal year.
The water quality problems posed by concentrated animal feeding op-
erations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and east Texas will remain the focus of
regional inspection and enforcement activities. We will continue to
work with Arkansas and Louisiana to develop effective mechanisms for
identifying and addressing water quality problems caused by CAFOs, and
citizen complaints are also expected to result in identification of water
quality problems that will need to be addressed. We also expect to carry
out several outreach efforts with producer groups, over 20 inspections,
and issue eight to 10 enforcement actions this fiscal year.
Page 15 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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The Year Ahead
We will continue to place emphasis upon inspection and enforcement
of National Pollutant Discharges Elimination System permits in New
Mexico to protect stream quality from excessive sewage or industrial
discharges. Underground injection of oil and gas production wastes
will be monitored and enforced to ensure underground sources of
drinking water on tribal lands are adequately protected. Drinking wa-
ter systems in Louisiana will also be protected from ground water rule
violations. Unauthorized discharges of produced water or flow back
water from oil and gas production activities will be investigated and
enforced to the extent that resources allow. All of these non-delegat-
ed functions will require over 200 inspections and are estimated to
result in 40 or more enforcement actions.
Finally, addressing municipal, industrial, or construction-related storm
water problems will remain a priority, when water quality problems
develop or need to be prevented.
NEPA
In FY 14, we will continue to oversee the regional NEPA program by
preparing documents, reviewing preliminary analysis, and providing
comments on major federal actions. We have cooperating agency
agreements with many federal agencies, including the Federal High-
way Administration, Bureau of Land Management, Department of
Energy, and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, for numerous projects
that allow us early participation in the planning and development of
NEPA-related documents. We will continue to coordinate with these
agencies and others this fiscal year.
U.S. EPA, Region 6 Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division
John Blevins, Director
Steve Gilrein, Deputy Director
Air, Toxics and Inspection Coordination Branch
Steve Thompson, Associate Director
Vacant, Chief, Air Enforcment Section
Vacant, Chief, Toxics Enforcement Section
Samuel Tates, Chief, Surveillance Section
Richard Gigger, Team Leader
Hazardous Waste Enforcement Branch
Mark Potts, Associate Director
Sunita Singhvi, Chief, Multimedia Enforcement Section
Guy Tidmore, Chief, Compliance Enforcement Section
Troy Stuckey, Chief, Corrective Action and Compliance Inspection Section
Water Enforcement Branch
Jerry Saunders, Associate Director
Paulette Johnsey, Chief, NPDES Compliance Section
Willie Lane, Chief, Water Resources Section
Carol Peters-Wagnon, Chief, NPDES Industrial and Municipal Section
Office of Strategic Planning and Analyses
Debra A. Griffin, Associate Director
Rhonda Smith, Chief, Planning and Coordination Section
Page 16 CAED 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6
Compliance Assurance and Enforcement Division
1445 Ross Avenue (6EN)
Dallas, Texas 75202-2733
epa.gov/region6/6en/index.html
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