U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
Compliance with the iaw
EPA's Compliance Monitoring
Activities, Enforcement
Actions, and Enforcement
Results Generally Declined
from Fiscal Years 2006
Through 2018
Report No. 20-P-0131 March 31, 2020
ENFORCEMENT MEASURE DECREASE
INSPECTIONS--
-|33%-«
ENFORCEMENT CASES INITIATED --#52% «
ENFORCEMENT CASES CONCLUDED —451% «
ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS WITH INJUNCTIVE RELIEF "#58% •
--ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS WITH PENALTIES — -#53%-«
0 SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS #48% •
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Report Contributors:
Kathlene Butler
Kathryn Hess
Peter Otness
Danielle Tesch
Charles Triebwasser
Types of Enforcement Results
Environmental Benefits
Injunctive Relief
Penalties
Supplemental
Environmental Project
Environmental and health improvements, such as reductions in
pollution or waste treatment, achieved because the regulated
entity—such as a pesticide manufacturer or oil refinery—returned
to compliance.
Action that the EPA orders a regulated entity to take to return to
and maintain compliance with environmental laws.
Financial fines a regulated entity pays to the U.S. Treasury in
connection with the entity's noncompliance of environmental laws.
An additional environmental improvement project that a regulated
entity agrees to complete as part of an enforcement action. For
example, the regulated entity may agree to provide programs to
communities impacted by the noncompliance.
Abbreviations
EPA
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
FY
Fiscal Year
OIG
Office of Inspector General
SEP
Supplemental Environmental Project
USD
U.S. Dollars
Cover Image: The EPA's enforcement measures decreased when comparing FYs 2007 and 2018.
(OIG graphic)
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March 31, 2020
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At a Glance
Why We Did This Project
The Office of Inspector General
conducted this audit of the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency to identify the trends in
EPA-led enforcement actions
and results from fiscal years
2006 through 2018. We also
sought to determine the key
factors explaining those trends.
This report focuses on national
trends. A forthcoming report will
discuss regional and statute-
specific trends and key factors.
The EPA's Office of
Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance works to ensure that
environmental statutes are fairly
and effectively enforced at
approximately 40 million
regulated federal and private
entities. The EPA reports the
following measures to the public
each year:
• Compliance monitoring
activities, such as
inspections.
• Enforcement actions, such
as case initiations and
conclusions.
• Enforcement results, such
as penalties; corrective
actions, called injunctive
relief; supplemental
environmental projects; and
environmental benefits.
This report addresses the
following:
• Compliance with the law.
Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.gov.
List of OIG reports.
EPA's Compliance Monitoring Activities, Enforcement
Actions, and Enforcement Results Generally Declined
from Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2018
What We Found
The EPA's annual level of compliance monitoring activities, enforcement actions,
and enforcement results generally declined throughout the scope of our audit:
• The number of inspections that the EPA conducted decreased by 33 percent
when comparing FYs 2007 and 2018.
• The numbers of enforcement actions initiated and concluded by the EPA
decreased by 52 and 51 percent, respectively, when comparing FYs 2007
and 2018.
• The EPA concluded 58 percent fewer enforcement actions with injunctive
relief in FY 2018 than in FY 2007. Over those 12 years, the EPA estimated
the lowest value of injunctive relief in FY 2018 ($3.9 billion) and estimated the
highest injunctive relief value in FY 2011 ($21 billion).
• The EPA concluded 53 percent fewer enforcement actions with penalties in
FY 2018 than in FY 2007. Over those 12 years, the EPA assessed the lowest
penalty total in FY 2018 ($69 million) and assessed the highest penalty total
in FY 2016 ($6.1 billion).
• The total number of supplemental environmental projects decreased by
48 percent. FY 2017 had the lowest total estimated value of supplemental
environmental projects ($18 million), whereas FY 2009 had the highest
($53 million).
• The value of environmental benefit commitments to reduce, treat, or
eliminate pollutants varied from FYs 2012 through 2018 but decreased by
64 percent when comparing FYs 2012 and 2018. The number of
commitments also decreased by 31 percent when comparing FYs 2012 and
2018.
Additionally, both funding for the EPA's enforcement program and the number of
enforcement staff decreased by 18 percent and 21 percent, respectively, when
comparing FYs 2006 and 2018.
