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Secretary Becky Keogh of the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment noted in a July 2nd memorandum that the Division of Environmental Quality’s (“DEQ”) Provisional COVID-19 Enforcement Guidance (“Arkansas Guidance”) remains in place.
The reasons for the issuance of this memorandum was the recent termination by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) of its COVID-19 enforcement policy titled:
COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program: Addendum on Termination (“Addendum”)
Arkansas has been delegated basically every federal environmental program. As a result, DEQ is, in the vast majority of instances, the relevant enforcer in the State of Arkansas related to environmental regulatory programs.
EPA’s prior guidance was, therefore, limited to instances in which the federal agency undertook enforcement actions in the state.
Secretary Keogh stated that DEQ continues to monitor the situation in Arkansas.
A copy of Secretary Keogh’s Arkansas Guidance can be downloaded here and EPA’s Addendum here.
