Enforcement Orders

Environment and Conservation takes fair and consistent enforcement actions to ensure compliance with Tennessee’s environmental laws and regulations in a manner that promotes the health and well being of the state’s citizens and protects its environment.

Complying with environmental regulations is an important part of protecting public health and the environment. Environment and Conservation offers assistance for complying with the law, monitors compliance and takes enforcement action when necessary to assure compliance with environmental regulations in Tennessee.

Enforcement is a vital part of encouraging individuals, communities, businesses and industries to meet their environmental obligations. Enforcement serves a number of important goals such as returning violators to compliance and deterring misconduct in others, eliminating or preventing environmental harm, and preserving a level playing field for responsible companies that abide by the law.

Compliance with environmental laws is our goal. Environment and Conservation seeks to maximize compliance by providing increased access to timely public information about our enforcement activities. To achieve this goal, the department has developed an online application that enables the public to search our enforcement database across all divisions. Individuals can query the database by type of enforcement action and variety of other search criteria, including site location, county, action status, involved party and TDEC regulatory division.

This searchable database is a valuable public information tool for citizens and will contribute to better environmental performance in Tennessee.  While the database follows a user-friendly design, it also features a detailed Help function to assist site visitors with their query.

Accreditation, Certification and Licensing Programs

The State of Tennessee has a number of accreditation, certification, and licensing programs that may be applicable to environmental consultants, contractors, engineers, scientists and other professionals. This page contains links to the various programs administered by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and other state agencies.