Statutory Authority for EPA Assistance Agreements
Office of Inspector General
Audit Report
Statutory Authority for EPA Assistance Agreements
E3AMF8-11-0008-8100209
September 18,1998
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
Assistance is the transfer of anything of value for a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by law.
EPA program offices provide funding and are responsible for programmatic and technical oversight of the
assistance process. The Grants Administration Division (GAD) assures assistance application completeness by
performing an administrative review of the assistance application.
OBJECTIVE
Congress has granted EPA authority to enter into assistance agreements in many of the Agency's environmental
statutes. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the activities funded by EPA were within EPA's
assistance authorities as described in the relevant statutes.
RESULTS IN BRIEF
In our opinion, the cited statutes did not provide authority for 25 of the 57 assistance agreements reviewed:
Assistance agreements reviewed 57 $47,938,613
Assistance agreements questioned 25 8,343,274
Percent questioned	44% 17%
EPA, with the support of the Office of General Counsel (OGC), believes that all but one of the 25 questioned
assistance agreements are allowable. EPA has taken a much broader interpretation of its assistance authorities
than we believe is warranted to fund a wide range of projects which are related to EPA's mission and stimulate a
public purpose. For example, Section 311(c) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,
and Liability Act (CERCLA) authorizes research aimed at understanding and mitigating the effects of pollutants
on human health, and detection of hazardous substances. We questioned nine assistance agreements citing the
use this authority to support such activities as technical assistance, environmental justice activities, and
economic redevelopment studies.
RECOMMENDATIONS

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We recommend that: EPA seek clear statutory authority for the types of awards that we identified as
questionable; strengthen controls to prevent unauthorized awards; develop guidance to clarify the types of
activities EPA will and will not fund; and provide additional training for personnel involved in such decisions.
Agency Response
The Acting Assistant Administrator for Administration and Resources Management stated that "contrary to
many of the audit findings, the Agency believes that the activities questioned in the Draft Report are authorized
by EPA's grant statutes. Although we disagree with many of the audit findings, we concur with the audit
recommendations. The actions recommended will help ensure that our assistance programs continue to be
administered properly and that activities funded are within the Agency's assistance authorities." See Appendix B
for the full text of EPA's response.
OIG Evaluation
EPA has broadly interpreted its grant-making statutes in order to provide assistance for a wide range of
environmental projects. While we understand why EPA has taken this approach, we can find nothing in the
statutes themselves or the legislative histories which support EPA's position. We appreciate EPA's willingness
to make the process improvements which we have recommended. We hope those actions will reduce or
eliminate awarding assistance agreements to unauthorized entities or for unauthorized purposes.

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