U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment for its fiscal 2024-2027 National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives to help decide how best to protect vulnerable and overburdened communities.
The initiatives, once called National Compliance Initiatives, are open to public comment on EPA's proposal to address environmental justice, climate change and PFAS contamination, according to a Jan. 19 news release.
"The National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives identify serious environmental challenges where EPA can make a difference through a coordinated national approach," EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Acting Assistant Administrator for Assurance Larry Starfield said in the news release. "We look forward to receiving public comment on our proposals for FY 2024-2027, which include both familiar and emerging issues."
EPA's proposal to add environmental justice to the list of initiative has the highest priority, the release reported.
"Of particularly importance, we have built environmental justice considerations firmly into every initiative in order to protect vulnerable and overburdened communities," Starfield added, according to the release.
EPA selects national initiatives every four years to provide focus of resources on serious and widespread environmental problems "where federal enforcement can make a difference," the news release said. The initiatives' primary objective is to protect human health and the environment "by holding polluters accountable through enforcement and assisting regulated entities to return to compliance," the news release said.
Among other things, EPA proposes to add mitigating climate change and addressing PFAS contamination to the fiscal 2024-27 initiatives, according to the release. EPA also proposes to continue four of six initiatives into the next cycle, as well as returning two of the current initiative items to core enforcement and compliance.
EPA is proposing to address environmental justice concerns in all National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives, and to add two new ones on mitigating climate change and addressing PFAS pollution, the release reported.
