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PA EPA ISSUES CIVIL MONETARY PENALTY INFLATION ADJUST. RULE

Release Date: 01/03/97
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PA EPA ISSUES CIVIL MONETARY PENALTY INFLATION ADJUST. RULE

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1997

EPA ISSUES CIVIL MONETARY PENALTY INFLATION ADJUSTMENT RULE

EPA has published the notice and its new Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Rule in the Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1996, Federal Register. EPA published this rule pursuant to the Debt Collection and Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA), which directed every federal agency to review its respective civil penalty provisions and issue a regulation adjusting the maximum amounts of all the civil monetary penalties it administers. The primary purpose of these statutory adjustments is to restore the deterrent effect of the civil penalty provisions to the extent it has been eroded by inflation. The DCIA provides a specified formula for the adjustments. It limits the first adjustment to a maximum 10 percent increase, and then requires further adjustments at least once every four years using the statutory formula. For example, a provision enacted in 1980 for a maximum penalty of $5,000 has only been adjusted to $5,500, even though inflation had exceeded 10 percent over that time. If inflation totals 16 percent over the following three years, EPA could further adjust that penalty provision an additional 16 percent to a maximum of $6,400. There are about 50 EPA statutory penalty provisions that are affected by this rule, previously ranging from $500 to $125,000 per violation, depending on the statute and the particular violation. The most common maximum levels for per violation penalties were earlier set at $10,000 and $25,000, which have now been adjusted to $11,000 and $27,500, respectively. The adjustments in this new rule represent the first time EPA's penalties, some of which were set back in the 1970s, have ever been adjusted for inflation. The adjusted penalty provisions will take effect in 30 days and apply to violations committed on or after January 31. They will be found at 40 CFR Part 19. For further information, contact Steven M. Spiegel, Office of Regulatory Enforcement, Multimedia Enforcement Division 703-308-8507 or electronically to:
spiegel.steven@epamail.epa.gov.  

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