EPA issued an enforcement alert for the lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule. There is no safe level of lead exposure, particularly for children. In children, lead can severely harm mental and physical development, slow down learning, and irreversibly damage the brain. In adults, lead can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function, and may cause cancer. If someone is impacted by lead exposure, there is no known antidote, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This enforcement alert contains information on the wide range of enforcement tools the EPA can use to deter and penalize violators, including violations by franchises, general and sub-contractors, and people who provide residential improvements. It also explains how renovating, repairing, and painting can expose vulnerable infants and children to dangerous lead-based paint hazards and how EPA acts to ensure environmental justice and enforce the RRP Rule requirements. EPA's enforcement alert includes information about how contractors, who play a critical role in preventing lead exposure, can ensure they are properly trained and certified.

EPA issued an enforcement alert for the lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule. There is no safe level of lead exposure, particularly for children. In children, lead can severely harm mental and physical development, slow down learning, and irreversibly damage the brain. In adults, lead can cause increased blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function, and may cause cancer. If someone is impacted by lead exposure, there is no known antidote, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This enforcement alert contains information on the wide range of enforcement tools the EPA can use to deter and penalize violators, including violations by franchises, general and sub-contractors, and people who provide residential improvements. It also explains how renovating, repairing, and painting can expose vulnerable infants and children to dangerous lead-based paint hazards and how EPA acts to ensure environmental justice and enforce the RRP Rule requirements. EPA's enforcement alert includes information about how contractors, who play a critical role in preventing lead exposure, can ensure they are properly trained and certified.

EPA announced that U.S. Army Garrison Fort Wainwright will pay $233,300 for violating federal hazardous waste management requirements. During a routine inspection of the garrison in August 2021 EPA inspectors found several violations of the RCRA including failure to make a hazardous waste determination, storage of hazardous waste without a permit, failure to properly manage pharmaceutical waste, failure to properly manage used oil, and failure to properly manage universal waste such as aerosol cans and lamps. At the time of the inspection, EPA determined the facility was operating as an unpermitted hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facility. Several hazardous wastes were stored improperly and containers were left open or were stored on-site longer than allowed. In response to the inspection findings, USAG Fort Wainwright agreed to pay the monetary penalty in addition to taking the necessary steps to come into compliance and resolve the violations.

Protecting people from lead in drinking water is a longstanding priority of the EPA. Accordingly, enforcing the Safe Drinking Water Act's Lead and Copper Rule will help reduce the public's exposure to lead. This Compliance Advisory is directed to public water systems that are classified as either community water systems or non-transient non-community water systems (collectively, water systems). This Compliance Advisory describes how the EPA intends to monitor compliance and enforce the key provisions of the 2021 Lead and Copper Rule Revisions that will remain in place after the issuance of the final Lead and Copper Rule Improvements in October 2024.

Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport violated the requirements of RCRA and the EPA approved and authorized Washington State dangerous waste management program. At the time of the inspection, the 90-day central accumulation area had a container of dangerous waste marked had an accumulation start date of February 26,2022, 102 days prior to the inspection. The container of dangerous waste therefore was accumulated in excess of 90 days. Respondent therefore did not meet the permit exemption condition and required a dangerous waste permit for storage of this dangerous waste. Respondent did not have a dangerous permit for storage of this dangerous waste, in violation of WAC 173-303-800. EPA has determined that an appropriate penalty to settle this action is $4,500.

EPA has finalized an Administrative Consent Order with the U.S. Department of the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) that requires steps to ensure the safe defueling and closure of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The Consent Order also includes provisions to ensure that the Navy properly operates and maintains the Joint Base's drinking water system to protect the health and safety of its consumers and the aquifer feeding the system. This is the latest step in EPA's work to oversee the Navy and DOD's response to the November 2021 fuel release at Red Hill and the process following the decision to close Red Hill.

EPA issued an emergency order to the USAF to enhance and expedite measures to address an ongoing oil discharge into Union Creek from the Travis AFB. EPA has determined that a substantial threat exists to local waterbodies and shorelines because of the ongoing discharge and previous similar incidents on Travis AFB. The order, issued under the CWA, compels the AF to mitigate the oil discharge. The order also requires the AF to enter into a unified command structure that brings together the oil spill response expertise of federal, state and local governments to address the discharge. Oil discharges to Union Creek from Travis AFB were first identified by the AF as early as October 2021, but were not reported to EPA or the National Response Center until February 2022. Since that time, the AF has made numerous notifications to the National Response Center regarding an oil sheen on Union Creek, including reporting a spill of jet fuel from a pipeline on the base on August 2022. These spill notifications have continued to occur in 2023. The AF has yet to take action to identify and address the source of the oil discharge to Union Creek. The initial oil spill response efforts implemented by the AF at Travis AFB were limited, and these efforts were only upgraded after input from EPA and the CA DFW Office of Spill Prevention and Response.

During fiscal year (FY) 2022, EPA's enforcement and compliance program continued its mission to target the most serious water, air, land, and chemical violations and hazards that impact communities across the country. Their work reduced, treated or eliminated 95 million pounds of pollutants, and required violators to pay over $300 million in penalties fines and restitution. Our primary focus was advancing environmental justice (EJ), rebuilding EPA's national inspector corps, and working to mitigate the effects of climate change, particularly in communities overburdened by pollution. EPAs FY 2022 accomplishments focused on protecting vulnerable communities using the full range of compliance monitoring and enforcement tools, including inspections, technical assistance supported by advanced technologies, and early actions and innovative remedies to ensure high levels of compliance with federal environmental laws and regulations.

(Honolulu, August 11, 2022) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a Federal Facility Compliance Agreement with the U.S. Marine Corps to make improvements related to stormwater discharges at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH) located on the Mokapu Peninsula of Kaneohe, Oahu.

EPA announced that the U.S. Air Force has agreed to pay a $206,811 penalty for hazardous waste storage and handling violations at the Eareckson Air Station on Shemya Island in Alaska. EPA alleges the Air Force stored hazardous wastes at the air station without a permit and failed to properly label and inspect waste containers and an above-ground storage tank in which the hazardous wastes were stored. EPA found that the Air Force improperly stored more than a ton of hazardous paints, hydrochloric acid, methyl ethyl ketone, and oxidizers, and more than 25 tons of hazardous waste fuel and oil. These wastes were stored for years longer than allowed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act which governs the handling of hazardous wastes. The agency also determined the Air Force failed to properly manage its universal waste, including batteries, lamps, and aerosol cans. In addition to paying the $206,811 penalty, the Air Force has also agreed to ship off-site and properly dispose of approximately 55,000 pounds of hazardous waste by the end of June 2022, improve its hazardous waste and universal waste management practices, and appropriately close the area where hazardous waste was improperly stored.