Certified Unified Program Agency

Certified Unified Program Agencies, or CUPAs, are local agencies that are certified by the Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to implement the CalEPA Unified Program elements in the CUPA's jurisdiction. The CalEPA Unified Program consolidates, coordinates, and makes consistent the administrative requirements, permits, inspections, and enforcement activities of six environmental and emergency response programs in California.[1] These six programs (and their corresponding state oversight agencies) are:

The mission of the Unified Program is to protect public health and safety, to restore and enhance environmental quality, and to sustain economic vitality through effective and efficient implementation of the Unified Program.

The Unified Program was established by California Senate Bill 1082 (Calderon) in 1993. Regulations were written to implement and enforce this law and the first CUPAs were certified in 1996. There are now 83 CUPAs in California and CalEPA regularly evaluates them for compliance with established statutory and regulatory standards.[3] DTSC was also certified, effective January 1, 2005, to be the CUPA for Imperial and Trinity Counties.[4]

Under Secretary of CalEPA Jared Blumenfeld, Assistant Secretary for Local Program Coordination and Emergency Response Jason Boetzer is head of the Unified Program (February 2020 to present). Previous Assistant Secretaries were Gregory Vlasek (2017-2019), James Bohon (2012-2017), and Don Johnson (1994 -2011). [5].

CUPAs have statutory authority to require permits, inspect facilities, issue violations, and perform enforcement actions - including the authority to photograph any hazardous material or hazardous waste, container, container label, vehicle, waste treatment process, waste disposal site, or condition constituting a violation of law found during an inspection (California Health and Safety Code, Chapter 6.95, Section 25511(a) and Chapter 6.5, Section 25185(a)(5)).

References
  1. "CalEPA Unified Program". California Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  2. "CalEPA Unified Program Fact Sheet (March 2012)" (PDF). California Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  3. "More about CalEPA Unified Program". California Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  4. "DTSC CUPA Home Page". Department of Toxic Substances Control. Archived from the original on 2014-09-07. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  5. https://calepa.ca.gov/About/Bios/
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