On Wed, April 14, 2010 TCWN released a report on TDEC’s enforcement program in the Division of Water Pollution Control.  We made the following findings:

In 2008, 204 sites across the state had enforcement actions.  Of those sites 2% were on farmland, but not for farming activities, 2% were against mining and 73% were against developers.

The average fine that was required to be paid was $2,000 or less. The average total assessed fine was between $2,000 - $5,000 (the amount is bartered down in settlement negotiations).

The majority of enforcement actions (65%) were Expedited Enforcement Actions which are for small permit violations, like not having your pollution prevention plan on site, not water quality violations and the fines can be reduced by half if there is no appeal.

To read more, click here.

On this blog we’ve talked about the rumors of greater enforcement actions (see October 15 and August 5 posts). Now the Obama Administration has put their money where there mouth is and followed up.

What does this mean for Tennesseans? Well, we’re not being left out.  EPA issued a demand letter to the Knoxville Utility Board for illicit discharges (illegal dumping) of sewage from 2005-2008.  These dates are for the years immediately following our lawsuit.

Then yesterday we found out about an enforcement action EPA took against a developer for guess what?  Stormwater runoff to the tune of $350,000!  That is freakin’ huge!

Finally, we’re getting some relief!

The U.S. EPA is putting out a call for people to help them with their enforcement program.  They’ve got a cool new tool out to help you look at water quality in relation to other states.

The meeting to discuss what you think EPA should be doing on enforcement will take place on Thursday, August 13, 2009, from 1:00 - 3:00 pm EST at EPA Headquarters, 1201 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington DC, EPA East Building, Room 1153. A conference line will be available for those who cannot attend in person. The call-in number will be 866-212-0875, access code 764075#. Please contact Chad Carbone at 202-564-2523 with any questions. Also, please contact Chad Carbone to indicate if you will be participating via conference call, or in-person. (If you plan to attend in-person, we need your name two days in advance to get you thru building security.)

This is YOUR  chance to weigh in on what you think the feds need to do to protect clean water. We’ll be on the call too and report back to you on this blog.  We’ll do a play-by-play on our twitter account. To follow us on Twitter click here.

RvH

This memo from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson give us some reason to hope!

First that want to be more transparent. Second, they want to raise the bar for enforcement performance. And third, they want to provide information that is easy to read and understand by the public.

Fans, I have died and gone to heaven!  Wait!  It’s just a memo.  Let’s see how they implement this.  It’s in the implementation after all!

RvH