The Town of Springerville in Apache County has become the first small town in northeast Arizona to participate in ADEQ's statewide program to help communities comply with state & federal environmental regulations.
ADEQ unveiled its Small Communities Environmental Compliance Assistance project in 2007 for small towns & special water & wastewater districts to sustain compliance with state & federal environment allaws & reduce the number of violations & 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 & help with SCEPP development.
"We are very pleased that Springerville 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 & just need a little help to do that. We hope that other small towns throughout Northern Arizona will follow Springerville's lead & take part in this program."
As part of the program, Springerville agrees to disclose known environmental violations within the town, request compliance assistance before enforcement actions begin, participate in compliance evaluation to identify violations & to promptly correct known violations. In so doing, the town will be eligible for up to a 100% penalty reduction if it has future environmental violations.
"This is really a win-win for everyone," Owens said. "The environment & public health is protected by getting environmental problems identified & addressed, & the communities benefit by getting the compliance assistance they need & avoiding potentially costly penalties. The result will be increased compliance, enhanced relationships with small communities & a cleaner environment for all Arizonans."