The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Protection signed an agreement this week to voluntarily disclose violations found through environmental compliance audits conducted by member schools.

The goal of performing self-audits is to encourage schools to develop Environmental Management Systems, an approach to managing environmental responsibilities that can help to identify ways to reduce and prevent pollution, ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and save money while improving productivity.

Many companies and organizations are afraid to conduct self-audits for fear any violations they find will come back to haunt them in the form of fines or penalties. Under this agreement, DEP and EPA agree to work with institutions to resolve any problems uncovered by self-audits without taking enforcement action.

“The Association is pleased to have the support and encouragement of EPA and DEP as we implement a program that provides a real common sense approach to environmental self-regulation on a campus,” said AICUP President Don Francis. “The specter of fines, penalties and other harsh consequences has been lifted, allowing our members to proactively identify and correct processes on campus that either conflict with environmental laws or create unknown hazards for those involved. Over the next few years, volunteer teams of peer reviewers will be walking our campuses identifying areas where improved regulatory compliance can be achieved, and they will do so with the full cooperation of the audited campus. The EPA and DEP agreement makes all of this possible.”

Victoria Justus of Turning Bird Consulting, advisor to AICUP, will be working directly with participating AICUP members and has already performed a number of on-site reviews with volunteer peer review teams.

AICUP will train Environmental Compliance Reviewers from the ranks of the personnel at the participating schools. Currently 25 of AICUP’s 83 members are participating in the program. The association hopes to increase the participation rate to more than 50 percent.

To assist schools in conducting the self-audit’s DEP Office of Energy and Technology Development created a new College and University Environmental Management System and Best Management Practices Manual to be used for this project and by other schools.

1/21/2005