The objective of the Compliance Assistance Pilot is to improve environmental compliance within the batch chemical industry by identifying which forms of compliance assistance are most beneficial to the industry and which have the most potential for improving environmental performance. By developing mechanisms that allowed the regulated community to better understand their environmental obligations, we can increase compliance rates, which in turn will further our goal of environmental protection. Although the pilot was designed to focus on the needs of the batch chemical industry in particular, the products are useful to other segments of the regulated community as well.

     The Pilot Team, consisting of representatives from industry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) has prepared a series of materials (Compliance Assistance Materials, or CAM), that focus on the New Jersey environmental requirements.

Applicability Flow Charts: New Jersey Release and Pollution Prevention Report Community Right to Know Survey Industrial Site Recovery Act Air Pollution Control Act Subchapter 8 Discharge of Petroleum and Other Hazardous Substances Spill Compensation and Control Tax

There are three main components of the CAM: 1) a list of the major New Jersey environmental regulations with a short, plain language description and contact telephone numbers; 2) applicability flow charts for six of those regulations; and 3) a bibliography of resource materials to help facilities comply with New Jersey and federal regulations. The CAM also include brief descriptions of several NJ-based topics, including how to access NJ laws and regulations, and descriptions of current NJ DEP compliance assistance programs, such as Greenstart, Small Business Assistance Program, New Jersey Technical Assistance Program, One-Stop, and Hazardous Waste Welcome Wagon Initiative. The CAM  is posted on New Jersey's web page under the Compliance and Enforcement Division. It is also available on paper from NJ DEP (609-292-3600 or 609-633-0727).

     The Team also organized two workshops that were held in October in Trenton and Newark. The workshops featured presentations on how to comply with each of the regulations for which we have completed applicability flow charts. We also demonstrated the web site and provided copies of the CAM. The workshops were well attended and received positive feedback, with over 85 percent of the participants completing evaluation forms indicating that the presentations improved their understanding of the regulations and 98 percent commenting that they would recommend the workshop to a colleague.

     The CAM and workshops were designed to provide what facilities said they wanted in compliance assistance: materials that can be searched electronically, plain language regulations and applicability flow charts, training, and someone to contact (often anonymously) when they have questions.

     In response to the Pilot Team's enthusiasm and to the positive feedback from the regulated community to both the CAM and the workshops, NJ DEP and industry representatives have formed an ongoing Working Group with the goal of continuing the government/industry collaboration initiated by this Pilot. Through this partnership, industry representatives and NJ DEP hope to maintain an open dialogue on industry's compliance assistance needs and work jointly to identify and develop additional compliance assistance tools to meet them. A number of industry and trade association representatives on the Pilot Team and participants in the compliance assistance workshops have volunteered to participate in the Working Group along with NJ DEP staff.

     The lessons learned from this pilot are documented in the Compliance Assistance Pilot Project report "Inspiring Performance: The Government-Industry Approach to Improving Environmental Compliance" (EPA 231-R-99-002), May 1999. The report describes how the Pilot Team developed compliance assistance materials for New Jersey companies as an Industry-Government Team. You can get a copy of the report by clicking here to see or download it or by calling Catherine Tunis, U.S. EPA project manager for the NJ CIP, at 202-260-2698.

     EPA's Office of Compliance sponsors a number of compliance assistance centers. The following centers are available on the Internet:

• Printing 
• Automotive 
• Agriculture
• Metal Finishing 
• Printed Wiring Board 
• Transportation 
• Chemical Manufacturing 
• Access to All Centers

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Last Revision: March 13, 2000
http://www.epa.gov/emergingstrategies/njcip/ca.htm