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Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Environment - US EPA gets bad marks in two reports

"EPA Faulted on Clean-Water Violations: Consumer Interest Group's Study Details Lax Enforcement at Major Facilities" is the headline to this story today in the Washington Post. Some quotes:

The Environmental Protection Agency is failing to act against widespread violations of the Clean Water Act by plants and factories across the country, the U.S. Public Research Interest Group said yesterday based on a study it conducted.

More than 60 percent of all major facilities in the United States, or 3,700 out of 6,184, exceeded their Clean Water Act permit limits on discharges into waterways at least once between January 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, according to the report. The facilities include manufacturing and electronic plants, as well as wastewater treatment and sewage plants.

"The numbers point out that enforcement is not a priority for this administration, and clearly little to nothing is being done to deter polluters from breaking the law," said Richard Caplan, the environmental advocate who authored the report for PIRG, a consumer advocacy group.

In addition, the Post reports that:
In a separate report, the public watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) found that EPA's enforcement actions have slowed under the Bush administration. In 2000, for example, the agency made 105 criminal referrals to the Justice Department. But in 2001, after the turnover in administrations, EPA made 42 referrals. The number dropped to 26 in 2002. "The enforcement doesn't come anywhere close to the extent of noncompliance," said Jeff Ruch, PEER's executive director. "There's high levels of violations, and the EPA's response has been anemic."
Here is the US PIRG press release for the report cited by the Post story. And here is the page from which you may access the March 2004 report, titled "Troubled Waters: An analysis of Clean Water Act compliance, January 2002-June 2003." In addition, you may from that page access an appendix for each state. Here is the link to the pdf Indiana Appendix, a 46-page document.

The other report referenced in the Post story, from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), is not yet available online. Here is the link to PEER's home page. The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription only) today has a story on page B2 today on the PEER Report. A quote:

In its report, PEER said Justice Department records show that overall, the department accepted and prosecuted 68% of the criminal cases brought to it by federal agencies last year. In contrast, only 33% of the cases referred by the EPA were accepted. The low prosecution rate means that "corporations who flout antipollution laws will continue to enjoy competitive advantages" said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the Washington-based group.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 31, 2004 10:04 AM
Posted to Environmental Issues