Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance released guidance on SEP policy to encourage violators to undertake projects that benefit the environment and public health.

The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance has released new guidance on the Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) policy to encourage violators to undertake projects that benefit the environment and public health.

An SEP is part of an enforcement settlement associated with the violation of an environmental statutory or regulatory requirement. As part of the enforcement settlement, a violator voluntarily agrees to undertake an environmentally beneficial project in exchange for a reduction in the penalty.

The guidance was designed to encourage the regulated community to propose environmentally beneficial projects. In addition, the EPA is collecting project ideas from interested parties for inclusion in an "SEP Library" being compiled for use by agency enforcement staff in future enforcement cases in which an SEP may be considered as part of settlement discussions. Visit www.epa.gov/compliance/civil/programs/seps/index.html.