EPA/ Justice Department Consent Decree: April 18, 2001

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Timeline

• 1995: Yale and EPA forming agreement.• 1997: Boston University and EPA Agreement• January 1998: EPA announces Clean Charles

Enforcement Campaign• May 19, 1998: EPA Inspectors at MIT

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What Happened?

• Total 10 inspectors/ 20 man-days at Campus• RCRA, CAA, CWA (SPCC and NPDES),

SARA/EPCRA, TSCA inspected• 120+ Pages of Field Notes by RCRA Inspectors

Alone

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EPA Preparations

• Facility Recon• Web Pages/ Publications• File Review including State and/or Local• Drive By• Informal Conversations with Persons

Associated to Organization

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Inspection Events

• Arrival at Site• Opening Conference• Physical Inspections• File Review• Closing Conference• Follow Up Information Requests and

Inspections

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EPA Strategies

• Inspectors Typically Seek Line Level Personnel• Silence as a Tool• Inspectors from Various Media Exchange

Notes• Professional and Courteous

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Results:• SPCC/ NPDES: Missing several oil sources- need

for “Management by Walking Around”• AIR (CAA/A): Incinerators: E25 and 68; CUP: many

systems.• RCRA: Notes recorded on 104 SAA’s and 70 LT90

day storage areas. (Many LT90 classified because of how they were managed.)

• SARA/ EPCRA: “inspection lite”• TSCA: Core TSCA inspection ~ July 1998

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What else happened?

• EPA: ‘Feds are in the building’ - Face-Face w/ Former BU EHS Director;

• Don’t swear at your inspector;• Don’t hide your SPCC problems and make

them into RCRA problems;• Inspectors carry little green books and walk

into traffic…

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Development of a Consent Decree

• July, 1999: MIT hires Jamie Lewis Keith to oversee legal issues and environmental management ;

• Summer, 1999: EPA makes formal contact with MIT regarding enforcement;

• Early 2000: EPA and MIT agree an ‘EMS’ makes sense.

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Negotiations: EPA & MIT• EMS good but must be based on ‘EPA

Compliance Focused Model’;• EHS Council dislikes ISO 14000 type systems

anyway;• EHS Council prefers an EHS-MS approach

rather than an EMS approach;• Design begins on an EHS Management System

with only the environmental components enforceable in a consent decree.

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This slide from EHS Council presentation on 10-20-2001

1. Opportunity for Management System to integrate:

C. EHS Management Systems Approach

= Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Management System

Environment

Health

Safety

Compliance

Education

Positive Initiatives/ Sustainability

Institute Systems

Subjects Programs Systems

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10 years ago…

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Jamie Lewis Keith