Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)
Most federal actions against businesses or individuals for failure to comply with the environmental laws are resolved through settlement agreements. As part of a settlement, an alleged violator may propose to undertake a project to provide tangible environmental or public health benefits to the affected community or environment, that is closely related to the violation being resolved, but goes beyond what is required under federal, state or local laws. The voluntary agreement to perform a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) is one factor that is considered in determining an appropriate settlement penalty. EPA supports the inclusion of SEPs in appropriate settlements.
On this page:
- Policy and Background Guidance
- Facts About SEPs
- Searching for Settlements with SEPs in ECHO
- Submit a SEP Project Idea to EPA
Policy and Background Guidance
EPA's Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) was updated on March 10, 2015: 2015 Update to the 1998 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Supplemental Environmental Projects Policy (Update)
EPA’s 2015 update to its Supplemental Environmental Projects Policy fully revises and supersedes all prior versions of the SEP Policy. It also reflects and incorporates by reference other previously issued SEP-related memoranda and guidance documents, which are maintained for reference purposes because they may contain more detailed discussions of certain issues. However, the Update supersedes any inconsistencies between these documents and the Update.
Facts About SEPs
- SEPs are projects included as part of an enforcement settlement that provide a tangible environmental or public health benefit.
- SEPs are projects that could not be required or compelled by EPA, and are not otherwise legally required (at the federal, state or local level), and thus provide benefits that go beyond compliance obligations.
- To ensure that EPA is appropriately extending its prosecutorial discretion in the matter of SEPs, projects submitted by a defendant for consideration must have a strong “nexus”, or connection, to the violations being resolved, and advance the goals of the statute from which the violations stemmed.
- Generally, the project must involve the same pollutant or same health effects as were involved in the violations being resolved, addressing the same adverse impacts or risks to which the violations contributed, or preventing future similar violations.
- Accordingly, each SEP proposed in a settlement must be evaluated in the context of the facts of that specific case, and project ideas cannot be completely analyzed without that context.
- There is no SEP “program: EPA does not develop, fund or implement SEPs, and they are not a “funding mechanism” for projects. The SEP Policy is an enforcement settlement policy only.
- Defendants/respondents may use contractors or other third-parties to help implement the projects. However, a SEP is a project a defendant/respondent has committed to perform and cannot simply be cash payments or donations.
- SEPs are voluntary, and EPA may not demand or require that a defendant perform a SEP.
- SEPs are developed and implemented by a defendant/respondent, and are included in a settlement only if a defendant/respondent is interested, and proposes a project that meets the legal and other requirements of the SEP Policy.
- EPA maintains the right to reject a SEP, but the Agency does not impose its preference for particular projects on defendants/respondents.
- SEPs may not be directed, controlled or managed by EPA.
- SEPs cannot “augment” any existing federal funding or appropriations, by providing additional resources to perform the same activity or supplementing the resources Congress has provided to perform federal functions. SEPs cannot be undertaken using federal loans, federal grants, or any other form of federally-provided financial assistance.
- SEPs are not a diversion of penalty funds. Under EPA’s penalty policies, factors such as self-disclosure, cooperation, or good faith efforts to comply may result in a downward adjustment of an initial penalty calculation. The SEP Policy provides for such consideration of a defendant/respondent’s willingness to implement a SEP.
- Settlements with SEPs always include a final settlement penalty that retains the deterrent value of the settlement. The penalty includes a component that addresses the gravity of the violation, and a component that recoups the economic benefit that the violator realized from its non-compliance, to maintain a level playing field with competitors who remained in compliance.
- In many cases, defendants enter into negotiations with a SEP proposal already in mind. EPA encourages defendants to reach out to the affected communities about project ideas, and, if the Agency is aware of projects with community support, provides such information to defendants, for their consideration.
Searching for Settlements with SEPs in ECHO
Information on settlements that included SEPs can be found in EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database. ECHO includes information, including a description of any SEP, for settlements concluded from FY 2001 to the present. Such information is illustrative of successful SEPs, but, since the circumstances of individual cases differ, and “one-size-does-not-fit-all,” inclusion of a certain project in a settlement does not mean it will be appropriate in another context.
- How to Access and Search ECHO
- Downloadable Excel Spreadsheet Containing ECHO Search Results for Settlements with SEPs
- How to Find Administrative Settlements
- How to Find Judicial Consent Decrees
How to Access and Search ECHO
To access information about SEPs in concluded settlements:
1. Go to: ECHO
2. Click on Find Cases
3. Click on More Search Options.
4. Use the pull-down menus to fill in search parameters:
- Facility Locations: Users can search for SEPs in settlements that occurred in specific EPA Regions, or by City and State.
- Case Attributes: Users can search for SEPs in settlements for violations of specific statutes and/or sections. In addition, search parameters include type of settlement (judicial/administrative, federal facility, multimedia, voluntary self-disclosure, enforcement program and type, and national priority area.)
- Case Milestones and Dates: Users can search for judicial or administrative settlements by status (lodged, filed, etc.,) by fiscal year or by date range.
