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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a May 13th report titled:
Resource Constraints, Leadership Decisions, and Workforce Culture Led to a Decline in Federal Enforcement (“Report”)
See Report No. 21-P-0132.
OIG states that it undertook an audit of EPA to identify trends in enforcement results from fiscal years 2006 through 2018 for EPA-led enforcement actions.
The Report also identifies what OIG stats are the key factors explaining:
. . . trends and the differences in enforcement results among regions and headquarters, as well as among environmental statutes.
The Report concludes that the following EPA-led activities generally declined from FYs 2007 through 2018 nationwide:
- Compliance monitoring
- Enforcement actions
- Monetary enforcement results
- Environmental benefits
OIG also notes that the trend occurred at the:
- Regional level
- On a statute-by-statute basis
The key factor cited as causing declining enforcement was a reduction in enforcement resources. However, OIG contends that EPA leadership decisions also affected enforcement trends. These decisions are stated to have included:
- Focusing limiting resources on the most serious cases
- Emphasizing deference to state enforcement programs
- Emphasizing compliance assistance
Key chapters in the Report include:
- EPA’s Key Annual Enforcement Results Declined Over Time Nationally, Regionally, and by Environmental Statute
- EPA’s Decline in Enforcement Results Was Influenced by Resources, Leadership, and Culture
- EPA Can Develop and Track Additional Enforcement Measures and Improve Its Reporting of Annual Enforcement Results
Report appendices include:
- 2019 OIG Survey of EPA Enforcement Personnel: Methodology and Result
- Enforcement Trends by EPA Region and Headquarters
- Enforcement Trends by Environmental Statute
- Changes in Enforcement Measures in FYs 2019 and 2020
- Agency Response to Draft Report
- Revised Agency Corrective Actions for recommendations 3, 4, 5, and 7
- Distribution
OIG’s recommendations include:
- Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance complete a workforce analysis to assess the capacity to maintain a strong enforcement field presence
- Integrate the results of the above-referenced analysis into the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance strategic and annual planning processes
A copy of the Report can be found here.