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In February of 2007, Secretary Wilson set enforcement as one of MDE’s top priorities for 2007. “Enforcement is a core function of MDE. We perform 132 inspections in the field every day. I want to make sure we support your efforts to protect public health and Maryland’s environment in every way we can.”
Enforcement and compliance assurance are critical to ensure that permit conditions and regulatory requirements are met to protect public health and the environment. The initiative to prioritize resources to enhance enforcement of laws to protect public health and the environment in began in February of 2006, a little more than half way through the reporting period. In April of 2007, the Department launched a 30-day review of ongoing enforcement actions to ensure that proper procedures are being followed in a timely manner. MDE reviewed 1056 open complaints and notices of violation in its 23 regulatory enforcement programs. Ninety-four percent of the cases were being pursued in a timely manner according to existing program processes. The sixty-three cases not being pursued in a timely manner were accelerated and prioritized based on their potential for public health and environmental impacts. This review highlighted the need for an ongoing initiative to develop and implement department-wide internal operating procedures for enforcement activities. These procedures were fully implemented as of October 1, 2007. MDE’s website has also been enhanced to include more information about enforcement actions. Another initiative affecting enforcement and compliance included a comprehensive review of MDE’s fiscal structure to evaluate revenue sources and staff resource allocation and needs. The changes in data from these efforts will be fully accounted for in the 2008 Enforcement Report.
The newly released eleventh Annual Enforcement and Compliance Report for the Stae Fiscal Year 2007 (July 2006-June 2007) presents data on all of MDE’s enforcement and compliance programs covering air, water and land. The report details the activities and efforts of each of MDE’s compliance programs to enforce State and federal environmental laws and regulations including number of inspections, number of violations, number of enforcement actions, and penalties collected.
During FY 2007, MDE provided regulatory oversight for 205,345 regulated entities. This is a 3.5% increase compared to 198,184 in the last report. Most of that increase can be attributed to an increasing number of properties registered under the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program and slight increases in other programs.
MDE inspected 13% fewer sites in FY 2007 than it did in FY 2006 and performed 7% fewer inspections. This reduction is attributable to fewer property inspections by accredited third party inspectors in the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. Property owners had a compliance deadline for the “100% Rule” that required all affected properties to be certified by February 24, 2006. Implementation of this rule caused last year’s (FY 2006) numbers to be unusually high. In addition, the Compliance Division of the Water Management Administration had an increased number of inspector vacancies during the reporting period and therefore performed fewer inspections. The number of enforcement actions increased by approximately 3% over FY 2006 while the number of compliance assistance actions declined by 8%.
Department-wide, the number of significant violations found decreased from 6,577 to 6,409 with the biggest drop in violations in the lead program. Compliance assistance actions dropped slightly and enforcement actions increased slightly.
This year, penalties collected from environmental violators totaled $2.25 million. This is a $555,554 decrease from FY 2006. This decrease was due to the collection of large penalties from Baltimore City, Baltimore County and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission last year. MDE also, where appropriate, enters into Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) as part of resolution of enforcement actions. SEPs provide tangible environmental benefits to communities beyond benefits achieved by facilities returning to compliance. While the number of SEPs increased from 57 in FY 2006 to 61 in FY 2007, the total value of the SEPs decreased from $9.7 million last year to $3.6 million in FY 2007. In FY 2006, the total value of SEPs was unusually high because of settlements that included large SEPs from Baltimore County and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.
The table below provides a summary of MDE’s performance measures for FY 2006 and FY 2007. The complete Annual Enforcement and Compliance Report contains similar summary information for each of the contributing Administrations. The Annual Enforcement and Compliance Report also contains FY 2007 performance data for the individual enforcement programs within each Administration. The full report is available here.
Maryland Performance Measures Executive Summary
|
2006 Totals |
2007 Totals |
| PERMITTED SITES/FACILITIES |
| Number of Permits/Licenses Issued |
10,737 |
10,455 |
| Number of Permits/Licenses in Effect at Fiscal Year End |
77,721 |
77,041 |
| OTHER REGULATED SITES/FACILITIES |
| (Total Sites) |
239,612 |
253,715 |
| Number of Regulated Entities Requiring Oversight |
198,184 |
205,345 |
| INSPECTIONS |
| Number of Sites Inspected |
55,294 |
47,723 |
| Number of Inspections, Audits, Spot Checks |
115,977 |
107,496 |
| ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS |
| Number of Compliance Assistance Rendered |
11,067 |
10,158 |
| Number of Enforcement Actions Taken |
1,946 |
2,011 |
| PENALTIES |
| Amount of Penalties Collected |
$2,803,685 |
$2,248,131 |
| SEPs |
52 57 ($9.7 M) |
61 ($3.6 M) |
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