Idaho
Notices of violation and enforcement
Idaho notices of violation and enforcement
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) describes its enforcement process on its Compliance and Enforcement page. Once an inspector determines that a violation occurred, DEQ chooses a course of action based on factors that include the number, seriousness and types of previous violations and the party's willingness to comply.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name enforcement lists among its standard record sources. A violation record at a property is still worth reading, and the first job is to tell which step of the process it shows.
| Record | What DEQ says it is |
|---|---|
| Warning letter | An informal tool for gaining compliance. It informs the responsible party of apparent deficiencies or violations and requests corrective actions within a certain time. An inspector may use it for violations that are few in number, minor and easily corrected. |
| Notice of violation (NOV) | DEQ's formal legal means of informing responsible parties that violations of rules or permits have occurred. It lists the violations at the facility, an assessed penalty amount for each, and the procedure for negotiating an agreement to return the facility to compliance. |
| Consent order | The agreement drafted when the parties settle. It outlines corrective actions, time schedules and terms for payment of a penalty, if applicable. |
| Field notice of violation (FNOV) | For air quality violations only. An inspector may issue it immediately. DEQ says it is intended to respond to minor violations or visible emissions, open burning and fugitive dust requirements. |
| Referral | DEQ may refer a case to the Attorney General's office for civil or criminal enforcement, or to other local, state or federal enforcement agencies. |
Three details help in reading these records.
- An NOV usually leads to a meeting and an order. DEQ says a compliance conference usually follows an NOV, and that DEQ generally has 60 days from the NOV to reach a resolution. When a file holds an NOV, look for the consent order that closed it, or for the referral that followed, and check whether the file shows the corrective actions were done.
- Penalties are set by statute. DEQ says that under the Idaho Environmental Protection and Health Act, violators are subject to civil penalties of up to $10,000 per day per violation. For a field notice of violation, DEQ gives a minimum base penalty of $250.
- An NOV can start a cleanup. DEQ's Preliminary Assessment Program page says DEQ may issue an NOV under the Hazardous Waste Management Act or the Environmental Protection and Health Act where it finds a substantial risk at a site, and that it will then seek to alleviate the threat and may pursue penalties and cost recovery. See the Preliminary Assessment Program.
DEQ's Compliance and Enforcement page also carries guidance by industry, including autobody shops, auto repair shops, dry cleaners, electroplating and anodizing operations, printshops and salvage yards. Each of those entries says which air, hazardous waste and water rules can apply to that kind of business. Read the entry when a property has that history.
Where to look a site up
- The pages read do not describe a public list of DEQ warning letters, notices of violation or consent orders. DEQ's Compliance and Enforcement page describes the process.
- For discharge permits, DEQ's Public Records Request page points to EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online.
- DEQ's Permits page links a page it titles Petitions for Review and Precedential Orders.
Getting the file
DEQ takes requests under the Idaho Public Records Act through its Public Records Request page, which carries buttons to submit a request online, track its status and search the request archives. Ask for inspection reports, warning letters, notices of violation and consent orders for the facility. DEQ says some of its records contain confidential information and may not be released.
Sources
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 1, 2026:
- Compliance and Enforcement, last modified September 1, 2026.
- Preliminary Assessment Program, last modified January 7, 2026.
- Permits, last modified December 15, 2025.
- Public Records Request, last modified August 18, 2026.