Bush's EPA Is Pursuing Fewer Polluters-Probes and Prosecutions Have Declined Sharply

[babylonsister]

Bush's EPA Is Pursuing Fewer Polluters
Probes and Prosecutions Have Declined Sharply

By John Solomon and Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 30, 2007; Page A01

The Environmental Protection Agency's pursuit of criminal cases against polluters has dropped off sharply during the Bush administration, with the number of prosecutions, new investigations and total convictions all down by more than a third, according to Justice Department and EPA data.

The number of civil lawsuits filed against defendants who refuse to settle environmental cases was down nearly 70 percent between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, compared with a four-year period in the late 1990s, according to those same statistics.

Critics of the agency say its flagging efforts have emboldened polluters to flout U.S. environmental laws, threatening progress in cleaning the air, protecting wildlife, eliminating hazardous materials, and countless other endeavors overseen by the EPA.

"You don't get cleanup, and you don't get deterrence," said Eric Schaeffer, who resigned as director of the EPA's Office of Civil Enforcement in 2002 to protest the administration's approach to enforcement and now heads the Environmental Integrity Project, a watchdog group. "I don't think this is a problem with agents in the field. They're capable of doing the work. They lack the political support they used to be able to count on, especially in the White House."

The slower pace of enforcement mirrors a decline in resources for pursuing environmental wrongdoing. The EPA now employs 172 investigators in its Criminal Investigation Division, below the minimum of 200 agents required by the 1990 Pollution Prosecution Act, signed by President George H.W. Bush.

The actual number of investigators available at any time is even smaller, agents said, because they sometimes are diverted to other duties, such as service on EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson's eight-person security detail.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/29/AR2007092901759.html

[NC_Nurse]

1. Everything they touch turns to shit.

I have spoken to many at the EPA who are frustrated and bitter over what this admin has done to their agency.

[Buzz Clik]

2. It is so, so bad now. The environmental climate right now is horrid.

We have researchers at our humble institution who built international reputations through brilliant environmental pursuits. They are now changing fields. We get the same word from the best universities across the United States.

Federal funding for environmental research is in the toilet. Industry is far less interested in cooperating in environmental research because monitoring and, particularly, enforcement is way down.

Pollutant release limits for industries are being allowed to increase significantly. Surrounding communities are getting hysterical -- and being told to go straight to hell.

[pansypoo53219]

3. oedipus wrecks,

georgie, only MAKES messes, never does cleaning.

[UTUSN]

4. If our crack investigative media had done the SLIGHTEST bit of their job in 2000

everybody would know this would be the case since back then. Molly IVINS had laid out the outline for reviewing Shrub's WEAK GOVERNOR record for years. It was all about defanging what eco regulations were on the books and providing sweetheart deals for his fat cat developer pals.


But, NOooooo!!1 They were titilated by his FAKE tough guy talk and the store bought jeans and hat and "ranch" and his "Don't mess with Texas" (the way Poppy, ATWATER, & Shrub "messed" with DUKAKIS's Massachusetts) farting!!1

[tanyev]

5. Mission Accomplished.