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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
12-P-0843
September 21, 2012
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this review to
determine whether the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) Environmental
Workforce Development and Job
Training (Environmental Job
Training) program is addressing its
program goals and whether
duplications may occur with other
EPA job training programs. The
broad goals of the Environmental
Job Training program are to recruit
and teach individuals from solid
and hazardous waste-impacted
communities the skills needed to
secure employment in the
environmental field. Recruitment
focuses on low-income, minority,
unemployed, and under-employed
people. Training focuses on
assessment and cleanup of
contaminated sites, health and
safety, and other environmental
skills. In fiscal year 2011, the first
year of the program, EPA awarded
22 job-training grants collectively
valued at more than $6.5 million.
This report addresses the
following EPA Goal or
Cross-Cutting Strategy:
• Cleaning up communities
and advancing sustainable
development
For further information, contact
our Office of Congressional and
Public Affairs at (202) 566-2391.
The full report is at:
www.epa.aov/oia/reports/2012/
20120921-12-P-0843.pdf
Environmental Job Training Program
impiemented Well, But Focus Needed on
Possible Duplication With Other EPA Programs
What We Found
EPA effectively established and adhered to competitive criteria that resulted in
the selection of job training proposals that addressed the broad goals of the
Environmental Job Training program. However, EPA did not have internal
controls to identify and prevent duplication with other EPA job training programs.
Consequently, there is some risk of duplication in EPA awards for job training
programs. Other EPA programs that could possibly duplicate Environmental Job
Training activities include the:
•	Superfund Job Training Initiative (SuperJTI) job readiness program
•	Surveys, Studies, Investigations, Training and Special Purpose Activities
Relating to Environmental Justice grant program
•	Environmental Justice Small Grant Program
EPA recognizes the need to identify possible duplication. In fiscal year 2012,
EPA added a requirement to its Environmental Job Training grant application for
applicants to demonstrate that their proposed project will complement, but not
duplicate, other federally funded environmental job training programs. However,
assigning a determination of duplication to an applicant may be an ineffective
internal control unless EPA has assurance that applicants possess the necessary
knowledge and skills to perform the duplication determination.
Effective internal controls should identify all EPA job training programs with
similar goals and include measurable individual program contributions or
outcomes to meet these goals. This would provide a basis for integrating
potentially duplicative, overlapping, or complementary job training programs.
Recommendation and Planned Agency Corrective Action
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency
Response establish internal controls for coordination with other EPA-funded job
training programs to prevent duplication of effort and spending. The Agency
agreed with the findings and recommendation in this report, committed to work to
improve internal controls in order to better identify and prevent duplication with
other EPA job training programs, and provided a milestone completion date for
the recommendation.

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