SEATTLE – Enforcement actions by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Northwest and Alaska generated millions of dollars in penalties, cost industry millions for remediation and reduced pollution in the four-state region by 26.4 million pounds, the federal agency said Wednesday.
“This is about protecting people where they live,” said Elin Miller, recently named EPA administrator for Region 10, which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.
“We’ve found that diligent enforcement not only inspires compliance but also levels the economic playing field for those companies who are doing the right thing environmentally,” she noted in a news release.
The EPA released figures on its enforcement actions for fiscal year 2006, which ended Sept. 30.
In the Northwest, penalties for violators increased significantly from last year and 2004, the first year the numbers were tallied, as did pollution-reduction numbers.
There were 236 enforcement actions for fiscal 2006 in the region, up from 196 reported last year and 192 in 2004.
EPA inspection numbers were up as well. The agency reported 1,299 inspections in the region for the latest fiscal year, up from 1,217 in fiscal 2004 and 1,221 last year.
“We’re looking at it as a pretty good trend,” EPA spokesman Mark MacIntyre said. “Would we like to do more inspections? Sure, but we have limited amounts of resources.”
Judicial and administrative penalties for violations in the four-state region totaled $3.6 million – more than double the $1.7 million collected last year and in 2004.
The biggest state total was the $1.67 million assessed in Alaska. Nearly half that money came from penalties for Clean Water Act violations at a Cook Inlet oil-drilling platform operated by Forest Oil Corp. of Anchorage.
Most of Idaho’s $1.2 million total came from settlement of a federal lawsuit over Clean Water Act violations from dumping tons of storm-water sediment into a creek during realignment of Interstate 95 near Lake Coeur d’Alene.
In Washington, penalties of $647,270 were assessed; in Oregon, $85,890.
Violators also paid $657,000 for “supplementary environmental projects,” an option offered during penalty negotiations that can cut back on mitigation costs, said EPA enforcement coordinator Debbie Flood. The money goes to local projects, rather than the U.S. Treasury.
Violators also paid an estimated $115.2 million to correct environmental problems they caused, the EPA said.
The regional reduction of 26.4 million pounds of sediments and air polluted with substances such as oil, grease, gasoline and particulate matter was nearly double the 13.9 million reported for fiscal 2005 and more in tune with the 21.3 million of fiscal 2004. Cases involving millions of pounds of pollutants gave this year’s numbers a significant bump.
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