Supplemental Environmental Projects

What are Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) ?

SEPs are environmentally beneficial projects that violators of environmental laws undertake in hope of mitigating penalties an enforcement authority might otherwise impose. Effectively a form of environmental community service, SEPs are an innovative and exciting addition to the enforcement arsenal.

State SEP Policies and Model Practices

Supplemental Environmental Projects: A Fifty State Survey with Model Practices - a joint publication of UC Hastings Public Law Research Institute and the ABA - reviews and analyzes SEP laws, policies, and practices for every state. The result of a two-year study, the Report demonstrates how SEP policies can be designed to improve conditions in communities faced with environmental violations. The Report guides policy-makers through the options that are available in designing effective SEP policies, and provides community advocates and attorneys with the state-specific information they need to use SEPs to address community needs. The February 2007 edition of the report includes new material in the model practices section, as well as Arizona and Colorado.

• Read the February 2007 edition of the Report ( 1M )
• Read the Executive Summary
• View a presentation on SEPs by Steven Bonorris (March 2006)

SEP Updates and News

• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issues directive on the deductibility of SEPs.
• New law review article takes provocative positions on EPA SEP Policy.

Praise for the Report:

"Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) are an under-utilized settlement tool that can promote collaborative efforts to improve the environmental quality of affected communities. This excellent Survey provides the requisite grounding in model state policy and practice to help those using SEPs make a tangible difference through solution-oriented collaborative processes." Langdon Marsh, Fellow with the National Policy Consensus Center at Portland State University. Read more reactions to the Report.

Other Organizations Active in SEP Research

• The National Policy Consensus Center is actively exploring the potential for SEPs to increase collaborative governance in environmental regulation. In May 2007, NPCC issued a report based on a 2006 colloquium co-sponsored by US EPA, documenting the value of a collaborative approach to designing and implementing SEPs that could leverage other resources for environmental and community benefit. The report is available online.
• Suzy Canales recently wrote a report critical of the current implementation of SEPs in refinery enforcement actions. The report, "Supplemental Environmental Projects: The Most Affected Communities Are Not Receiving Satisfactory Benefits," is available online.

SEP Documents Online

• U.S. EPA's website provides links to all of the federal guidance memoranda on SEPs on this page. EPA also provides background information on SEPs.
• We are creating a state by state list of links to online SEP policies, available by year's end.

Email us for more information on our work on SEPs, on environmental justice, to join our email distribution list or to learn more about the Center for State and Local Government and its work.