The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted a new enforcement strategy that directs enforcement staff to take a “compliance first” approach to all current and future compliance and enforcement matters.
The directive—outlined in a December 5, 2025, memorandum—aims to facilitate quick compliance and solutions with regulated entities before moving to enforcement actions. The agency intends to achieve this in part by developing a single guidance document outlining consistent criteria across all media that define specific categories of violations for formal enforcement, informal enforcement, and field warnings.
This Delve explores the details of the memorandum and its implications.
Who Is Impacted by the “Compliance First” Approach?
The memorandum applies to all current and future compliance and enforcement matters involving any regulated entity that engages with the EPA or the Department of Justice. The policy went into effect immediately.
EPA’s Guiding Factors for the “Compliance First” Approach
EPA outlined six guiding factors in its memorandum to facilitate its “compliance first” approach:
Use of an assistance toolkit (outreach, training, self-audits) to facilitate understanding and voluntary compliance.
Alignment with state partners to promote consistency and support joint civil actions.
Communication between the agency, states, Tribes, and regulated entities to avoid duplicative actions.
Implementation of nationally consistent violation findings using the best reading of the law.
Focused, streamlined, statute-driven injunctive relief (approval from EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance would be required for Supplemental Environmental Projects and other remedies).
Use of “LEAPS” (law, evidence, analysis, programmatic impact, stakeholder impact) to guide enforcement decisions.
What are the Impacts of this Compliance Approach?
Under this “compliance first” approach, EPA has signaled that it will place greater emphasis on proactive outreach, technical assistance, and training to help regulated entities understand their obligations and achieve compliance more efficiently. This could lead to fewer formal enforcement actions and more reliance on administrative actions, such as “no penalty” Administrative Orders on Consent. However, even when a regulated entity reaches a negotiated settlement with EPA, these changes may not prevent lawsuits from third parties.
The “compliance first” approach may also create opportunities to elevate questions about regulatory uncertainty to EPA leadership. This could prompt a review or reset of previous regulatory interpretations, resulting in longer negotiations. Conversely, as regulators and regulated entities develop a shared understanding of requirements, some compliance issues may become easier and faster to resolve.
EPA also paused the use of Supplemental Environmental Projects—environmentally beneficial projects that regulated entities agree to undertake as part of a settlement for an environmental violation. EPA will issue further guidance on Supplemental Environmental Projects.
How to Prepare for EPA’s Compliance Approach
Review Compliance Programs: Make sure compliance programs, standard operating procedures, etc., are up to date and being followed.
Find and Fix Problems: Take advantage of state voluntary audit disclosure programs and attorney-client privilege to find and fix compliance problems.
Communicate: Communicate early and often with state and federal regulators and develop strong relationships.
Seek Clarification: If you get a Notice of Violation, engage with internal counsel, EPA, and your state as appropriate for clarification.