While we were conducting this audit, the EPA released its FY 2019 annual
enforcement measures. Compared to FY 2018, four of the 15 enforcement
measures increased, while 11 continued to decrease. The EPA's enforcement
funding and staff also continued to decrease in FY 2019.
We make no recommendations in this report. The assistant administrator for
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance provided a response to our draft report
on March 30, 2020. We modified the report based on the Agency's response and
technical comments, as appropriate.
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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
March 31, 2020
MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: EPA's Compliance Monitoring Activities, Enforcement Actions, and Enforcement
Results Generally Declined from Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2018
Report No. 20-P-0131
This is our report on the subject audit conducted by the Office of Inspector General of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The project number for this audit was OA&E-FY 19-0030. This
report contains findings that describe the trends in national enforcement for fiscal years 2006 through 2018.
This report represents the opinion of the OIG and does not necessarily represent the final EPA position.
Final determinations on matters in this report will be made by EPA managers in accordance with established
audit resolution procedures.
The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is responsible for the topic discussed in this report.
You are not required to respond to this report because this report contains no recommendations. However,
if you submit a response, it will be posted on the OIG's website, along with our memorandum commenting
on your response. Your response should be provided as an Adobe PDF file that complies with the
accessibility requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The final
response should not contain data that you do not want to be released to the public; if your response contains
such data, you should identify the data for redaction or removal along with corresponding justification.
FROM: Sean W. O'Donnell
TO:
Susan Parker Bodine, Assistant Administrator
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
We will post this report to our website at www.epa.gov/oig.
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EPA's Compliance Monitoring Activities, Enforcement 20-P-0131
Actions, and Enforcement Results Generally Declined
from Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2018
Table of Contents
Purpose 1
Background 1
EPA Conducts Compliance Monitoring Activities, Initiates Enforcement
Actions, and Tracks Enforcement Results 2
EPA Publicly Reports Annual Enforcement Measures 3
Responsible Office 4
Scope and Methodology 4
FY 2006 Enforcement Measures 4
FY 2019 Enforcement Measures 5
Prior Reports 5
EPA Inspections and Enforcement Actions Declined 6
EPA Conducted Fewer Inspections 7
EPA Initiated Fewer Enforcement Cases 7
EPA Concluded Fewer Enforcement Cases 9
Enforcement Results with Recorded Monetary Value Declined 10
Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Injunctive Relief Declined 11
Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Penalties Declined 13
Number of SEPs Decreased 15
Estimated Environmental Benefits Associated with Concluded
Enforcement Actions Varied or Declined 16
Commitments to Reduce, Treat, or Eliminate Pollution as a Result
of Concluded Enforcement Actions Decreased 17
Commitments to Properly Treat, Minimize, or Dispose of Waste
as a Result of Concluded Enforcement Actions Remained Steady 19
Commitments to Clean Up Contaminated Soil or Water as a Result
of Concluded Enforcement Actions Decreased 21
EPA's Enforcement Resources Declined 22
Eleven of 15 Enforcement Measures Continued to Decrease in FY 2019 23
Summary 25
Agency Response and OIG Assessment 25
- continued —
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EPA's Compliance Monitoring Activities, Enforcement
Actions, and Enforcement Results Generally Declined
from Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2018
20-P-0131
Appendices
A EPA's Annual Enforcement Measures by Year 26
B Agency Response to Draft Report 30
C Distribution 32
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Purpose
The Office of Inspector General conducted this audit of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to identify the trends in EPA-led enforcement activities,
actions, and results from fiscal years 2006 through 2018. We also sought to
determine the key factors explaining those trends and the differences in
enforcement results among regions and environmental statutes.
This report is the first of two that will address these objectives. This report
focuses on the first objective and identifies national trends in EPA-led
enforcement activities, actions, and results. A second report will address our
regional and statute-specific findings, as well answer our second objective to
determine key factors that explain the national, regional, and statute-specific
trends.
Background
The EPA's mission is to protect human health and the environment, ensuring that
all Americans are protected from significant risks where they live, learn, and
work. As part of this mission, the EPA enforces environmental statutes and
regulations at approximately 40 million regulated federal and private entities,
such as pesticide manufacturers or oil refineries. According to the FY 2018-2020
U.S. EPA Strategic Plan.
