Compliance and Stewardship

Hazardous waste storage facility. Photo: Jim Grove.

Compliance information about facilities regulated by federal clean air, clean water, and hazardous waste laws nationwide is now available online at www.epa.gov/echo. For summaries of enforcement cases in the Pacific Southwest Region, go to www.epa.gov/region09/enforcement.

Combining Voluntary Stewardship and Compliance Assistance with a Strong Enforcement Program

EPA and its state and tribal partners are committed to strong environmental enforcement because it is central to protecting public health and the environment, achieving credible deterrence to noncompliance, and guaranteeing a level economic playing field. Compliance assistance is an important complement to EPA's enforcement efforts, particularly to small businesses, as it helps owners and operators understand how to comply with often-complex environmental law. EPA also employs voluntary approaches to encourage innovations that can lead industries and agencies to go beyond basic compliance.

These voluntary approaches include EPA partnerships with regulated industries; grants that support research and demonstration projects, such as the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program; working with a host of federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to reduce the environmental impact of their own operations; and working to resolve compliance issues wherever possible in ways that benefit the environment and local communities.

Enforcement Highlights
In Fiscal Year 2002, EPA’s Pacific Southwest regional office took 276 civil enforcement actions, including administrative orders, penalty actions, field citations and official requests to the Department of Justice to file lawsuits. These actions achieved significant reductions in pollution, underwritten by more than $1 billion in commitments to cleanups and plant improvements. For example, Clean Air Act cases in the region are expected to reduce, eliminate, or control over 1.1 million pounds of air pollutants, while Clean Water Act cases showed reductions of more than 2 million pounds of water pollutants. Some of these cases required parties to undertake “Supplemental Environmental Projects,” worth a total of $1.4 million, that benefitted communities through pollution prevention and reduction, and better emergency response capabilities. Regional enforcement actions also garnered more than $6.9 million in penalties. Where appropriate, EPA investigations led to referrals to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecutions. (Highlights of EPA's enforcement accomplishments in protecting air, water and land in the Pacific Southwest Region also can be found in preceding chapters.)

Industry/Agency Stewardship in Agriculture

As a result of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, California farmers have reduced their use of neurotoxic pesticides, which are so potent they can cause sickness and death in field workers.

As a result of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act, California farmers have reduced their use of neurotoxic pesticides. Larger version

Over 50% of the nation’s fruits and vegetables are produced in California, with additional crops coming from Arizona and (in the case of pineapples) Hawaii. California also leads the nation in dairy production. But agriculture is not just an important sector of the Pacific Southwest Region’s economy, it’s also the region’s largest category of land use, aside from rangeland and forests. Farmers are the owners and caretakers of vast tracts of the region’s land.

EPA works with farmers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state and local government agencies, and state universities to help farms and livestock feedlots comply with federal clean water and pesticide laws, and to encourage sustainable farming methods that promote healthy ecosystems, healthy workers, and a safe food supply. In 2002, EPA managers and staff met with state officials and agriculture industry representatives from all four states and several tribes of the Pacific Southwest Region to discuss priorities on pollution prevention and pest management. EPA also participated in Pest Management Strategic Plan meetings with USDA and commodity producers.

Other notable efforts included:

EPA grants, in partnership with the University of California, funded Biologically Integrated Farming Systems demonstration projects – such as the 33 California prune growers who eliminated their use of the pesticide diazinon, which is toxic to people as well as aquatic life. Other projects included 11 dairies that used manure as forage fertilizer, 10 (out of 12) walnut growers who eliminated organophosphate pesticides during the trees’ dormant season and reduced nitrogen fertilizer use by 53%, and 38 vineyards that cut their use of the herbicide simazine by 65%.
EPA named Hawaii’s Pineapple Growers Association one of 18 nationwide “Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program Champions” of 2002. The member companies, Dole Food Hawaii, Del Monte Fresh Produce, and Maui Pineapple Company reduced their pesticide/herbicide use through techniques such as:
- a combination of fallow periods and limited nematicide applications, to control nematodes;
- using granular ant bait to control ants, which reduces total insecticide use;
- growing pineapple plants on raised beds, thereby reducing incidence of root rot;
- using plastic mulch, covering 75 percent of the planted area, which helps reduce herbicide use.