- Enforcement Outcomes/Settlements: Users can search for settlements that included SEPs by penalty amount, cost recovery awarded, complying action, SEP activity category, and/or total value of SEP.
5. ECHO will generate a report: This report will lists all settlements that meet the search parameters. From this list, links to more detailed settlement information will be available.
If you check “Interactive Map” under the Results View, ECHO will generate a map of the area selected under “Facility Locations” and a table of information about the cases that meet the search criteria. If you select a broad geographic area for your search, the search table will generate rows by state/territory; if you click on a state/territory it will open into a more detailed table. You can customize the columns for and download the more detailed table into a searchable spreadsheet.
If you check “Data Table” under the Results View, ECHO will generate a table of data. You can customize columns for the table and then download the data into a searchable spreadsheet.
Note: The Help section of ECHO contains useful information about how to use ECHO, including information on terminology, searches and data results.
Downloadable Excel Spreadsheet Containing ECHO Search Results for Settlements with SEPs
EPA has created a downloadable Excel spreadsheet that contains the ECHO search results for concluded settlements with SEPs that had either a final judicial order entered, or final administrative order issued since the date of the current SEP Policy (March 2015). Note that the search results may include settlements that were entered or issued prior to March 2015, but that have since been modified.
EPA plans to update this downloadable file quarterly. The downloadable spreadsheet provides the following subset of the information available in ECHO:
- Case Number
- Case Name
- Case Category Description
- Court Docket Number
- Primary Law
- Primary Law Section
- Pollutant(s)
- Settlement Date
- Federal Penalty
- SEP Cost
- SEP Categories
- SEP Description
Other than selecting these columns for the ECHO report and organizing them into this order, EPA has not curated this list or edited any of the information available in ECHO. You may access the Civil Enforcement Case Report for a settlement via ECHO (see above). Although the spreadsheet contains information about SEPs that were included in past settlements, that does not mean these projects would be appropriate in any future settlement. SEPs must be tailored to the specific facts of the case and are not appropriate in all cases.
Downloadable ECHO Spreadsheet (xlsx) - (Spreadsheet for 3/10/2015 to 9/30/2024)
How to Find Administrative Settlements
EPA administrative enforcement settlements (e.g., Consent Agreements and Final Orders (CAFOs)) can be accessed through the EPA Administrative Enforcement Docket for cases commenced in EPAs regional offices (though this list may not be comprehensive) and through the Environmental Appeals Board’s (EAB’s) Unpublished Final Orders web page for cases commenced at EPA Headquarters.
How to Find Judicial Consent Decrees
Many civil judicial consent decrees can be located by searching EPA’s Civil Cases and Settlements webpage by case name. Judicial consent decrees may also be located by searching legal databases.
Submit a SEP Project Idea to EPA
EPA has long encouraged the inclusion of SEPs in enforcement settlement agreements as a way to provide real environmental or public health benefits to communities impacted by violations. EPA encourages defendants to reach out to the affected communities about project ideas, and, if the Agency is aware of projects with community support, provides such information to defendants, for their consideration.
Over the years, the method for how the public could share potential SEP ideas with EPA has not been consistent, in part because the public cannot participate in confidential settlement discussions.
EPA is piloting a program for the public to submit their ideas for potential SEPs that can benefit a community impacted by violations of environmental statutes. With this pilot, EPA has created an email inbox for projects ideas that potentially may be included in settlement agreements. Submitted SEP project ideas, with sufficient detail that meet our legal and policy criteria, can be shared with interested defendants if they ask during settlement negotiations with EPA.
All proposed projects must meet the requirements of the Agency’s SEP policy before they could be considered as part of a settlement, including that the project has a legal and geographic connection to the underlying violations. A defendant has to be interested in pursuing a SEP project and not simply in transferring funds for a project. EPA cannot demand that any or a specific SEP be included in a settlement.
EPA plans to run the pilot for one year. After that, EPA will evaluate the project and decide, among other things, whether continuing this project is appropriate or whether the Agency should develop alternative methods for the public to submit potential SEP ideas.
When submitting your idea please consider sharing the information described below to help with evaluating a project idea:
|
Type of Information |
Description of Information |
|---|---|
|
Title |
A short but descriptive title helps us when referencing your idea. |
|
Description |
Details about the project idea would make it easier for the defendant to consider whether it is interested in the project, and help EPA determine if the project would meet the SEP Policy |
|
Benefits |
Information about the public health or environmental benefits, or both, from the project can be helpful. For instance:
This information will help us determine whether the project is consistent with the SEP Policy. |
|
Locality |
Geographic information about the project idea is helpful and can include location information such as an address, zip code, county, state, territory, Tribal lands. This information will allow defendants and EPA to identify submitted projects that may benefit the communities affected by alleged violations. |
|
Cost |
If there is any known cost information about what is needed to implement the project idea it would be useful to an interested defendant. |
|
Contact Information |
If a defendant is interested in learning more about your idea, are you or someone else willing to provide contact information? If so, you can include contact information such as a name, and email or phone number. |