EPA Watchdog Calls For Improved Enforcement After Decade-Long Decline

"The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General identified a decline in enforcement activity within the agency from fiscal 2007 through fiscal 2018 in a report released Thursday.

In the report, the inspector general said the decline was primarily the result of resource constraints and leadership decisions within the agency. Those decisions included shifting resources to major cases and, as of 2017, deferring to state agencies on enforcement, according to the report.

“From 2006 through 2018, growth in the domestic economy and new laws increased the size and level of activity in key sectors that the EPA regulated, but the EPA’s capacity to meet that need decreased,” the report states.

“We recommend that the EPA’s assistant administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance complete a workforce analysis to assess the Agency’s capacity to maintain a strong enforcement field presence that protects human health and the environment and to integrate the results of this analysis into the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance’s strategic and annual planning processes,” the office added."

Zack Budryk reports for The Hill May 13, 2021.

SEE ALSO:

"EPA Probe Reveals Toxic Workplace In Enforcement Office" (E&E News)

"Relaxed EPA Enforcement Threatens Mission, Agency Watchdog Says" (Bloomberg Environment: June 17, 2020)

"Report: Resource Constraints, Leadership Decisions, and Workforce Culture Led to a Decline in Federal Enforcement" (EPA OIG)

"Report: Staffing Constraints, Safety and Health Concerns at EPA's National Enforcement Investigations Center May Compromise Ability to Achieve Mission" (EPA OIG)