Can EPA provide guidance to permit enforcement officials on allowing negotiation of a compliance plan without penalties?
EPA’s Small Business Policy promotes environmental compliance by providing incentives, such as penalty waivers and penalty mitigation, to those small businesses that participate in on-site compliance assistance programs or conduct environmental audits to discover, disclose, and correct violations. A small business may be eligible under the Agency’s “Policy on Compliance Incentives For Small Businesses” to have all potential penalties for non-compliance waived if the companies agree to come into compliance and meet other criteria. The policy applies to a person, corporation, partnership, or other organization that employs 100 or fewer individuals. EPA may eliminate its penalty against the small business if: • the business receives on-site compliance assistance or conducts an environmental audit; • the business identifies the violation(s) through the assistance or audit, and discloses it within 10 days (or such shorter period provided by law) to the appropriate government agencies; • it
