Who do I contact for environmental problems and emergencies?

Generally for non-emergency environmental violations, call your state and local environmental offices listed in your phone book. They have the responsibility for enforcing most environmental laws in the area where you live. Your compliant may trigger an unannounced, random inspection of the facility. Examples of non-emergency environmental violations might include: smoke or other emissions from local industrial facilities, late night dumping, tampering with emission control systems in automobiles), non-permitted dredging, and so forth.

Also contact the EPA’s Regional Office where you live to get contact names and phone listings. Some regions can be contacted through e-mail or through a anonymous toll-free hotline, to report problems or suspected violations.

Environment emergencies: call 911 immediately or immediately notify the federal government’s centralized reporting center, the National Response Center Hotline at 1-800-424-8802. It is operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by the U.S. Coast Guard personnel. If reporting directly is not an option, reports can also be made to the EPA Regional Office or the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in the area where the incident occurred.

Examples of environmental emergencies include oil and chemical spills, radiological and biological discharges, and accidents causing releases of pollutants. These emergencies may occur from transportation accidents, events at chemical or other facilities using or manufacturing chemicals, or as a result of natural or man-made disaster events.

Also, State and local environmental agencies play a important role in responding to such emergencies. See the yellow pages in your local phone directory for the listing. In most communities, the responsible agency is the city or county health department. In addition, some agencies have a spill line for environmental emergencies.