FY 2005 Environmental Enforcement Training Report 

December 2005 

Office of Compliance 

Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (MC 2224-A) 

Washington, D.C. 20460 

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/data/results/training/index.html 
EPA FY 2005 Training 

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National Enforcement Training Institute 

Environmental Enforcement Training Report 

FY 2005 
EPA FY 2005 Training 

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FY 2005 Environmental Enforcement Training Report 

Compiled by U.S. EPA’s 

National Enforcement Training Institute 

 This report captures environmental enforcement training activities by the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) both at the Headquarters and Regional level. By 

reporting and coordinating these activities, the National Enforcement Training Institute 

(NETI) recognizes the achievements of those involved and encourages continued efforts to 

provide quality training for environmental enforcement professionals around the country. The 

detail of the report is divided into two sections: Headquarters and Regional Offices. 

In summary, EPA’s enforcement and compliance program trained 12,650 persons in 

fiscal year 2005, through a combination of classroom, computer and videotape training. 

This includes 7,807 by Headquarters offices and 4,843 by Regional offices. This compares 

to 15589 total students trained during 2004 and 12254 trained during FY 2003 

 NETI, created by Congress in 1991, is responsible for training Federal, state, local, and 

tribal enforcement professionals, such as lawyers, inspectors, civil and criminal investigators, 

and technical experts, in the enforcement of the nation’s environmental laws. Quality training 

courses are provided for enforcement personnel in a number of areas, such as case support, 

specific statute enforcement, compliance assistance, and environmental criminal enforcement. 

By using traditional classroom training, distance learning, and cooperative agreements with other 

organizations, NETI’s strategy is to promote a balanced training approach to environmental 

enforcement training. 

 NETI is a division within the Office of Compliance (OC) which is in the Office of 

Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). During this past year, NETI moved laterally 

within OECA to the Office of Compliance from the Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics 

and Training. As a part of the transition, a Task Force of 12 persons from EPA Headquarters and 

Regional offices conducted a study and prepared recommendations for NETI’s role in 

enforcement and compliance assurance training. Out of the Task Force recommendations, three 

groups were formed and began work in FY 2005: a senior managers’ training council, a training 

measures and evaluation workgroup, and a team to implement specific recommendations of the 

task force. In addition, Marcia E. Mulkey assumed leadership as the new director of NETI 

during FY 2005. Marcia brings substantial enforcement, educational and executive management 

experience from her 10 years of service as former role as Region 3 Regional Counsel and her 

most recent 2 years of service as a visiting professor of law at Temple University. 

Besides teaching and managing a number of its own courses, NETI continues to serve as 

the coordinating office for enforcement and compliance monitoring training that is created, 

taught or contracted for by OECA offices, and reports Regional office activities. 
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at Headquarters

 The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) is located at EPA 

Headquarters and is composed of five program offices and staff offices that include the Offices 

of Civil Enforcement, Compliance, Criminal Enforcement ,Site Remediation, Federal Activities, 

Environmental Justice and other special support /policy staff offices. Training resources are 

generally decentralized within the organization; thus each office within OECA is responsible for 

developing and delivering training courses for its areas of expertise and programs for which it 

serves as national manager. For example; the Office of Criminal Enforcement train investigators, 

the Office of Civil Enforcement train case developers and attorneys and the Office of 

Compliance train inspectors and compliance assistance providers. 

 

Training Statistics

The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), as reported through 

NETI, trained 7,807 Federal, state, local, tribal and international personnel through 180 different 

course deliveries in FY 2005. Training state, local and tribal personnel remained a strong focus, 

as a combined total of 4,978 students, or 63%, were trained from these organizations. A total of 

2,225 Federal employees received training (29%), and international and other students numbered 

604 (8%). 

 

Students Trained in FY 05

Federal 

2225 

28%29%

State/Local 

4828 

62% 

International/Other 

604

8%

Tribal 151

2%

 

EPA FY 2005 Training 

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EPA FY 2005 Training 

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Number of Students Trained by Delivery

8000

9000

1816 1350

2377 2362 3048

930

5991 

5748 3970 3878

5221

7272

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

FY 05 FY 04 FY 03 FY 02 FY 01 FY 00

Classroom

Computer Video

Of the 7,807 trainees, 1,816 persons, or 23%, were trained via non-classroom 

courses and products this year. Most of these students used computer-based products such 

as CD-ROM and web-based training. 

