§1320 International Pollution Abatement

Summary

When international reports show pollution from the United States may harm people in another country and the Secretary of State asks for action, the EPA Administrator must tell the state water pollution agency where the pollution starts and may hold a public hearing. The Administrator must invite the affected foreign country to join the hearing. If the foreign country has given the United States reciprocal rights to prevent pollution in its waters, the foreign representative gets the same hearing rights as a state agency. This does not change the 1909 treaty with Canada or the 1944 treaty with Mexico. Holding a hearing does not limit the EPA’s other duties to set and enforce water quality rules. The EPA must publish a notice of the hearing in the Federal Register and use a hearing board of five or more people chosen by the Administrator. Most members and the chair must not be government employees. Within 60 days after the hearing ends, the board must decide whether the pollution is happening, write findings, and recommend fixes. Those decisions are public and the EPA must act on them. The board can require anyone who is blamed for the pollution to file a sworn report about the discharges and control methods. Trade-secret parts of the report (except effluent data) can be kept confidential under 18 U.S.C. 1905. A person who willfully fails to file a required report and stays in default for 30 days after notice loses $1,000 for each day of continued failure; that money goes to the U.S. Treasury and can be collected in court, though the Administrator may reduce or cancel the penalty. Non-government board members get pay up to the GS–18 top rate and full travel and related expense reimbursement. If the EPA approves enforcement, it must start court action when evidence supports it; the federal district court will review the case anew, may use the hearing record as evidence, and can enforce or send the matter back to the Administrator.