In the early days before regulation is passed, we begin what we call compliance promotion with industry. We do workshop training with them to explain what their obligations are, how they're going to have to measure or report whatever is relevant. There are extensive training workshops, written material, etc. Dry cleaning was translated into numerous languages, mail-outs, as well as sessions. We often work through industry associations to reach the regulatees and do everything we can to get out to the regulatee before the regulation comes into effect.
Who initiates the actions? Once the regulation is in effect, we have an inspection plan. That inspection plan is based on our knowledge of the degree of compliance we think is already in place when the regulation comes into effect. Usually the compliance level pretty close when the regulation comes into effect. We have a history on companies and generally have some fairly good information on who has a tendency to comply. Based on that, we'll do an inspection across the country, looking at where we expect violators.
Enforcement officers will go in and conduct inspections, and then based on that information they can use a number of different enforcement tools. Usually in first level, particularly if the industry is showing a high degree of willingness to comply, we have what's called a warning letter that writes out very clearly what the expectation is, and then we follow up on that.
If after we follow up on the warning letter there are still some violations, and if they're not of a serious nature, we have another step we can use. That is the inspector's directive, which is really like it sounds, spelling out exactly what we expect to have done and by when.
We can then go into a number of actual enforcement tools that can lead to penalties. That environmental compliance order we were talking about earlier allows us to ensure there's a stoppage of whatever the violation is.
If a charge is laid and an industry shows a high degree of willingness to comply, there's something called the environmental protection alternative measure, which is essentially a dispute resolution to avoid the costly court proceedings. If they agree to what they're going to do, we write that down and then we don't go through a court, but we follow up.
Ultimately, there are court proceedings, and the fines under CEPA are quite severe. They can go up to $1 million a day for the time a violation exists. Mr. Wright is suggesting the fines we collect be shared if there's a civil prosecution. To date, the federal government has prosecuted. We're encouraging judges to assign those fines to something called the environmental damages fund. Industry pays into that fund, and we can use the money to rehabilitate the environment, do community engagement programs, or do something related to the violation to ensure the environment is improved.