NETI Impact on OECA specific training activities during FY 2005 

State Assoc (1870)

24%

NETI (2040) 

26%

Rest of OECA (3897)

50%

NETI (2040) 

State Assoc (1870)

Rest of OECA (3897)

Note: 

OECA totals do not include students trained through STAG programs which do not report through the annual reporting process 

NETI-Direct represent courses taught, managed, distributed or sponsored directly by NETI staff 
Total OECA Trained Students By Employer 

Employer FY 2005 FY 2004 FY 2003 FY 2002 FY 2001

Federal 2225 2500 2178 2508 2470 

State 4828 2617 2912 2610 4462 

Local* 0 0 450 552 265 

Tribal 150 254 487 250 428 

International 453 280 155 138 557 

Other 151 97 165 182 87 

EPA FY 2005 Training 

TOTAL 7807 5748 6347 6240 8269 

* state and local numbers combined for FY 2004 and 2005 

raining Highlights

eloped or delivered training this year. Following are highlights of the new 

r unique courses. 

he Office of Compliance (OC)

ion 

500.1 for 

ry of the UST program, financial responsibility requirements, and the federal 

ST regulations. 

T

 Various offices within the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA), 

including NETI, dev

o

T

 For the first time, NETI is now hosting on its web site a course that was created outside 

OECA by EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER). The Introduct

to the Underground Storage Tanks (UST) Program and Basic UST Inspector Training 

Course is designed to meet the training requirements for inspectors under EPA Order 3

the Underground Storage Tanks (UST) program. Topics include preparation for field 

inspections, on-site equipment inspections, compliance records review, purpose and goals of the 

UST program, histo

U

5
EPA FY 2005 Training 

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he Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training (OCEFT)

gulatory 

ercise at a mock facility, provided 

e students with a unique and effective training opportunity. 

he Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ)

l Justice, 

hich provides consistent, high-quality EJ training to EPA staff around the country. 

he Office of Federal Activities (OFA)

, 

rship Initiative, and the 

ternational Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement. 

liance 

s in 

articipants attended a French session and a total of 60 students attended two English sessions. 

 

T

 The Criminal Investigations Division’s Training Office located at the Federal Law 

Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, GA, headed a multi-agency team which developed a 

new comprehensive project called the Clean Air Act Enforcement Training Program. The 

pilot course was delivered October 26 – 28, 2004 to a class of 30 students; the second program 

was offered May 17 – 19, 2005, also with 30 students participating. Subject-matter experts and 

practitioners in all facets of Clean Air enforcement, investigations, prosecutions and re

enforcement prepared instructional modules which focused on the efforts required to 

successfully investigate and prosecute Clean Air Act violations, such as enforcement tactics, 

technology, and successful prosecution planning. Classroom instruction, coupled with visual 

demonstrations of actual industry technology and a practical ex

th

T

 Staff members from the Office of Environmental Justice completed a training program 

developed for OECA staff which taught basic environmental justice (EJ) concepts and assisted 

employees in incorporating EJ concepts into their regular work activities. In cooperation with 

NETI, OEJ also developed its first web-based course, Introduction to Environmenta

w

T

 The International Enforcement Division presented the Principles of Environmental 

Law and Enforcement twice in the Middle East in May 2005 – Amman, Jordan, and Manama

Bahrain. In addition to the course, participants discussed additional capacity building and the 

need for a regional environmental enforcement network to support their work. Each course was 

attended by a mix of stakeholders from the host country as well as several other countries in the

region, including Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. 

Funding was provided by the Department of State, the Middle East Partne

In

 An executive version of the Principles of Environmental Enforcement and 

Compliance was presented at the 7th International Conference for Environmental Comp

and Enforcement in Marrakech, Morocco, in April 2005. The course built capacity for 

implementing compliance and enforcement programs in a variety of governments and cultures, 

and stimulated creative thinking on ways to implement national goals, laws and requirement

a manner that effectively changes behavior to achieve desired environmental results. Forty 

p
EPA FY 2005 Training 

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Partnerships

 NETI continued to provide funding to four Regional Environmental Enforcement 

Associations to assist in providing training at the state and local levels. These organizations are 

alliances of regulatory, law enforcement, and prosecution agencies and were created by the states 

to support the effective enforcement of environmental statutes, with an emphasis on criminal 

enforcement. In addition to providing training, they offer networking opportunities, information 

support services, and technical assistance to their 47 member states and four Canadian provinces. 

In FY 2005, the State Associations trained a combined total of 1,870 students.

