1 Small Community Environmental Compliance Assistance Project May 8, 2007 Arizona’s

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Small Community Small Community Environmental Compliance Environmental Compliance

Assistance ProjectAssistance Project

May 8, 2007

Arizona’s

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Byron James

Northeastern Arizona Community Liaison

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Presentation Outline1. ADEQ Community Outreach Program

2. Scope of Small Community Project

3. Project Elements

4. Lessons Learned

5. Contact Information

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Community Outreach Program

Agency Ombudsman

Four Community Liaisons

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ADEQ Ombudsman• Listens to questions and concerns from citizens

and businesses and helps guide them in resolving issues

• Provides assistance from the ADEQ Director’s office

• Facilitates communications between the agency and its stakeholders.

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Community Liaisons• Established in 2000• Covering the four corners of Arizona (Yuma, Safford, Kingman, St. Johns)• Focus on Rural Arizona• Allows for frequent, direct contact with

agency customers

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The Community Liaisons:

• Help identify local needs and respond to them quickly• Coordinate with ADEQ program staff to answer specific questions or resolve problems• Provide permitting assistance• Offer compliance assistance outside of the enforcement process• Perform outreach on grant funding opportunities and new and existing ADEQ regulatory programs and initiatives• Share expertise on area issues• Coordinate activities with other state agencies and local governments• Provide customer service as requested to the regulated community, the

public, citizen groups, districts and local governments

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Small Community Project• Began August 2005

• Grant from Environmental Council of States (ECOS)

• Grant completed September 2006

• Project remains ongoing

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Why Small Community Project?

• Small Communities have limited financial, technical and administrative resources for environmental compliance

• EPA Small Local Governments Compliance Assistance Policy

• Under-utilized State small community policy• Common environmental violations among

Arizona’s small communities

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Project Purpose• Facilitate small local governments’ efforts to

develop and implement a Small Community Environmental Protection Plan (SCEPP)

– A SCEPP is “less robust” Environmental Management System (EMS)

• Promote sustained environmental compliance

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Project Elements• New Small Community Policy

• Brochures

• “One-stop shopping” Web page

• Implementation Guide

• Outreach

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Small Community Policy• Our simplified policy is consistent with the EPA’s policy• Small communities < 3,300 persons are eligible to

participate; and small communities between 3,300 and 10,000 persons and special districts are eligible provided they demonstrate need (capacity test);

• Good faith demonstration;• Small community environmental protection plan (SCEPP);• Special penalty considerations (significant reduction or

waiver of penalties)

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Printed Brochures• Address common environmental violations• Intended for city staff, administrators, elected

officials and the general public• Widely distributed• Have proven useful for other regulated entities

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“One-Stop Shopping” Web Page

• www.azdeq.gov• Contains link to ECOS’ Web site; Small

Community Policy; brochures; national resources; drinking water, wastewater and asbestos resources; funding and technical assistance agencies; statute and rule information; contacts; etc.

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Implementation Guide• Intended to lead small communities

through the policy requirements• Description of environmental regulations• Self-assessment guide• SCEPP template• Policy checklist• Glossary of terms

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Outreach• In advance of policy development to assess

community needs• After completion of policy and brochures• Face-to-face meetings with small community

and special district staff• Ongoing

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Lessons Learned• Special districts are as much in need of assistance

as small communities;• Limited staff makes it hard for small communities

to develop a full EMS;• State policy can be developed consistent with

EPA’s small community policy, while meeting the needs of local small communities;

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Lessons Learned• Small communities are more apt to develop written

procedures with assistance and templates (Implementation Guide);

• Small communities also view ADEQ Small Community Policy benefits beyond the obvious (staff training and marketing for economic development);

• The more populated small communities generally expressed less interest in the Policy;

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Lessons Leaned• ADEQ’s focus on small communities has

strengthened relations with local governments;• Written materials which target common

violations are useful;• There are many national resources available to

small communities and small businesses, and an effort to pull this information together is useful;

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Lessons Leaned• The team approach worked well for

development of Arizona’s small community materials; and

• The materials developed for small communities are also useful to agency staff and programs, and for outreach to the regulated community in general.

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What Now?• Maintain Web page• Continue outreach• One on one assistance to small communities

for SCEPP development• Keep EPA updated on small communities

“in the program” to help them remain eligible for coverage under EPA’s policy

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ADEQ wishes to express appreciation to EPA and

ECOS for the grant funding for this successful project.

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Contact informationByron James, Community Liaison

Northeastern Arizona

P.O. Box 2129

St. Johns, Arizona, 85936

(928) 337-3565

bfj@azdeq.gov

ADEQ Toll-Free (800) 234-5677