In January 1981, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took its first steps toward enforcing the noncompliance penalty program authorized by §120 of the Clean Air Act.¹ A novel enforcement tool established by the 1977 amendments to the Act, §120 prescribes automatic administrative money penalties equal to the economic benefit of delayed compliance for sources still in violation with Clean Air Act requirements two years after passage of the amendments. By coupling the extended 1979 compliance deadline with immediate financial consequences for failure to comply, the penalty program was intended to provide a quick, certain, and equitable means of assuring compliance. However, implementation of §120 has followed a tortuous path, with regulations scheduled by statute for February 1978 not promulgated until July 1980. Moreover, the regulations were promptly challenged in court by industry.

In the year since the regulations became final, the Agency has made only a few attempts to assess penalties, and source operators have contested the alleged violations in several instances.Given the current administration's desire to reduce regulatory burdens and the difficulty of implementing §120, it seems doubtful that noncompliance penalties can live up to their original purpose as the centerpiece of EPA's enforcement program against stationary sources.