Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 33 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Part I - Office of the Secretary › Subpart 1 - Departmental Administrative Procedures › Chapter 25 - Beneficial Environmental Projects › Section I-2505 - Project Categories

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
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.