Compliance and Enforcement
Water Protection Program

What process does the Department of Natural Resources follow to ensure compliance with state and federal laws?

Missouri’s natural resources provide for our health, well being and enjoyment. Making sure Missouri's citizens, communities and enterprises comply with the legally required environmental protection measures is the least each of us can do to help and sustain ourselves and our neighbors. The environment we live in today and leave to our children should be the best we can make it.

Department staff are expected to work cooperatively with anyone who has an environmental
problem or concern, throughout the process of solving it. The Department is always available to offer services up front to prevent problems. Where problems occur, the Department will work with the parties involved to resolve the problems as quickly and productively as possible.

There are several purposes served by the Department’s compliance and enforcement role. The primary role is to achieve regulatory compliance with environmental laws. At a minimum, this protects human health and the environment. It also supports economic development opportunities and the quality of life in Missouri.

If a problem persists, the Department must resort to stronger means to address it. Any problem
that is not solved must be quickly elevated to the next stage so that threats to citizens’
health and Missouri resources are addressed promptly. Staff are directed to use the full
range of compliance tools to solve environmental problems and address as many aspects of
the problem as possible. Since the Department has limited resources, compliance and enforcement work also performs the important function of deterring noncompliance. Compliance and enforcement actions ensure a level playing field for those dealing with pollutants and contaminants – no one should make a profit at the expense of the health and resources of Missouri citizens.

Department staff follow the Compliance Manual for all enforcement actions. The manual is available on the Department's Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/compliancemanual/index.html.

The Department's Regional Office staff follow an Operation Manual to conduct inspections and begin investigations.  The manual is available on the Department's Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/services/opsmanual.htm

Who is required to have a water pollution Missouri State Operating Permit, or National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System?

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources requires a permit for all facilities that discharge or have the potential to discharge to waters of the state.  If the Department finds a facility that is operating without a permit, the Department will take necessary enforcement actions against the facility to obtain the necessary permit and bring the facility back into compliance.

How does the Department enforce the NPDES permits?

The Department’s primary responsibility and statutory obligation is to work with a facility to return to compliance.  The facility must ensure sustainable solutions are in place so the facility will remain in compliance and thereby ensure protection of the environment.  The Department’s formal enforcement actions may include: court orders, default judgments, or consent judgments decrees and Administrative Orders and Administrative Orders on Consent.  Most of the Department’s enforcement actions, however, are resolved informally through conference, conciliation and persuasion, which is a statutory process for handling noncompliance.  The Department works with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to finalize these out of court resolutions through Settlement Agreements.  The Settlement Agreements include the agreed upon actions and a schedule to return the facility to compliance and any civil penalty or damage amounts.

What is conference, conciliation and persuasion?

Conference, conciliation and persuasion is verbal or written communications between authorized representatives of the department and a party believed to be in violation. Conference, conciliation and persuasion is a central concept in achieving compliance and is required by several state environmental laws. Department staff can use this concept any time non-acute violations are detected. The purpose is to encourage prompt correction of violations in a productive way. Formal enforcement must be taken if the violations are not corrected. Conference, conciliation and persuasion also provides opportunities to handle enforcement cases through informal methods and strives to resolve any finding of noncompliance with statutes, rules, permits or other enforceable provisions. Conference, conciliation and persuasion is neither required nor appropriate if the violations:

What fines or penalties have the Department assessed for Clean Water Law violations?

Links to the Department’s Annual Enforcement Reports for 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 are below.  These annual enforcement reports provide an overall view of the Department’s enforcement actions and include facility names and NPDES permit numbers and the amount of fines or civil penalties that are missing from the EPA’s database.  The total civil penalties, damages, monetary payments, and delinquent permit fees collected for the last five years are:

Do any of the enforcement cases end up in court?

Yes, most of the Department’s formal enforcement actions are lawsuits which are a last resort in pursuing compliance.  The Missouri Attorney General’s Office represents the Department in most cases.  Below is an annual summary the last five years of referrals to the Attorney General’s Office.

 
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Cases Referred to Missouri Attorney General's Office*
5
12
12
12
19
Returned to compliance (resolved) through litigation
15
14
5
14
8

* 30-40 percent of cases are unpermitted (no NPDES permit)

Note: A case that is referred can take more than one year to resolve.

Why does Missouri’s enforcement data on the EPA’s Web site look incomplete?

Attached below is an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency document titled EPA guidance for CY2007.  EPA has sent this guidance document to all states to describe how data should be submitted to EPA. The document alludes to the problem EPA has when trying to compare across all states and territories.  Each state conducts its NPDES permit and enforcement activities a little differently even though all states are theoretically following the same instructions from the code of federal regulations.  EPA included instructions within the document to request states to stick to the defined terms.  In addition, EPA and the states are using different databases.  EPA uses Permit Compliance System and some states are using Integrated Compliance Information System.  The Missouri Department of Natural Resources uses its Water Quality Information System, which is uploaded into EPA’s Permit Compliance System database.  These different reporting systems make comparing states across states and states across EPA even harder.  Missouri is developing a new integrated database that will capture all permitting and compliance data. The consolidated database will upload data directly into EPA’s national database. This system is scheduled to be completed in spring of 2010.

Is the Department working on the deficit of resources necessary to address the gap between compliance and enforcement of the Missouri Clean Water Law?

The Department is aware that additional staff and funding are needed to address the gap in compliance and enforcement as well as the overall clean water effort. A concerted effort to address this shortfall began in 2005. Later in 2006, the legislature established a joint committee to consider proposals to restructure the Department's Clean Water Fees and to study the Department's implementation of the federal clean water program. The committee proposed a 50 percent increase in Clean Water Fees and an additional $3.5 million appropriation along with 20 additional staff to meet the overall clean water gap. However, the proposal developed by the joint committee was never finalized and the additional funding never materialized.

The Department is currently working with stakeholders to address the gap in resources for clean water efforts. A stakeholder meeting was held on Aug. 24, 2009 and another is scheduled for Sept. 25, 2009 to listen to recommendations as to how to address this gap.