OECA Memo on COVI-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program

On March 26, 2020 Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine sighed a memo announcing a “temporary policy regarding EPA enforcement of environmental legal obligations during this time.” EPA plans to “exercise the enforcement discretion specified below for noncompliance covered by this temporary policy” resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and that make a good faith effort to comply. The policy will apply retroactively back to March 13, 2020 and generally applies to civil actions. It does not apply to criminal violations or Superfund/RCRA Corrective Action enforcement instruments. It does not apply to imports, especially those pesticide products claiming to address COVID-19 impacts.