Untitled Quiz

Lawsuits filed by citizens to enforce environmental laws when the government fails to do so.

Verification of compliance with environmental regulations through routine checks, complaints, or random inspections.

A focused EPA effort targeting specific environmental issues, such as aftermarket defeat devices in vehicles.

A formal enforcement action indicating the possibility of an administrative order, requiring the recipient to address compliance deficiencies.

Agreements reached between regulatory agencies and violators, often involving injunctive relief, fines, and environmental projects.

A court order prohibiting or requiring specific actions from a party, used in settlement agreements to address environmental concerns.

Projects undertaken as part of a settlement agreement, focusing on environmental improvement beyond basic compliance.

The company may receive a warning letter detailing the findings and requesting a response on how the issues were resolved.

A system that helps companies identify, understand, and manage their environmental impacts. It sets goals, procedures, and processes to reduce environmental risks and improve environmental performance.

To stop ongoing violations and prevent future violations by addressing the root cause of noncompliance.

When the root cause of a company's violations is the absence of a systematic approach to environmental compliance.

An EMS is a system for ongoing environmental management, while a SEP is a specific project undertaken to address a past violation. An EMS is typically required for all sizes of businesses, while SEPs are more common for large businesses.

SEPs can be used to reduce the penalty for environmental violations. They demonstrate a company's commitment to environmental protection and provide tangible benefits to the community or environment.

Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) is a database maintained by the EPA that contains information about past environmental violations.

A financial penalty imposed by a regulatory agency for violating environmental laws. The amount can vary depending on factors like ability to pay, economic benefit gained from the violation, the severity of the offense, and past compliance history.

An annual adjustment to the maximum daily penalty amount for environmental violations, based on inflation rates.

A systematic evaluation of an organization's environmental practices to identify areas of non-compliance and potential risks.

A company self-reporting environmental violations to the EPA, allowing them to potentially receive reduced penalties.

A penalty amount determined by the severity of the environmental violation.

A formal agreement between a company and a regulatory agency, resolving environmental violations without going to court.

A legally binding decision by a court or administrative law judge, concluding an environmental violation case.

Environmental protection acts (Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) that allow citizens to file lawsuits against polluters.

A constitutional amendment that generally restricts lawsuits against states without their consent.

A permit issued by the EPA allowing a facility to discharge pollutants into waters of the United States.

A person or organization that is not a party to a case but offers relevant information or arguments to the court.

Cases where individuals or companies are prosecuted for violating environmental laws.

Legal responsibility arising from agreements between parties, related to environmental services.

Unexpected conditions on a construction site that differ from what was anticipated in the contract documents. These can include soil types, underground utilities, or environmental issues.

A clause in a contract where one party promises to protect another party from financial losses caused by the first party's actions. This often involves covering legal costs and damages.

Insurance that protects a business from financial losses due to property damage or bodily injury caused by their operations, employees, or products.

Insurance that protects professionals from financial losses due to errors, omissions, or negligence in their work.

An insurance policy that only covers claims made during the policy period, even if the incident occurred earlier. If a claim is made after the policy expires, coverage may be denied.

An Environmental Management System (EMS) is a structured approach that helps an organization achieve its environmental goals by continuously reviewing, evaluating, and improving its environmental performance.

An EMS typically involves a cyclical process: reviewing environmental goals, analyzing environmental impacts and compliance obligations, setting environmental objectives and targets, establishing programs, monitoring progress, ensuring employee awareness, and reviewing the EMS for improvements.

PDCA is a continuous improvement framework used in EMS. It involves planning environmental goals and processes, carrying them out, monitoring and measuring results, and then taking action to improve the system.

Effective EMS requires strong leadership from top management, including setting clear environmental policies, allocating resources, and demonstrating commitment to environmental performance.

An effective EMS helps decrease the likelihood of noncompliance, increases early detection of noncompliance, facilitates prevention and mitigation, and may lead to more lenient enforcement responses from regulators.

Environmental civil liability holds companies or individuals liable for environmental violations, regardless of whether they were aware of the specific regulations or intended to violate them.

Environmental criminal liability requires a level of intent or recklessness to prove guilt. A higher level of proof is needed compared to civil liability.

Consequences of environmental civil violations can include monetary penalties, injunctive relief to correct the violation, and additional actions to improve the environment (SEPs).

Consequences of environmental criminal violations can include monetary fines, restitution for cleanup costs or harm caused, and even imprisonment.

EPA enforces cleanup actions by identifying responsible parties for contamination and negotiating or ordering them to perform cleanup. If necessary, EPA may arrange for cleanup to be performed by another party and bill the responsible party for the costs.

The 'permit shield' defense under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Clean Air Act (CAA) protects facilities from being cited for violations if they are in compliance with their issued permits.

Defenses against CERCLA liability include acts of God, acts of war, acts of third parties, and the Innocent Landholder Defense, which requires demonstrating 'all appropriate inquiry' was conducted to assess potential environmental contamination.

Environmental violations can be enforced at federal, state, or local levels. Enforcement actions can be administrative, civil, or criminal, with varying consequences and levels of proof required.