Caught in the EPA crosshairs.

• Author: Pilko, George
• Position: Environmental Protection Agency

The agency is now using smart bombs, and your company could be in for an unwelcome surprise.

PERHAPS YOUR company has successfully navigated many Environmental Protection Agency inspections. Perhaps you think you know what to expect. Perhaps you even feel confident.

You could be a sitting duck.

Imagine that with no warning whatever, one of your company's major plants opens its gates one morning to discover several dozen federal, state and local law enforcement agents on a raid for evidence of environmental crimes. Agents flash identification from the EPA, the FBI, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Coast Guard, the state police and the local sheriff's office. Some of these people are carrying guns.

These agents do not request copies; they simply gather your plant's files and computer records and depart. A month later, you are still rebuilding records and awaiting an enforcement notification. One thing you know for certain is that it will cost a lot.

This is not a scene from a new horror thriller -- it is recent history at a major Gulf Coast industrial plant, which was "surprised." This type of investigation is now part of the EPA's approach to enforcement. Over the past five years, EPA has systematically "surprised" refiners, exacting fines, supplemental environmental projects, and injunctive relief that may total $10 million or more per facility.

This is not the same EPA you knew 10 years ago -- the inexperienced young college graduates who mistake cooling tower steam for "pollution." Today, the EPA's NEIC (National Enforcement Investigation Center) in Denver is staffed with people who have years of experience in your industry.

If your plant is on their hit list, they will arrive at your door having researched every detail they can glean from state and local records, and having interviewed state agency officials to ferret out potentially damaging unresolved issues that are not in the records. They will understand your plant's processes, products, and wastes, and they will fully intend to build a case.

Is your company next?

While refineries have been under siege for the last five years, the EPA is now setting its sights on the organic chemicals industry, targeting facilities with records of significant non-compliance.

Within a geographic region, the EPA focuses on facilities with a significant presence, especially those with a record of poor compliance or high emissions of substances on the Toxic Release Inventory. Facilities located in or...