ADEQ (Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) officials announced last week that the Town of Snowflake in Navajo County is the most recent municipality to participate in ADEQ’s statewide program to help communities comply with state and federal environmental regulations.
ADEQ began its Small Communities Environmental Compliance Assistance Program in 2007 for small cities and towns and special water and wastewater districts to sustain compliance with state and federal environmental laws and reduce the number of violations and enforcement actions. Snowflake is the seventh municipality in the state participating in the program along with Holbrook, Show Low, Taylor, Springerville, Eagar and Winslow. The Pinetop-Lakeside Sanitary District and Naco Sanitary District also are participants in the program.
As part of the program, Snowflake agrees to develop a Small Community Environmental Protection Plan (SCEPP). In addition to developing and implementing a SCEPP, Taylor agrees to disclose known environmental violations, request compliance assistance before enforcement actions begin, participate in a compliance evaluation to identify violations and promptly correct known violations. After satisfying the above conditions, the town will be eligible for up to a 100 percent penalty reduction if it has future environmental violations.
“We are happy that Snowflake is among the leaders statewide in the effort to build sustainability and environmental cooperation and hope other small towns will join the program,” said ADEQ Director Henry Darwin. “We are committed to helping small communities in the state comply with environmental laws and be good green stewards.”
The project was funded by a $12,000 grant from the Environmental Council of States (ECOS) for the communities to develop SCEPPs to improve compliance. Guidance materials, including a comprehensive manual, have been prepared to train small communities on environmental requirements and help with SCEPP development.