BEC Byline:
Environmental Enforcement Plummets Under Bush
Drop Prior to 9-11 Further Declines Forecast as Nearly Half of Agents Reassigned
by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Washington, DC - There has been a steep decline in environmental
enforcement during President George W. Bush's first year in
office, according to figures released today by Public Employees
for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
PEER's analysis of the latest numbers shows cases referred by the
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for criminal
prosecution dropped by a fifth (20 percent) overall during the
2001 fiscal year. The fall off in EPA referrals was more
significant in several of the agency's principal anti-pollution
priority areas:
- Toxic Substance Control Act down 80 percent;
- Clean Air Act down 54 percent; and
- Clean Water Act down 53 percent.
This downturn reflects cases through September of 2001 and does
not include effects of EPA staff reassignments announced last
month. EPA stated that about 40 percent of its criminal
enforcement staff would be moved to non-environmental security
tasks.
"The faucet for environmental cases entering the prosecution
pipeline is being cranked way down during President Bush's first
year in office," commented PEER analyst Jessica V. Revere, who
noted that criminal prosecution is generally reserved for the most
severe pollution violations. "We can expect even greater declines
in 2002 with the removal of nearly half of the criminal
investigators and the new agency leadership's pledge to de-
emphasize environmental enforcement."
The PEER analysis is based upon U.S. Department of Justice figures
obtained and reviewed by the University of Syracuse's
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
A complete copy of the PEER enforcement analysis of 2001 is
available upon request and may be found on the PEER web site.
(http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=122)
PEER is a national alliance of local state and federal resource
professionals, working to protect the environment.
http://www.peer.org
This column originally appeared January 2002 in the Chico Examiner.
