EPA OIG Report: Region 8 Not Managing Risk Management Program Effectively

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an evaluation report on March 30, 2009, criticizing Region 8's implementation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 112(r) Risk Management Program and recommending certain corrective actions. The Risk Management Program, created in 1996 via the 1990 CAA amendments and governed by 40 C.F.R. Part 68, requires stationary sources that produce, handle, process, distribute or store more than a threshold quantity of one of 140 regulated substances to identify a worst-case release scenario and submit a risk management plan to EPA. The plans must be updated every five years or when certain changes occur at the facility, and EPA or a delegated authority must audit the plans on a periodic basis. Region 8 is responsible for the auditing process within its physical jurisdiction since none of the states in the region have delegated authority.

Report Outlines Concerns and Recommendations

The OIG report, EPA Region 8 Needs to Better Manage the Risk Management Program for Airborne Chemical Releases, notes that Region 8 "has not managed the Risk Management Program efficiently or effectively" and that "over half of the Region's 61 high-risk facilities have never been audited or inspected by the Region, while 59 lower-risk facilities were both audited and inspected." EPA's Office of Emergency Management identified high-risk facilities in 2007 to help focus each EPA region's Section 112 resources on the facilities of most concern, and its Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance has stated that each region should inspect 5 percent of the regulated facilities each year.

The report identifies a number of additional concerns with Region 8's implementation of the program, including:

• Auditing only 21 high-risk facilities between January 2001 and January 2008 (out of the 519 facilities audited during that time)

• Taking fewer enforcement actions than any other region (12 actions between FY 2001 and January 2008 compared with 28 to 532 actions in other regions)

• Allowing the compliance status of seven audited facilities to remain unresolved for over two years

The report also recommends that Region 8 develop a strategy to administer the program and an oversight process to evaluate implementation of the remedies for the issues identified by OIG.

Region 8 Response

Region 8 agreed with the report's findings, announced its intention to increase inspection and enforcement activities at high-risk facilities, and has implemented OIG's recommendations. Specifically, Region 8 will consider the following factors in selecting high-risk facilities to inspect:

• A worst-case scenario population that exceeds 100,000
• A scenario endpoint distance equal to or greater than 25 miles
• A regulated substance on-site in an amount exceeding more than 10,000 times the threshold quantity
• A hazard index greater than or equal to 25
• One or more significant accidental releases within the last five years

Given these statements, high-risk facilities in Region 8 that meet one or more of these criteria should prepare themselves for a Risk Management Program audit and/or inspection. Furthermore, high-risk facilities in other EPA regions should also be prepared for increased Risk Management Program activity in light of EPA headquarters' focus on Section 112 issues as evidenced by this report.