La. Admin. Code tit. 33 § I-2505

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section I-2505 - Project Categories

A. A BEP must be within one or more of the following categories.

1. Public Health. A public health project provides diagnostic, preventative, and/or remedial components of human health care that is related to the actual or potential damage to human health caused by a violation of environmental law or mismanagement of substances containing constituents detrimental to human health. This may include, but is not limited to, epidemiological data collection and analysis, medical examinations of potentially affected persons, collection and analysis of blood/fluid/tissue samples, medical treatment, and rehabilitation therapy.

2. Pollution Prevention

a. A pollution prevention project is one that reduces the generation of pollution through "source reduction," i.e., any practice that reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise being released into the environment, prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal. (After the pollutant or waste stream has been generated, pollution prevention is no longer possible and the waste must be handled by appropriate recycling, treatment, containment, or disposal methods.)

b. Source reduction may include equipment or technology modifications, process or procedure modifications, reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw materials, and improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, inventory control, or other operation and maintenance procedures. Pollution prevention also includes any project which protects natural resources through conservation or increased efficiency in the use of energy, water, or other materials. In-process recycling, wherein waste materials produced during a manufacturing process are returned directly to production as raw materials on site, is considered a pollution prevention project.

c. In all cases, for a project to meet the definition of pollution prevention, there must be an overall decrease in the amount and/or toxicity of pollution released to the environment, not merely a transfer of pollution among media. This decrease may be achieved directly or through increased efficiency (conservation) in the use of energy, water, or other materials.

3. Pollution Reduction. If the pollutant or waste stream already has been generated or released, a pollution reduction approach, which employs recycling, treatment, containment, or disposal techniques, may be appropriate. A pollution reduction project is one that results in a decrease in the amount and/or toxicity of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise being released into the environment by an operating business or facility by a means which does not qualify as "pollution prevention." This may include the installation of more effective end-of-process control or treatment technology, or improved containment, or safer disposal of an existing pollutant source. Pollution reduction also includes "out-of-process recycling," wherein industrial waste collected after the manufacturing process and/or consumer waste materials are used as raw materials for production off-site.

4. Environmental Restoration and Protection. An environmental restoration and protection project is one that goes beyond repairing the damage caused by the violation to enhance the condition of any ecosystem or geographic area. These projects may be used to restore or protect natural environments (including ecosystems) and man-made environments (including the removal/mitigation of contaminated materials, such as soils, asbestos, and leaded paint, from facilities and buildings). Also included is any project which protects the ecosystem from actual or potential damage resulting from violations of state environmental regulations or improves the overall environmental condition of the ecosystem or geographic area. Examples of these projects include: restoration of a wetland; purchase and management of a watershed area or environmentally sensitive area; and providing for the protection of endangered species, i.e., developing conservation programs or habitat protection and enhancement.

5. Assessments and Audits

a. The four types of assessments/audits are:

i. pollution prevention assessments;

ii. site assessments;

iii. environmental management system audits; and

iv. compliance audits.

b. These assessment or audit projects must be performed by an entity approved by the department. The defendant/respondent must agree to provide a certified copy of the assessment or audit to the department along with an implementation report to detail the action(s) taken and/or to defend the facility's decision to forego implementation of the suggested changes listed in the audit report. Settlement agreements which include assessment and/or audit projects may be constructed with stipulated penalty amounts for failure to implement suggested changes included in the report that the department deems appropriate based on an assessment of the certified implementation report provided by the facility. Assessments and audits may not include projects that are required by enforcement and/or legal requirements.

6. Environmental Compliance Promotion. An environmental compliance promotion project provides training or technical support to identify, achieve and maintain compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements; avoid committing a violation with respect to such statutory and regulatory requirements; go beyond compliance by reducing the generation, release, or disposal of pollutants to a level below the legally required limits; or promote environmental education, including awareness of potential risks or harm to the public health and the environment. In all cases, the department will specify the approved party responsible for developing and providing the environmental compliance promotion project. Acceptable projects may include, but are not limited to, the production and or sponsorship of seminar(s) related to environmental obligations, regulations, and improvement techniques.

7. Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and Response. An emergency planning and preparedness project provides assistance to a responsible state or local emergency planning, preparedness, or response entity. This is to enable these organizations to further fulfill their obligations to collect information to assess the dangers of hazardous chemicals present in a response situation, to develop emergency plans and/or procedures, to train emergency response personnel, and to better respond to emergency situations. These projects may include providing computers and software, communication systems, chemical emission detection and inactivation equipment, or hazardous materials equipment or training.

8. Other Projects. Projects determined by the department to have environmental merit that do not fit within at least one of the seven categories above may be accepted if they are otherwise fully consistent with the intent of these rules.

La. Admin. Code tit. 33, § I-2505

Promulgated by the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Assessment, Environmental Planning Division, LR 26:1604 (August 2000).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:2011(D)(1), 2031, and 2050.7(E).