Enforcement
National Enforcement Investigations Center
NEIC located in Denver, Colorado.
The National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC) is an environmental forensic center accredited for environmental data measurement activities. The Center has a unique role in conducting complex criminal and civil enforcement investigations and applied research and development to support science for enforcement.
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Center Activities
The demands of specific environmental enforcement cases require non-standard, complex methodologies and their application. In response to these needs, NEIC conducts and develops new methodologies and innovative investigative strategies. This can include, but is not limited to, complex process based investigations, development of new methods, evaluations and modification of existing methods, expert technical consultation and advice.
NEIC is a recognized center of expertise in forensic environmental science and applied research and development. It is the only environmental forensic center in the United States accredited under ISO 17025. NEIC supports the most complex and innovative enforcement efforts for both civil and criminal enforcement and also provides forensic support for the nation's Homeland Security programs.
The Center conducts applied research to solve problems raised in the implementation of EPA rules and regulations and leads in developing innovative techniques, practices and procedures. NEIC promotes the transfer of new and/or applied technology, and works cooperatively with others who have environmental enforcement responsibilities or who work in the field of environmental science.
The NEIC's mission is international in scope and encompasses all major federal rules and regulations, as well as training other countries in environmental investigations and leading environmental science symposiums around the world.
Accreditation
The National Enforcement Investigations Center {NEIC} is an accredited environmental forensics center. The Center's operations are compliant with ISO/IEC 17025:2005(E) and supplemental forensic requirements. Forensic Quality Services-International
(FQS-I) is the accrediting body, and the accreditation scope includes field measurements/monitoring, field sampling, and laboratory measurements.
NEIC also maintains accreditation for specific methods in bulk asbestos fiber analysis. This accreditation is granted by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program, operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Benefit of Accreditation
NEIC obtained accreditation, which makes a public statement about the quality of NEIC operations. Accreditation confirms that NEIC implements a recognized and systematic approach to planning, conducting, documenting, and assessing forensic and environmental data collection activities. Accreditation demonstrates to environmental stakeholders and to the American public NEIC's ongoing commitment to sound science.
The NEIC accreditation is based on:
- The International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 17025 - the international standard for quality management in testing laboratories.
- The EPA Quality Manual (based on ANSI/ASQ E4-2004) - the American National Standards Institute/American Society for Quality Control (ANSI/ASQ) E4-2004 is the national standard adopted by the U.S. EPA for quality management of environmental data collection.
- The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) G19 - is the international guidance for forensic science laboratories, whose quality systems are based on ISO/IEC 17025. ILAC is an international cooperative for accreditation organizations worldwide.
This accreditation provides NEIC with the flexibility to develop or customize environmental data collection methodology appropriate to the variety and complexity of technical support needed to support its mission.
Accreditation Scope
This accreditation covers:
- Field measurements/monitoring
- Field sampling
- Laboratory measurements
NEIC accreditation requirements were customized to cover the Civil, Criminal, and Special program work conducted by NEIC.
The requirements encompass forensic areas including:
- Ethics
- Evidence management
- Facility security
- Witness testimony, and
- Written court statements/reports
The requirements address infrastructure items such as:
- Document control/records management
- Procurement
- Facility environment
- Safety
- Equipment inventory, maintenance, and calibration
- Training, competency demonstration, and proficiency evaluation
The accreditation includes both field and laboratory activities, because both impact the control of evidence and the quality of results, and therefore the defensibility of the measurement information.
Field Science
Field Science involves gathering information from a specific site for use in environmental investigations and enforcement activities. It can take many forms and is used in many different ways by the agency.
One important aspect of field science is site documentation. Appropriate field data must be obtained to enable the accurate and complete reconstruction of sampling locations, industrial site processes and other site conditions.
Field Science also includes data collection methods which consist of collecting information on-site. Data/samples gathered will be used as evidence in future environmental investigations and enforcement activities. In gathering samples, field personnel use a variety of screening techniques that provide immediate real-time information and others methods of gathering physical samples of pollutants and process waste streams that are sent to the NEIC laboratory for analysis.
Information Technology
The NEIC uses advanced information and computer technologies to assess, organize, and analyze information in order to prepare for investigations, settlements, negotiations, and trials.
Specialists provide a wide variety of financial, corporate, technical, scientific, and regulatory/statutory information pertaining to regulated facilities, chemicals, pollution control technologies, potentially responsible parties, and other topics.
The National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC) Environmental Forensic Library partners with NEIC's forensic scientists to retrieve, validate & deliver information to develop methods, defensible regulations, and environmental measurements. The NEIC Environmental Forensics Library is a research tool for EPA personnel and, on a limited basis to the public.
Laboratory Science
Chemical analysis is a vital part of many enforcement actions. Often, the presence of pollutants must be established with certainty by highly sensitive and selective tests. Analysis to establish the presence of pollutants is a branch of Environmental Forensics - the application of environmental science to environmental law.
EPA has defined pollutants in a series of regulations that cover specific media, such as water, air and hazardous wastes. These regulations sometimes require highly specialized testing. At NEIC, laboratory science involving the use of highly sophisticated instrumentation by expert chemists are used in this testing in order to support the enforcement mission of EPA.
Standardized testing protocols are often used to identify and quantitate chemicals that might degrade the environment or cause damage to human health. However, that are many investigations with unique challenges that require the development and use of nonstandard methods.