The EPA is overstating the impact of its regulatory enforcement programs by reporting penalties assessed against violators rather than actual penalties received by the Treasury, GAO has said.
The EPA enforcement office maintains civil and criminal enforcement programs to help enforce the requirements of major federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
GAO said total penalties assessed by EPA declined from $240.6 million to $137.7 million between fiscal 1998 and 2007, and called on the agency to improve the accuracy and transparency of the measures it uses to report program effectiveness.
According to GAO-08-1111R, the agency also reduces the precision of trend analyses by reporting nominal rather than inflation-adjusted penalties, and it understates the influence of its enforcement programs by excluding the portion of penalties awarded to states in federal cases.
GAO also found that both the value of estimated injunctive relief and the amount of pollution reduction reported by EPA generally increased.
It said the estimated value of injunctive relief increased from $4.4 billion in fiscal 1999 to $10.9 billion in fiscal 2007, and that estimated pollution reduction commitments amounted to 714 million pounds in fiscal 2000 and increased to 890 million pounds in fiscal 2007.
However, GAO said the actual amounts of injunctive relief and pollution reduction have not yet been achieved.
