Compliance

Compliance

In 2022, the number of inspections and enforcement actions by DEEP increased from 2021.

In the 2022 Federal Fiscal Year (FFY 22: October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022), there were more than 2,907 inspections* performed by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), an increase of almost 30 percent compared to the previous year. There had been a decline in the number of inspections performed by DEEP over the last ten years. In FFY 22, there were also 1,156 enforcement actions, which included 1,037 “Informal Enforcement Actions”, consisting of Notices of Violation (NOV), Notice of Non-Compliance (NON), and warning letters; 115 “Formal Enforcement Actions”; and four “Referrals” to the Attorney General/Environmental Protection Agency. As depicted in the chart below, the Bureau of Materials Management was responsible for 956 or approximately 83 percent of the enforcement actions. Of this total, the Underground Storage Tank section was responsible for approximately 600 enforcement actions.⁹¹

The Informal Enforcement Actions are enforcement tools, generally issued whenever DEEP detects one or more violations with a permit, at a facility, or a permitted use. Informal Enforcement Actions can be issued for relatively minor or major violations; in cases of the latter type, the recipient might also receive an order, which might carry a financial penalty. 

_{Technical Note: *FFY 2022 is the first year DEEP is reporting Emergency Response Unit (ERU) data. To ensure consistency with previous data, 1,739 inspections and nine (9) NOVs attributed to the ERU were subtracted from the total number of inspections and enforcement actions reported in FFY 2022.}

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⁹¹ _{DEEP, Department-wide Federal Fiscal Year 2022 Enforcement Statistics (10/01/21 - 09/30/22); Enforcement Statistics (Federal Fiscal Year 2022); portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Enforcement/Reports/Annual-Environmental-Reports.}