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Lucent Technologies

Letter from EPA to Lucent

UNITES STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
REGION III
841 Chestnut Building
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 109107-4431

April 3, 1997

Ms Debra Sabatini Hennelly
Lucent Technologies, Inc.
131 Morristown Road, Room B-2180
Basking Ridge, New Jersey 07920

  Dear Ms. Hennelly,

Thank you for your letters of March 5, March 14, and March 28.

As to the statement in your March 28 letter that "it was never intended that the fundamental concepts embodied in the IPA would ... terminate at the signing of the FPA," just the opposite is true. As I have reiterated several times since the issue was first raised, EPA has been consistent in its approach that the IPA would not "roll over" into the FPA. This position was reconfirmed last fall when an agreement was reached to re-start the FPA negotiations which had earlier been suspended by Lucent over this issue. That agreement provided that the IPA would remain in place only through the end of June 1997, at which time a final FPA would be in place. The expectation of the Project Partners is and has been that this FPA would provide for true Project XL regulatory flexibility projects at one or more Lucent facilities. The treatment by the Agency of violations disclosed at these facilities would not be pursuant to a "roll over" of the IPA, but rather pursuant to terms consistent with those provided for in the Agency's other enforcement-related reinvention projects (e.g., the Audit Policy, Small Business Policy, Environmental Leadership Program, etc.) providing for penalty reduction and possible full waiver.

The purpose of this letter is to articulate in detail those enforcement protections which may be available to the company in connection with any facility-specific projects after June 30, 1997. This letter thus also responds to your letter of March 14 on this issue, as the information describing the Environmental Leadership Program ("ELP") on which you relied is outdated and has been modified. The enforcement protections which are appropriate for those specific Lucent facilities implementing regulatory flexibility XL projects in conjunction with a business-wide Environmental Management System (EMS) that exceeds ISO requirements are described in detail in the enclosure with this letter. It is important to recognize that the proposed protections are based on EPA's Audit Policy and ELP protections and offer significant benefits, in recognition of the superior quality EMS and facility-specific XL projects (with their superior environmental results) which we expect Lucent to be capable of achieving. In this context, other companies are also implementing ISO-certified EMS's business-wide. As part of the ELP, several Companies are exceeding ISO standards, already have mature EMS's, and are working closely with EPA in a cooperative relationship regarding the full range of facility compliance and environmental management -- similar to that proposed by Lucent.

However, this is an XL project rather than one under ELP, and the enhanced protections which are offered here take into account the extent of development of Lucent's business-wide EMS and the anticipated relationship between EPA and Lucent in the company's EMS implementation and enhancement. The protections also anticipate Lucent's performance of a bonafide regulatory flexibility project (or projects) within the meaning of EPA's Project XL coupled with the company' s successful implementation of an EMS that goes beyond ISO-certification requirements, as well as the superior environmental results which may be achieved as a result of those improved management practices.

We look forward to meeting with you in Washington on April 8, from 2-4 p.m. in room 1001 of the West Tower at EPA Headquarters.

Sincerely,

Alvin R. Morris, Director
Water Protection Division Enclosure

cc: Sylvia K. Lowrance, Deputy Assistant Administrator Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Lisa C. Lund, Deputy Assistant Administrator Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation

 


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