An orchard near Brentwood, Contra Costa County, Calif. Photo: Christy Shake.

National CAFOs Rule
EPA Administrator Christie Whitman and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced a final rule in December 2002 that will require large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs – for example, dairies with over 700 cows; there are about 1,600 CAFOs in the Pacific Southwest) to obtain permits to ensure they protect America’s waters from manure. The rule will control discharges from these feeding operations, preventing billions of pounds of pollutants from entering America’s waters. Dairy cows, and their manure, have increased by 44% in California alone since 1988, which has increased the importance of proper manure management. EPA has funded an environmental stewardship program that includes training and certification for dairy operators through the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program, a broad partnership including industry, the University of California and other organizations (www.cdqa.org/es). Information on efforts in Arizona is available online , and for all of the Pacific Southwest Region.

Manure-to-Energy
In Riverside County, which has too much cow manure to safely apply to local cropland, the Inland Empire Utility Agency, in partnership with the Milk Producers Council, Synagro Technologies, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the California Energy Commission, built California’s first regional anaerobic digester to turn cow manure into energy. The manure generates methane gas to power a regional water desalting facility that cleans up the salts and nitrates that originally seeped into the groundwater basin from cow manure. The project will ultimately produce over 1 megawatt of clean, renewable energy.

Pesticides Web Sites; Toxic Compost
EPA’s Pesticides Web site, www.epa.gov/pesticides, has a new, user-friendly design. Another source for technical information is www.pesticideinfo.org . This site, developed by the Pesticide Action Network North America and several (California) state and federal agencies, sponsors the largest and most comprehensive database on pesticide regulation, registration, and toxicity – and even pesticides compatible with organic production.

EPA also worked with state agencies and composters to respond to concerns about clopyralid, a herbicide used on turf. Clopyralid persists over time, so compost from grass clippings may be toxic to plants. EPA worked with Dow Chemical to withdraw its registration for some clopyralid uses on turf.

Preventing Pollution

Toxics Release Inventory Shows Pollution Declining
The Toxics Release Inventory, a product of the 1986 Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), has proven to be one of the most effective non-regulatory approaches to prevent pollution. Under the law, facilities that process or release toxic substances into the environment must annually report their inventory of each of several hundred specific chemicals, and how much of each has been recycled or released into the environment. This has created an incentive to reduce toxic releases, since public disclosure of toxic releases generates public pressure to reduce them. How, or whether, the facility reduces its toxic releases is entirely up to its management.

Among the toxic chemicals recently listed are metals such as arsenic and mercury. Since the first TRI reports from the mining industry revealed that Nevada gold mines were releasing over 13,000 pounds per year of mercury in the air, EPA’s Dave Jones (see EPA People, p. 35) has been working with the mines and the state Division of Environmental Protection to voluntarily reduce these emissions. The four largest mines all installed new air pollution control devices or made process changes to reduce mercury air emissions in 2002. While the data quantifying these reductions is not due until later in 2003, preliminary information from the mines indicates that these actions will reduce mercury air emissions by more than 50%.

Through annual public disclosure of toxics releases by industrial facilities, EPA's Toxic Release Inventory has led to major reductions in toxic releases in the Pacific Southwest.

