EPA Prepares To Reenact Pollution Monitoring And Reporting Requirements
The U.S. EPA announced that it will rescind a recently-introduced policy that allowed companies throughout the country to forgo pollution monitoring. Introduced in March 2020, the agency enacted the measure to reduce the burden these companies shoulder as the novel coronavirus spread around the world. The policy is now scheduled to expire in late August 2020 or sooner.
"This temporary policy terminates in its entirety at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Saving Time, August 31, 2020," according to the EPA memo announcing the addendum on termination. "In addition, the EPA may terminate this temporary policy (i.e., indicate it does not apply to future noncompliance) on a state or national basis, in whole or in part, at any earlier time."
The policy has drawn controversy since it was first introduced, with several groups filing lawsuits that called for its end.
"Lawmakers on a number of committees had pressured EPA to quickly end the policy, arguing the agency had no way of knowing how much pollution might be emitted into the air or water without sufficient monitoring" The Hill reported. "The agency has faced numerous lawsuits over the memo from both environmental groups and nine states."
But the agency has steadfastly defended its decision to suspend pollution monitoring. In a late June 2020 letter to the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, for instance, the assistant administrator for the EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance argued that companies are unlikely to begin polluting because of the measure and that it has not had the type of impact that some environmental groups have feared.
"The burden is on the regulated entity to prove to EPA that compliance is not reasonably practical due to COVID-19," she wrote. "Moreover, given the continued submission of discharge monitoring reports, it appears that COVID-19 has not had a significant impact on routine compliance monitoring and reporting."
Though the world is far from going back to its pre-coronavirus normal, federal pollution monitoring and reporting requirements soon will be.
To read more about how pollution from industrial operations can harm water quality, visit Water Online's Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.