[ADEQ Media] White Mountains City of Show Low Joins ADEQ's Small Communities Environmental Compliance Assistance Program

Thu May 19 12:59:02 MST 2011

PHOENIX (May 19, 2011) -- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
officials announced today that the City of Show Low in Navajo 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
Program in 2007 for small cities and 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. Show Low is the fifth municipality in the state participating
in the program along with Springerville, Eagar, Winslow and Miami. The
Pinetop-Lakeside Sanitary District also is a participant in the program.

As part of the program, Show Low agrees to develop a Small Community
Environmental Protection Plan (SCEPP). In addition to developing and
implementing a SCEPP, Show Low agrees to disclose known environmental
violations, request compliance assistance before enforcement actions
begin, participate in a compliance evaluation to identify violations and
promptly correct known violations. After satisfying the above
conditions, the city will be eligible for up to a 100 percent penalty
reduction if it has future environmental violations. 

"We are happy that Show Low is a statewide leader in the effort to build
sustainability and environmental cooperation and hope other small towns
will join the program," said ADEQ Director Henry Darwin. "We are
committed to helping small communities in the state comply with
environmental laws and be good green stewards."

The project was funded by a $12,000 grant from the Environmental Council
of States (ECOS) for the communities to develop SCEPPs 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
<http://www.azdeq.gov/function/compliance/smallcomm.html> 

-30-

"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 <mailto:ms15@azdeq.gov> ."

To receive press releases by email: http://www.azdeq.gov/subscribe.html
<http://www.azdeq.gov/subscribe.html> 

Follow ADEQ on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/azdeq
<http://www.facebook.com/azdeq> 

Follow ADEQ on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ArizonaDEQ
<http://twitter.com/ArizonaDEQ> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.azdeq.gov/pipermail/media/attachments/20110519/8adbdda2/attachment.html>