Through annual public disclosure of toxic releases by industrial facilities, EPA's Toxics Release Inventory has led to major reductions in toxic releases in the Pacific Southwest. Larger version

Voluntary Pollution Prevention Initiatives
EPA’s voluntary pollution prevention programs have achieved impressive results through grants, technical assistance, and recognition of superior environmental performance in both the private and public sectors. Some examples:

The National Environmental Performance Track program, EPA’s premier recognition program promoting pollution prevention, superior performance and sustained environmental compliance, continued to grow in 2002. In the Pacific Southwest, EPA accepted three new facilities into Performance Track: Ricoh Electronics facilities in Tustin and Santa Ana, Calif., and Rohm and Haas’ La Mirada, Calif., facility. For the first time, members who joined the Performance Track program in 2000 reported progress toward their three-year pollution prevention commitments. In one year, these 28 facilities reduced their energy use by 15,982 million BTU, used 66,722,418 fewer gallons of water and reduced their hazardous waste disposal by 20.6 tons.
EPA conducted Environmental Management Systems reviews at 15 federal government facilities in the Pacific Southwest, resulting in 190 EPA recommendations on how the facilities could reduce pollution and mimize waste. The facilities carried out 77% of the recommendations, many involving changes to standard operating procedures. One success story: At the NASA-Ames Research Facility near San Jose, Calif., groundskeepers reduced use of herbicides and chemical fertilizers from 4,000 to just 50 gallons per year, and have set aside 81 acres for burrowing owl habitat.
Because of its limited land area, Hawaii faces unique waste management and land use concerns. EPA has worked with federal and state facilities to promote the purchase of recycled products such as recycled paper, and carpet made from soda bottles. In 2001 EPA issued a report summarizing green purchasing progress at Department of Defense installations in Hawaii and recognizing the achievements of Hickam Air Force Base. Under a $25,000 EPA grant, the state developed a Hawaii Recycled Products Guide and held an environmental purchasing conference attended by 200 government and commercial procurement officials.
As a result of the EPA Pacific Southwest Region's Hospital Partnership, each of six San Francisco Bay Area hospitals removed and recycled between eight and 15 kilograms of highly toxic mercury. One hospital switched to a microfiber mopping system that resulted in a 95% reduction in water and chemical use. For more on EPA's Hospitals for a Healthy Environment program in the Pacific Southwest, go to www.epa.gov/region09/features/hospital.
In 2002, EPA’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office in San Francisco recycled a record 285 tons of office paper and five tons of used carpet for a total recycling rate of 56.5%. This is up from 182.81 tons recycled in 2001. The recycling effort generated $5,300 for Child Care Center low-income tuition assistance scholarships and to expand the regional office’s waste prevention and recycling programs. The regional office also began using 100% post-consumer recycled paper that is process chlorine-free.

EPA’s Solid Waste Program

EPA’s Solid Waste Program also issues grants to promote recycling. Some results from 2002:

An EPA grant to Santa Barbara’s Community Environmental Council developed a model construction and demolition debris reduction ordinance that has been successfully used in many San Francisco Bay Area jurisdictions. The project also produced three construction debris case studies that achieved 83% - 95% job site waste diversion, recycled 466 tons of waste, and saved $5,532 in disposal costs.
An EPA grant to the City of Tucson piloted a 90-gallon blue barrel commercial recycling project with 180 small businesses to divert approximately 250 tons of materials per year. The program is being expanded to all 3,200 small businesses citywide to recycle approximately 5,000 tons of waste per year.
An EPA contract with Building Green, Inc., supported sustainable building practices by verifying and identifying EPA recycled content building materials (such as insulation made from newspaper and playground surfaces made from recycled tires) that must be used on federally funded construction projects. Product environmental information and local availability are included in the GreenSpec Product Directory and database.
An EPA contract with the Tellus Institute funded a report on using a new contracting technique, Resource Management, to cost-effectively increase recycling rates in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nev., which has one of the nation’s lowest recycling rates. The report found that recycling in Clark County could be tripled to 35%, raising recycling revenues and saving over $11 million.

Working with State and Tribal Regulatory Partners

Federal environmental laws are enforced not only by EPA, but by state and tribal agencies as well, once a state or tribal environmental agency shows it has the capacity to do the job. EPA then authorizes the agency to carry out the specific law, and provides annual grants for the added expense to state governments. Most states in the Pacific Southwest have already been authorized to enforce the major federal environmental laws. The most recent example was Arizona’s authorization to write permits and enforce pollutant discharge limits under the federal Clean Water Act.

