Compliance

Miniature Beverage Containers

Compliance

In the 2024 Federal Fiscal Year (FFY 24: October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024), there were 2,570 inspections* performed by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), an increase of approximately 13 percent more than the previous year but nine percent less than the previous ten-year average. In FFY 24, there were also 1,222 enforcement actions, which included 1,084 “Informal Enforcement Actions”, consisting of Notices of Violation (NOV), Notice of Non-Compliance (NON), and warning letters; 121 “Formal Enforcement Actions”; and 17 “Referrals” to the Attorney General/Environmental Protection Agency. 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 minor or major violations; in cases of the latter type, the recipient might also receive an order, which might carry a financial penalty.

As depicted in the Enforcement Actions chart, the Bureau of Materials Management was responsible for 835 of the enforcement actions or approximately 68 percent of the total in FFY24. The Bureau of Air Management, which includes Radiation, was responsible for 240 enforcement actions that consisted primarily of 183 NOVs and 56 consent orders. The Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse was responsible for 147 enforcement actions that consisted primarily of 45 NONs and 83 NOVs.⁹⁹ The decline in inspections over the last ten years and variations in enforcement actions by Bureaus is likely due to a variety of factors, including but not limited to, enforcement priorities, use of general permits, reduction in staffing, and federal jurisdiction.

_{Technical Note: *FFY 2022 was the first year DEEP reported Emergency Response Unit (ERU) data. To ensure consistency with previous years’ data, the number of inspections attributed to the ERU were subtracted from the total number of inspections reported in FFY 2022, FFY 2023, and FFY 2024.}

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⁹⁹ _{DEEP, 2024 Enforcement Statistics (10/01/23 - 09/30/24); portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Enforcement/Reports/Annual-Environmental-Reports.}