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Young, Sommer...LLC Regulatory Alert Bookmark this site to keep up with the latest in environmental regulatory developments! Recent Developments (updated August 13, 2010) DEC Issues New SPDES Enforcement Guidance The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently revised Technical Operational Guidance Series (TOGS) 1.4.2, Compliance and Enforcement of SPDES Permits, which contains guidance on enforcing the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit program. The TOGS provides the minimum enforcement response and penalty for different SPDES violations to facilitate consistent statewide enforcement. After identifying the methods used to evaluate SPDES compliance, the TOGS lists the formal and informal enforcement options available to DEC and summarizes the minimum response required for different types of SPDES violations. The TOGS also contains appendices specifying how SPDES penalties should be calculated, including: (1) SPDES Penalty Guidance (summarizing penalty components and procedures for calculating penalties, including base penalty, adjustment factors, economic benefit, and stipulated penalty assessment); (2) Base Penalty Tables (establishing base penalty rate for different types of SPDES violations); and (3) Penalty Adjustment Factors (multipliers for different adjustment factors such as culpability, cooperation, history of noncompliance, and other factors). The new TOGS can be found on DEC's website at: www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/62557.html. DEC Publishes Draft PBS Inspection Handbook DEC made available for comment draft Program Policy DER-25, Petroleum Bulk Storage (PBS) Inspection Handbook to provide guidance to Department staff on conducting inspections to determine compliance with New York's PBS laws and regulations and federal underground storage tank regulations. The Handbook is organized into three main sections: (1) an introduction addressing the purpose/organization of the Handbook, applicability, pre-inspection tasks, and inspection followup; (2) a summary of inspection requirements for underground tanks; and (3) a summary of inspection requirements for aboveground tanks. The policy provides a comprehensive overview of state and federal PBS requirements organized by subject. For each subject, the program policy discusses applicability and regulatory requirements and describes the inspector's tasks with respect to each inspection item (i.e., what records to review, equipment to inspect, etc.). Where appropriate, the policy includes "curative measures" to be implemented by the owner/operator when the inspection reveals noncompliance. The policy includes references linking particular inspection items to DEC's standard PBS inspection form. The draft program policy can be found on DEC's website at: www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/2387.html. DEC Proposes Revisions to Endangered Species Regulations DEC recently proposed major revisions to its rules governing endangered and threatened species to clarify its jurisdiction and specify an application and review process for addressing projects that may take listed species. The current regulations, set forth at 6 NYCRR Part 182, list endangered and threatened species and require permits prior to taking. However, they do not specify how species are listed or provide details on the permitting process. With this rulemaking, DEC is proposing important changes, including: (1) expanding the list of defined terms; (2) establishing criteria for listing and delisting species; (3) authorizing DEC to prepare and adopt recovery and restoration plans; and (4) specifying that incidental take permits are subject to the uniform procedures in 6 NYCRR Part 621, establishing application requirements for obtaining incidental take permits, including requiring preparation of an endangered or threatened species mitigation plan and implementation agreement, and specifying standards/conditions for issuing incidental take permits. The proposed regulations codify the existing informal permitting process and will likely lead to greater attention to endangered species issues in development projects. The proposed regulations can be found on DEC's website at: www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/propregulations.html. Other major environmental legal developments: New York State
Federal
For information about these and other recent developments, click on August. Click here for archived Environmental Regulatory Summaries. |
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