Arizona Gains Water Enforcement Powers
With EPA’s approval in December 2002, Arizona became the 45th State with federal Clean Water Act regulatory authority. To reach this milestone, EPA approved Arizona’s application to administer and enforce the pollutant discharge permits program, under the federal Clean Water Act. The approval gives the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) the authority to regulate facilities and municipalities that discharge pollutants into Arizona waterways. Prior to the shift, EPA issued permits to all such facilities. This approval puts the program in the hands of those most familiar with local environmental issues and the needs of Arizona residents. EPA is confident that the state will do a great job administering the program and will continue to protect Arizona’s precious water resources.

ADEQ will continue to work closely with EPA to ensure that the Clean Water Act requirements are met. EPA will review draft permits prepared by the state, oversee program requirements and performance, review proposed changes to state laws and rules related to the program, as well as review compliance actions.

Arizona Cities Win EPA National Wastewater Pretreatment Award
The cities of Glendale, Mesa, Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe won first place for municipalities, recognizing their partnership in treating industrial wastewater. Such “pretreatment” – removal of toxics from industrial wastewater before it reaches publicly-owned sewage treatment facilities – is essential, since toxics can kill the bacteria that break down the sewage.

Working with Tribes

Law enforcement cases on tribal lands in 2002 resulted in major environmental cleanups and more than $500,000 worth of environmental improvement projects, while penalties totaled over $800,000. Among them:

EPA fined the city of Phoenix $198,532 for hazardous waste and water pollution violations at the Verde (drinking water) Treatment Plant, on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and on the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. The city will also spend $401,468 to buy emergency response vehicles for each tribe.
In Tuba City, Ariz., leaking underground fuel storage tanks threatened the
drinking water for many Hopi and Navajo communities. EPA ordered gas station operators to take action to protect tribal groundwater supplies. By September 2002, work was well underway to remove 13,000 gallons of gasoline from soil and groundwater.

EPA People - Dave Jones

Waste Management Division Associate Director Dave Jones. Photo: Sally Seymour.

David B. (“Dave”) Jones’ EPA colleagues have called him creative, energetic, innovative, and inspiring. His career at EPA’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office, which began in 1973, has spanned six presidencies. During the last 30 years, Jones has contributed to the success of EPA’s water, waste and Superfund toxic cleanup programs, and even spent time organizing computer management.

In 1973 Jones started in EPA’s Enforcement Division writing wastewater discharge permits. A creative thinker, he pioneered many innovations in the permit process. As a manager in the Water Division from 1976-1987, he oversaw various functions, from wastewater treatment plant construction grants to safe drinking water programs.

In 1987 Jones was chosen to lead a task force to determine how to organize regional computer and information systems, and he became the Region’s first Information Resource Management Branch Chief in 1988. Through his insight and energy, the Regional Office made its first leap into the desktop computer age.

For six years, from 1989 to 1995, Jones used his talents to solve problems at some of the most complex and difficult Superfund toxic cleanup sites. He and his staff were responsible for hazardous waste cleanup activities at over 60 Superfund sites, including Stringfellow, San Gabriel, and Mccoll in Southern California, and the Iron Mountain Mine near Redding, Calif.

From 1996 to 2000, Jones was responsible for leading a national EPA effort to work with the computer and electronics industry to develop cleaner, cheaper, and smarter approaches to manufacturing and waste management. During this time he also took the lead in developing a mining strategy for the Pacific Southwest Region, to address contamination from abandoned and active mines, with a focus on mercury contamination from abandoned gold mines in California and mercury air emissions from active gold mines in Nevada.

Recently, Jones became an Associate Director of the Waste Management Division, where he shares his talents and creativity working with EPA staff on pollution prevention, solid waste recycling, industrial partnerships, and internal planning.

Dave Jones’ many years of public service and dedication to EPA have meant a cleaner environment for everyone in the Pacific Southwest Region. For more information on EPA’s pollution prevention and solid waste programs, contact Dave Jones (jones.davidb@epa.gov) or at (415) 972-3388

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