EPA issues 1999 enforcement report

The EPA recently released its "Annual Report on Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Accomplishments in 1999." During FY99, the EPA's priority industry sectors included chemical preparation, industrial organic chemicals, and petroleum refining, among others. Of interest to chemical engineers might be that the 20 pollutants with the largest reductions reported by FY99 enforcement settlements included NO, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) waste, intermediate chemicals, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ignitable solvents, carbon dioxide, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), ammonia, and particulate matter. The compliance activities resulting from FY99 criminal …