Search Frequent Questions

Displaying 1 - 15 of 18 results

• Purpose of Oil Pollution Prevention regulation

  What is the purpose of the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation? When oil spills into navigable waters or onto adjoining shorelines, it can have harmful impacts on the environment, human health, and economic activity. EPA issued the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation to prevent oil spills and to assure that oil facility…

  • Last published: June 5, 2024

• What is the definition of “overburdened community” that is relevant for EPA Actions and Promising Practices?

  EPA Actions and Promising Practices apply the description of overburdened communities articulated in EPA’s Plan EJ 2014. The term is used to describe the minority, low‐income, tribal and indigenous populations or communities in the United States that potentially experience disproportionate environmental harms and risks due to exposures or cumulative impacts…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• What is the research workshop that National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the national academies are planning in East Palestine and the greater community?

  NIH is putting plans in place to work with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to hold a workshop. The purpose of the workshop is to explore potential research priorities to understand the short- and longterm health impacts of the Norfolk Southern Train Derailment. The workshop will be…

  • Last published: May 22, 2024

• Are permit applicants required to adopt the Promising Practices?

  EPA is not requiring permit applicants to adopt the Promising Practices. Promising Practices are simply that: good ideas in the form of suggestions to permit applicants. Permit applicants may benefit from applying these Promising Practices. EPA hopes that when permit applicants practice early and meaningful dialogue with the community, they…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• EPA Actions does not require EPA regional offices to prioritize the same types of permits and adopt the same outreach activities. Why doesn’t EPA require regional offices to always prioritize certain permits and always do certain outreach activities?

  EPA Actions strikes an important balance between national consistency and regional flexibility. The Agency‐wide guidelines establish national consistency by providing EPA’s expectations for the regional implementation plans. At the same time, EPA recognizes that the regional offices need the flexibility to take actions suited to the types of permits and…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• Does EPA Actions apply to permits that are jointly issued by EPA and a state, tribal, or local permitting authority with partially delegated permitting authority?

  EPA regional offices will decide whether a permit that EPA jointly issues with a state, tribal, or local permitting authority should be considered for prioritization for enhanced outreach as described in EPA Actions on a case‐by‐case basis. EPA will take into account its role and authority in issuing the specific…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• Why doesn’t EPA do enhanced outreach for every permit?

  Robust public outreach and engagement can consume a substantial amount of resources from all stakeholders in a permitting process and would not be warranted for every permit action. EPA recognizes that its regional offices cannot enhance engagement for every EPA‐issued permit and that overburdened communities might be overwhelmed with process…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• How will an EPA regional office determine whether a permitted activity may have significant public health or environmental impacts?

  Permit applications provide information on the proposed project consistent with the requirements of particular statutes and regulations. EPA may also do its own assessment of the environmental and public health impacts of a proposed project, using modeling and monitoring data for example. Such information would inform an EPA regional office’s…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• How will EPA Actions apply to EPA‐permitted activities that may impact multiple EPA regions?

  A permitted activity could potentially impact an area that straddles two or more EPA regions. The EPA region where the permitted activity is located usually has the lead for issuing the permit. EPA regions with the lead for issuing the permit routinely engage other regions impacted by the permitted activity…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• Will EPA provide incentives to permit applicants who adopt Promising Practices, like an expedited permit process?

  EPA is not providing incentives to permit applicants who adopt the Promising Practices, such as an expedited permit process. Nevertheless, permit applicants should be aware of the many benefits that can accrue to them if they adopt the Promising Practices to create a constructive dialogue with the community in which…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• If a permit is prioritized for enhanced outreach, does this mean that EPA will require stricter emission or discharge limits, or deny a permit?

  An EPA regional’ office’s decisions on whether to issue a permit and, if so, the conditions to impose within a permit are distinct from the EPA regional office’s decisions about the outreach EPA may perform during the permitting process. EPA’s decisions on whether to issue a permit and what permit…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024

• Why are street cleaners no longer watering Taggart the same way they used to?

  Street cleaners now lightly mist Taggart with water before using a vacuum truck to collect material from the road. Crews adopted this approach to keep sediment and dust out of the storm drains and Sulphur Run.

  • Last published: July 23, 2024

• SPCC Training Materials for Production Sector
  

  Does EPA offer any Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) training materials specifically for the production sector? Yes. EPA has developed a “train-the-trainer” presentation for the production sector. The presentation provides information for organizations to hold trainings on the SPCC rule. The presentation is available in the SPCC Rule: Train-the-Trainer…

  • Last published: January 31, 2025

• Will cleaning the creeks be the last action taken at Sulphur Run and Leslie Run?

  EPA’s Order requires detailed identification (characterization) of contamination in Sulphur Run and Leslie Run. The stream characterization will include surface water and sediment testing for contaminants of concern including vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate. This stream characterization will find any areas of remaining contamination and inform the next steps for…

  • Last published: July 8, 2024

• If an EPA regional office finds that a permit may not have significant public health or environmental impacts, or may not impact an already overburdened community, can the permit still be prioritized for enhanced outreach? Will the permit receive any outreach at all?

  EPA regional offices have the discretion to use other considerations to prioritize EPA‐issued permits for enhanced outreach that do not meet either or both of those criteria. One important consideration would be whether a community has expressed concerns over a permit application or renewal. EPA regional offices may consider prioritizing…

  • Last published: July 10, 2024