A robust enforcement program is critically important for
addressing violations and promoting deterrence, and supports the
Agency's mission of protecting human health and the environment.
Ensuring compliance with the law also ensures consistency and
certainty for the regulated community so it has a complete
understanding of the impact of proposed actions on human health,
the environment, and the economy, and a clear path and timeline to
achieve that compliance.1
The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance works with the
EPA's ten regional offices, state and tribal governments, and other federal agencies
to ensure that federal environmental laws and
regulations are enforced fairly and effectively. The EPA
has authorized most states and some tribes to directly
enforce environmental laws, while the EPA retains
oversight responsibilities. If a state or a tribe lacks
enforcement authority, the EPA directly implements the
enforcement program for that state or tribe.
The EPA remains responsible and
accountable to the President, the
Congress and the public for upholding the
rule of law, promoting progress toward
meeting national environmental goals and
ensuring that federal statutes are
consistently implemented and enforced.
—EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler,
October 30, 2018
1 EPA, FY 2018-2022 U.S. EPA Strategic Plan, EPA- 190-R-18-003. February 2018 (updated September 2019).
20-P-0131
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EPA Conducts Compliance Monitoring Activities, Initiates
Enforcement Actions, and Tracks Enforcement Results
When the EPA or an authorized enforcement authority identifies a violation of
environmental laws or regulations during an inspection or other compliance
monitoring activity, the EPA may initiate an enforcement action. These
enforcement actions produce enforcement results that can be tracked in terms of
both monetary values and projected environmental benefits. The enforcement
activities, actions, and results discussed in this report are described below:
• Inspections and other compliance monitoring activities assess a
regulated entity's compliance with environmental regulations and laws.
The EPA conducts inspections to examine compliance either with a single
statute, such as the Clean Water Act, or with multiple statutes to address
broader environmental compliance. Inspections are the dominant, but not
the only, type of monitoring activity the EPA conducts to assess
compliance. For simplicity, we generally refer to all compliance
monitoring activities as inspections in this report.
• Enforcement actions are initiated by the EPA to address instances of
noncompliance, which are typically identified through inspection findings,
tips, or self-reported violations. In this report, we discuss two types of
enforcement action measures—numbers of case initiations and case
conclusions. Concluded cases may result in injunctive relief; penalties;
supplemental environmental projects, referred to as SEPs; and
environmental benefits, as described below.
• Injunctive relief refers to actions a regulated entity must perform, or
refrain from performing, as a result of the conclusion of an enforcement
action. Injunctive relief generally aims to bring the regulated entity into
compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations. The EPA
measures the value of injunctive relief in terms of the estimated cost to the
regulated entity performing the corrective action. For example, in a 2018
settlement. MarkWest Energy Partners agreed to invest an estimated
$2.6 million to install and operate technologies to reduce its emissions of
regulated pollutants at its facilities in two states. Regulated entities often
implement injunctive relief as investments made over several years or
decades, although the EPA measures the result in the year the settlement
was concluded.
• Penalties are monetary assessments a violator pays to the U.S. Treasury in
connection with the violator's noncompliance with regulatory or statutory
requirements. Environmental laws, regulations, and EPA policies establish
the criteria for penalty amounts. For example, in the 2018 MarkWest
settlement, the company was required to pay a civil penalty of $610,000 in
addition to implementing the injunctive relief discussed above. Criteria
20-P-0131
2
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affecting penalty amounts may include, among others, the severity and
duration of the noncompliance, the size of the regulated entity, the entity's
history of violations, the entity's level of culpability, and the degree to
which the entity derived an economic benefit from noncompliance.
• SEPs are additional environmental improvement projects that a regulated
entity voluntarily agrees to perform as part of a settlement.2 SEPs are
expected to produce environmental and public health benefits beyond
those required by law and regulation. For example, in the 2018 MarkWest
settlement, the company agreed to complete SEPs valued at $2.4 million.
These projects, which supplement the injunctive relief and the civil
penalty for this settlement discussed above, include running a community
project for emissions monitoring.
