STATES, EPA AT ODDS OVER AGENCY ENFORCEMENT FLEXIBILITY PROGRAM

EPA and the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) are at an apparent impasse on how to give states credit for innovative compliance programs under a new initiative used to evaluate the quality of state enforcement programs, state sources say. EPA's Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance earlier this year released a draft "concept paper" outlining the agency's latest thinking on awarding credit under so-called Element 13 of the State Review Framework, under which EPA provides a consistent method of...