EPA to unveil policy aimed at avoiding legal action over oil and gas polluters: source

EPA to unveil policy aimed at avoiding legal action over oil and gas polluters: source
By Miranda Green - 04/20/18 06:00 AM EDT


The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) office of enforcement will announce a new policy aimed specifically at helping polluters in the oil and gas industry, The Hill has learned.

The new policy, which has not been finalized, will focus on offering more flexibility to oil and gas companies that choose to self-audit their emissions and report any failures to meet EPA’s regulations, according to an EPA employee with knowledge of the plan.

EPA's head of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), Susan Bodine, has plans to announce the policy Friday at the EarthX Law and Policy symposium in Dallas. The announcement is timed with Earth Day, which is Sunday. The date is also notable because it's the eight year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which dumped nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Bodine will be speaking on a panel focused on sustainable and ethical corporate decision-making.

Since 1995, the EPA has offered incentives to industries who choose to self-audit their potential pollution. Under the policy called “Incentives for SelfPolicing: Discovery, Disclosure, Correction and Prevention of Violations,” companies that find they are breaking the law and report it to EPA promptly, and then fix the problem, will get certain fee exemptions. Another policy from 2008 offers exemptions to owners who buy companies and find during an audit that the previous owners were not in compliance.

The idea is that companies will choose to self-audit and fix their problems rather than wait for EPA to conduct its own investigation, which could lead to a costly and lengthy legal battle.

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http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/384078-epa-to-unveil-new-policy-aimed-at-avoiding-legal-action-over-oil