EPA Revises "High-Priority Violation" Enforcement Policy

EPA recently revised its Enforcement Response Policy for High Priority Violations of the Clean Air Act: Timely and Appropriate Enforcement Response to High Priority Violations (the "HPV Policy"). Although the new Policy is dated August 25, 2014, it was only recently released to the public. In addition to EPA, the HPV Policy also applies to state, local, territorial, and tribal environmental enforcement agencies and is designed to prioritize enforcement actions for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act. EPA describes the revisions as "substantial changes" and notes that the new policy "supersedes" a previous version of the HPV Policy issued in 1998. State/local agencies are directed to implement the changes beginning October 1, 2014.