[ADEQ Media] Eastern Arizona Town of Eagar Joins ADEQ's Small Communities Compliance Assistance Program

Wed Sep 30 10:28:09 MST 2009

PHOENIX (Sept. 30, 2009) -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
officials announced today that the Town of  Eagar in Apache County is
the most recent municipality to participate in ADEQ's statewide program
to help communities comply with state and federal environmental
regulations.

ADEQ began 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. Eagar
is the seventh municipality in the state to join the program along with
Willcox, Safford, Springerville, Winslow, Pima and Miami.

As part of the program, Eagar 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.

"We congratulate Eagar for leading the way on environmental cooperation
and sustainability and hope other small towns will join the program,"
said ADEQ Director Benjamin H. Grumbles. "Small communities in the state
have limited financial resources and we are committed to helping them
comply with environmental laws and be good green stewards."

Town of Eagar officials will be presented with a certificate of their
achievement at the Apache and Navajo Counties Mayor and Councilmembers
Association quarterly meeting at noon on Oct. 5 at the Show Low Public
Library.

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.

More information about the program:
http://www.azdeq.gov/function/compliance/smallcomm.html

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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
ms15@azdeq.gov."

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