A Look at EPA’s New Civil Monetary Penalty Amounts
The effective date of the new penalties was January 6, 2023.
- By Alex Saurman
- Feb 17, 2023
Last month, the EPA published a final rule outlining the new civil monetary penalty amounts for 2023.
Under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, agencies must make changes to penalties yearly based on inflation, according to the final rule. They have until January 15 to do this.
The new civil monetary penalties depend on the U.S. code citation. For example, there are three code citations under the Toxic Substances Control Act: penalties under code citation 15 U.S.C. 2615(a)(1) are $46,989; under 15 U.S.C. 2647(a), it’s $13,508; and under 15 U.S.C. 2647(g), penalties are $11,162.
Under the Clean Water Act, which has nine U.S. code citations, penalties range from $2,232 (33 U.S.C. 1321(b)(7)(A)) to $223,229 (33 U.S.C. 1321(b)(7)(D)).
The Safe Drinking Water Act includes 14 U.S. code citations. The range of penalties for all these citations ranges is $11,746 (42 U.S.C. 300j(e)(2)) to $1,643,738 (42 U.S.C. 300i-1(c)).
There are nine code citations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, with penalties from $17,570 (42 U.S.C. 6934(e) and 42 U.S.C. 6973(b)) to $117,468 (42 U.S.C. 6928(a)(3)).
The Clean Air Act has penalties ranging from $11,162 (42 U.S.C. 7413(d)(3)) to $ 446,456 (42 U.S.C. 7524(c)(1) and 42 U.S.C. 7413(d)(1)) for the six code citations.
These new penalties are only applicable to “violations that occur or occurred after November 2, 2015, where penalties are assessed on or after January 6, 2023,” according to the final rule. Penalties for assessments prior to this date can be found in the final rule.
To view the penalties of other acts, such as the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Emergency Planning And Community Right-To-Know Act, read the final rule, which can be viewed here.
The effective date of the new penalties was January 6, 2023.
About the Author
Alex Saurman is the Content Editor for Environmental Protection.