U.S. EPA and the many state EPA’s have adopted environmental audit policies or laws to encourage companies to review and disclose instances of non-compliance. (See prior post- Why Businesses Should Consider an Environmental Audit?)
Last week, I participated in a webinar discussing environmental audits. It was a good panel discussion which explored many
An environmental audit is a self-evaluation of current compliance with applicable environmental regulations. The audit is typically performed by an outside environmental consultant. However, more sophisticated businesses can utilize advanced electronic compliance tools or their own EHS personnel.
An audit can be wide in scope (i.e. compliance with all applicable regulations) or it can review
The Ohio EPA enforcement process can appear to be a mystery, especially to companies that find themselves the subject of an EPA visit for the first time. This post provides a general overview of the Ohio EPA civil enforcement process.
Step 1: The Inspection
The enforcement process starts with the inspection. The inspections can be announced
An EPA inspector shows up at your facility unannounced and requests access to inspect your facility. Do you have to let them in? If you deny access, how likely is it that EPA will quickly gain access? What is the downside of making EPA go through the step of legally gaining access by obtaining a
So you have decided to retain an environmental consultant to assist with sampling, cleanup or compliance assistance. Many times businesses have the tendency to review the terms of the proposal itself without paying much attention to the "standard terms & conditions" that are often attached to the proposal. These standard terms & condition make up
On March 20, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the much anticipated decision in Sackett v. EPA. The Court rejected U.S. EPA’s claims that its administrative enforcement orders were not subject to pre-enforcement review. The Court’s decision provides a new tool to challenge EPA administrative compliance orders.
Synopsis of the Case
The Clean Water
U.S. EPA’s Environmental Audit Policy encourages companies to self-evaluate their compliance with environmental requirements and disclose any violations to EPA. As an incentive to disclose violations to EPA, the Audit Policy provides up to 100% forgiveness of gravity-based civil penalties if certain conditions are met.
U.S. EPA’s audit policy contains nine (9) conditions that must
There are a myriad of federal statutes that require your company to report a spill to any of the following:
Failure to report a spill can lead to an enforcement action as well as civil penalties. Also, failure to
I have been on all sides of the fence relative to environmental enforcement actions. I have represented the State, managed Ohio EPA enforcement program and now I represent companies who find themselves the subject of enforcement. These experiences have given me valuable insight into what things to do and not to do when dealing with compliance oversight.
When speaking
I was interviewed for a good story appearing in Law360 (subscription or free trial required) about environmental insurance coverage for businesses. The emphasis of the story were recent lawsuits where businesses were denied coverage under for environmental claims even though the companies thought they had purchased coverage. As reported in the story: