[ADEQ Media] Town of Miami Joins ADEQ's Small Communities Compliance Assistance Program

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

Town of Miami Joins ADEQ's Small Communities Compliance Assistance
Program

PHOENIX (Aug. 25, 2008) - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Director Steve Owens announced today that the Town of Miami in Gila
County has become the latest small municipality in Arizona to
participate in ADEQ's statewide program to help communities comply with
state and federal environmental regulations. 

ADEQ unveiled its Small Communities Environmental Compliance Assistance
project in 2007 for small towns and special water and wastewater
districts to sustain compliance with state and federal environmental
laws and reduce the number of violations and enforcement actions. 

The project was funded by a $12,000 grant from the Environmental Council
of States (ECOS) for the communities to develop Small Community
Environmental Protection Plans (SCEPP) to improve compliance. Guidance
materials, including a comprehensive manual, have been prepared to train
small communities on environmental requirements and help with SCEPP
development.

"We are very pleased that Miami is a leader in this effort," Director
Owens said. "We are committed to providing small communities with the
assistance they need in light of their limited resources to comply with
the various environmental laws.  Our experience is that small
communities want to do the right thing and just need a little help to do
that.  We hope that other small towns throughout Arizona will follow
Miami's lead and take part in this program."
 
As part of the program, Miami agrees to disclose known environmental
violations within the town, request compliance assistance before
enforcement actions begin, participate in compliance evaluation to
identify violations and to promptly correct known violations. In so
doing, the town will be eligible for up to a 100 percent penalty
reduction if it has future environmental violations. 

"This is really a win-win for everyone," Owens said.  "The environment
and public health is protected by getting environmental problems
identified and addressed, and the communities benefit by getting the
compliance assistance they need and avoiding potentially costly
penalties. The result will be increased compliance, enhanced
relationships with small communities and a cleaner environment for all
Arizonans."

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News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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