S Midwest Environmental Enforcement Association (MEEA), located in St. Charles, IL, 

trained 116 members 

S Northeast Environmental Enforcement Project (NEEP), located in Trenton, NJ, trained 

242 members 

S Southern Environmental Enforcement Network (SEEN), located in Montgomery, AL, 

trained 603 members 

S Western States Project (WSP), located in Phoenix, AZ, trained 909 members 

 

Training Facilities

 Besides providing training in EPA’s Regional Offices around the country and at other 

state locations, NETI manages two state-of-the-art training sites: 

 

S NETI-Headquarters: over 21,500 people attended various training activities, 

meetings, and video conferences in this facility, located in the historic Ariel Rios building 

in downtown Washington, DC. 

S NETI-West: 3,474 people used the training space at NETI-West, which is 

located in Lakewood, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. 

For more information . . .

 NETI’s web site can be found at www.epa.gov/compliance/training/neti. The Catalog 

and Schedule of OECA’s courses, as well as other training information and materials, are 

available on the web site. If you have other questions, please contact NETI at 202-564-2430. 
EPA FY 2005 Training 

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EPA Regional Offices

NETI coordinated with the EPA Regional Offices on enforcement training. An 

Enforcement Training Coordinator in each Regional enforcement program worked with NETI 

staff to provide information and assistance on a variety of training matters, including reporting 

training needs, helping with classroom courses, and disseminating information to their 

colleagues. 

 EPA’s Regional Offices provide a number of training opportunities for their staff as well 

as for state, local, and tribal government personnel located within their respective Regions. For 

the purposes of this report, only those training activities related to enforcement and compliance 

monitoring are included. Following are some training highlights for FY 2005: 

Region 4:

 In addition to their own field work and caseload activity, employees of the EPA Region 4 

office in Athens, Georgia, train Federal, state and local enforcement personnel in the same skills 

that they use. For instance, Introduction to Water Quality Assessments was presented in 

December 2004 to teach water quality monitoring techniques and field monitoring procedures. 

Students spent two days in the classroom covering subject areas such as field study planning, 

sampling procedures for various media, stream flow, sediment oxygen demand and microbial 

studies. A half-day field trip illustrated the techniques reviewed in the lectures. 

 Region 4 staff members often take courses on the road to their state partners as well as to 

other parts of the country as time and funding allows. Murfreesboro, Tennessee, hosted Region 

4’s Hazardous Waste Site Sampling Course in October 2004. The 3-day course included 

sessions on groundwater, surface water, soil, sediment and waste sampling, plus techniques for 

air monitoring, geophysical applications, and documenting field activities. Because Tennessee 

was planning to participate in the Contract Laboratory Program (CLP), a half-day session was 

dedicated to explaining the CLP and teaching how to use the FORMS2 Lite software required by 

the program. Several laptop computers were set up for hands-on training. The class also 

participated in a field demonstration to observe and operate some of the equipment used in 

environmental investigations. 
EPA FY 2005 Training 

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Region 6:

EPA Region 6 provided several opportunities for training and networking in FY 2005. 

The 9th Annual Region 6 NPDES Inspector Training was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 

May 2005, where about 140 NPDES inspectors attended from five different states within Region 

6. Several Federal, tribal and other state representatives were also in attendance. The Workshop 

provided technical information on how to conduct various types of inspections at municipal and 

industrial facilities, detailed information on various types of facility process controls, and storm 

water inspection issues. 

A total of 110 participants attended the 8th Annual Region 6 Air Inspector Workshop in 

April 2005. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality hosted the Workshop in 

Oklahoma City. Speakers included representatives from the US EPA, the US Chemical Safety 

Board, several environmental consultants, and inspectors from all of the Region 6 states. 

Regional Training Statistics

Following are training statistics for FY 2005, as reported by each Region. For the purposes of 

this report, only enforcement and compliance monitoring training activities are included. 

# of 

Deliveries 

# of Federal 

Students 

# of State & 

Local 

Students 

# of Tribal 

Students 

Total 

Students 

Region 1 12 100 251 0 351 

Region 2 30 71 652 17 740 

Region 3 14 142 441 0 583 

Region 4 26 76 610 19 705 

Region 5 24 260 647 27 934 

Region 6 21 102 613 58 773 

Region 7 0 0 0 0 0 

Region 8 3 34 47 0 81 

Region 9 15 60 278 80 418 

Region 10 15 36 200 22 258 

Totals 160 881 3739 223 4843