EPA Adjusts Penalties for Inflation

EPA 11-06 FR increase penalty fees.pdf

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule on November 6th, 2013 (78 FR Pages 66643-66648) that amends the Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Rule. This action is mandated by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA) to adjust for inflation certain statutory civil monetary penalties that may be assessed for violations of EPA-administered statutes and their implementing regulations. The EPA is required to review the civil monetary penalties under the statutes it administers at least once every four years and to adjust such penalties as necessary for inflation according to a formula prescribed by the DCIA as specified in 40 CFR 19.4 Table 1. The regulations contain a list of all civil monetary penalty authorities under EPA-administered statutes and the applicable statutory amounts, as adjusted for inflation, since 1996. This final rule is effective December 6, 2013.