This budget account is established as an environmental quality improvement account (EQIA) with funds collected through the Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP) program as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) as, "environmentally beneficial projects which a defendant/respondent agrees to undertake in a settlement of an enforcement action, but which the defendant/respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform." The Division of Environmental Protection's approach to SEPs is modeled after US EPA's program.
Funds related to the SEP program and other enforcement actions that result in penalties with specific uses of the funds outlined in the enforcement action for use through the EQIA will be held in this account and transferred to another Department of Conservation and Natural Resources budget account for expenditure upon identification of an appropriate related project.