Environmental Newsflash, Issue 15

For a printable version, please click here.

On Thursday, August 7, 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced a pilot project that allows regulated facilities nationwide to use the agency's website to self-disclose environmental violations pursuant to the agency's long-standing audit policy. With the exception of Region 6, the pilot program currently only covers violations of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. In Region 6, facilities will be able to self-disclose violations of all environmental laws on EPA's website. Based on the results of the pilot program, EPA will consider expanding full eDisclosure to other states. EPA states that submitting audit policy disclosures electronically makes self-reporting violations easier, speeds EPA processing times and reduces transaction costs by ensuring that such disclosures contain complete information. One caveat is that a business confidentiality claim may not be asserted with respect to any information submitted through eDisclosure. For more information, please click here.

For more information, please contact:
James Derouin: 602.257.5237, jderouin@steptoe.com
Fred Bellamy: 602.257.5204, fbellamy@steptoe.com
David Nelson: 602.257.5246, dnelson@steptoe.com
Mark Freeze: 602.257.5215, mfreeze@steptoe.com