• Environmental benefits are the estimated environmental improvements
to be achieved if all terms of the concluded enforcement action are met.
The EPA tracks and reports three types of environmental benefits:
- Reduction, treatment, or elimination of pollution.
- Cleanup of contaminated soil and water.
- Treatment, minimization, or proper disposal of hazardous and
nonhazardous waste.
EPA Publicly Reports Annual Enforcement Measures
Each fiscal year, the EPA publishes its annual enforcement measures on its
website. Prior to posting this information, the Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance collects and validates data from the ten EPA regions about
their enforcement activities, actions, and results. The website details the
enforcement program overall, annual monetary and environmental results, and
year-to-year enforcement trends for ten years. The website also highlights specific
accomplishments, such as cases that resulted in large monetary enforcement
results or significant environmental results. For example, the EPA highlighted a
landmark Clean Air Act settlement with Volkswagen in the Agency's FY 2016
annual enforcement measures; the settlement resulted in approximately
$17.8 billion in penalties and injunctive relief.
Appendix A summarizes the EPA's annual enforcement results for FYs 2006
through 2018. Tables in Appendix A are referenced throughout the report with the
"A-" prefix.
2 On March 12, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice directed its attorneys to no longer include SEPs in EPA
judicial settlements. See Department of Justice, Memorandum to Enviromnent and Natural Resources Division
Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals and Section Chiefs, from Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark,
Subject: Supplemental Environmental Projects ("SEPs") in Civil Settlements with Private Defendants, dated
March 12, 2020. As of March 30, 2020, the EPA has not issued a public position on this memorandum.
20-P-0131
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Responsible Office
The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is responsible for
setting the Agency's enforcement priorities, tracking enforcement measures, and
reporting enforcement measures to the public.
Scope and Methodology
We conducted our work from November 2018 to March 2020. We conducted this
performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and
conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained
provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives.
This report includes only the information collected to describe the national
enforcement trends. It does not include findings or conclusions from our ongoing
work; a second report will provide information related to the key factors
contributing to these trends and the effect of these trends. The second report will
also provide details about regional and statutory enforcement measures.
To identify trends in federal enforcement measures, we analyzed EPA annual
enforcement data from FYs 2006 through 2018 from the Office of Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance's internal Federal Enforcement and Compliance
Dashboard. Because the data in the Dashboard are updated daily, analyses of data
pulled on one date may differ slightly from data pulled on a later date and yield
slightly different analytic results. However, we determined that these minimal
differences do not impact the overall results of our trend analyses. We obtained
data related to FYs 2006 through 2018 from December 20, 2018, through April 4,
2019. We did not examine informal, criminal, or state enforcement actions.
FY 2006 Enforcement Measures
In our initial analysis, we determined that FY 2006 was a unique year because the
EPA concluded a historic number of enforcement actions, as shown in Figure 1.
These primarily resulted from a national initiative to focus enforcement efforts on
air emissions from concentrated animal feeding operations. These cases
represented 42 percent of the total number of cases that the EPA concluded in
FY 2006, whereas these types of cases represented less than 1 percent of the total
number of concluded cases in the 12 other years included in our period of
analysis. We determined that including FY 2006 in our trend analyses
exaggerated the overall decline in enforcement activities and results. As a result,
while we include FY 2006 in most figures and tables, we generally exclude that
year's enforcement activities and results from our trend analyses.
20-P-0131
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Figure 1: Number of enforcement actions with monetary value, FYs 1973-2018
7,000
u 6.000
c '
o
< SJ 5,000
—
C TO
QJ >
| I" 4'000
° I
= o 3,000
a> > 2,000
_Q
E
3
2006:
5,989 Enforcement Actions
1,000
0 ••••••••••¦
1973 1978 1983 1988 1993 1998 2003 2008 2013 2018
Fiscal Years
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
FY 2019 Enforcement Measures
To further our understanding of national trends, we expanded our analyses to
include FY 2019 after the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
released its annual enforcement measures on February 13, 2020. We pulled the
data related to FY 2019 from the EPA's Dashboard from February 24, 2020,
through March 10, 2020. While we considered these data and provide a summary
of how they fit into overall trends, we did not include them in our tables and
figures for this report.
