57 RI Bar J., No. 6, Pg 15. Environmental Enforcement In The Ocean State.

• Author: Seth Handy, Esq. and Bret Jedele, Esq. Practice at Chace, Ruttenberg & Freedman, LLP in Providence.

Rhode Island Bar Journal

Volume 57.

57 RI Bar J., No. 6, Pg 15.

Environmental Enforcement In The Ocean State

Rhode Island Bar Journal57 RI Bar J., No. 6, Pg 15 May/June 2009Environmental Enforcement In The Ocean StateSeth Handy, Esq. and Bret Jedele, Esq. Practice at Chace, Ruttenberg & Freedman, LLP in Providence.An old proverb reads "Law cannot persuade, where it cannot punish."(fn1) This article reviews recent Rhode Island environmental law enforcement activity examining the focus of governmental authorities and non-governmental organizations and illustrating the challenges to those efforts.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 (RI, CT, MA, NH, VT, ME) conducted more than 1,100 site inspections in 2007 aimed at stormwater protection, oil pollution prevention and disclosure of lead paint hazards. Eighty-five of those inspections were in Rhode Island. EPA initiated 113 administrative penalty complaints in 2007 and referred twenty-five cases to the Department of Justice (DOJ). They collected $1.77 million in administrative penalties and $557,000 in judicial penalties in 2007 (not all of which were from enforcement actions initiated in 2007), including $494,000 of penalties here in Rhode Island. EPA negotiated for $1.1 million worth of Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) as part of their 2007 enforcement efforts, including $219,000 of SEPs in Rhode Island. EPA received 90 voluntary disclosures of non-compliance pursuant to its audit policy, more than half of which were reported under the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA). These numbers represent increases from 2006 statistics excepting the number of inspections (1,125 in 2006), cases referred to DOJ (26 in 2006) and the value of SEPs ($1.6 million in 2006).(fn2) In October 2008, EPA cited three Rhode Island companies for Clean Air Act violations including illicit emissions of hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds, asbestos violations, and a ship manufacturing company's failure to comply with permitting requirements, proposing more than $800,000 in combined penalties. In November 2008, EPA filed 102 complaints against several Coldwell Banker real estate brokerage offices for the failure to disclose lead hazards in residential purchase or lease transactions. That same month EPA fined the Rhode...