Prior Reports
In 2013, we reported on the EPA's enforcement trends for a six-year period from
FYs 2006 through 2011.3 We found that while the number of concluded
enforcement actions for FYs 2006 through 2011 remained relatively constant
overall, the monetary results that EPA regions achieved from enforcement actions
varied. The variations were explained by the timing and locations of a few large
concluded cases. In any given year, the conclusion of one or a few large cases can
result in unusually large monetary results. National Enforcement Initiatives set by
the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance drove most of these large
cases. This report made no recommendations to the EPA.
In 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that the EPA
collects a range of information about compliance and enforcement efforts.4 The
3 EPA OIG, Response to Congressional Request on EPA Enforcement, Report No. 13-P-0168. February 28, 2013.
4 Government Accountability Office, Environmental Protection: Additional Action Needed to Improve EPA Data on
Informal Enforcement and Compliance Assistance Activities, Report No. GAQ-20-95. January 31, 2020 (released
March 2, 2020).
20-P-0131
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Government Accountability Office found that while the EPA collected data on
formal enforcement activities, it did not consistently collect data about compliance
assistance and informal enforcement activities for its national databases.
Additionally, the Government Accountability Office found that several of the
EPA's FY 2018 enforcement-related reports did not disclose known limitations
about the Agency's enforcement data. Without this information, readers of the
EPA's annual reports risked drawing inaccurate conclusions or information from
the data. The Government Accountability Office did not assess the reliability of the
data but rather critiqued the Agency's inconsistency in stating the known
limitations of the data in some FY 2018 enforcement-related reports. The
Government Accountability Office made three recommendations to the assistant
administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, including that the EPA
share the known limitations of data in its annual reports and provide information
on the intended use of the EPA's data. The EPA agreed with all recommendations.
As of March 15, 2020, these recommendations were considered open.
EPA Inspections and Enforcement Actions Declined
The number of EPA-led inspections, case initiations, and case conclusions
generally declined from FYs 2007 through 2018 (Table 1). These compliance
monitoring activities and enforcement actions form the foundation of the EPA's
enforcement program. The h'Y 2018-2022 U.S. EPA Strategic Plan states that
after the EPA identifies a violation of regulation or law through an inspection, tip,
or self-report, the Agency "will enforce the rule of law in a timely manner and
take action against those that violate environmental laws to the detriment of
human health or the environment."
Table 1: Summary of trends in the number of EPA's annual inspections,
case initiations, and case conclusions, FYs 2007-2018
Visual depiction of trend
Range
Median / Average
Inspections
10,687 to 21,269
17,181 /16,949
Case
initiations
1,829 to 3,784
2,656/2,815
Case
conclusions
1,819 to 3,724
2,715/2,815
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Why do we refer to median values?
We use median when discussing the EPA's enforcement results because of the effect
large-value settlements have on the average. In the summary tables, we also report
the average so the reader can see how the medians and averages diverge. The
median is the value that separates the higher half of the data from the lower half of the
data. It is the middle value. The median is not affected by a small number of very large
or very small values, like an average may be. It provides a better idea of the "typical"
value in the data set.
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EPA Conducted Fewer Inspections
The total number of annual inspections decreased by 33 percent when comparing
FYs 2007 and 2018 (Figure 2; Table A-l). The number of inspections increased
from FYs 2007 through 2010 and then decreased from FYs 2010 to 2018 by
50 percent. In the time period we examined, the EPA conducted the fewest
inspections in FY 2018.
Figure 2: Total EPA inspections, FYs 2006-2018
25,000
20,000
¦ Inspections
decreased
50% from
B FYs 2010
^Mhrough 2018
o. 15,000
£ 10,000
5,000
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Fiscal Years
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
EPA Initiated Fewer Enforcement Cases
The annual number of EPA case initiations generally declined from FYs 2007
through 2018 (Figure 3; Table A-l). After case initiations remained steady in
FYs 2007, 2008, and 2009, they began to trend downward in FY 2010. While the
downward trend was relatively consistent, FYs 2013 and 2017 had
disproportionate drops in case initiations. Overall, case initiations decreased
52 percent from 3,784 in FY 2007 to 1,829 in FY 2018. In the time period we
examined, the EPA initiated the fewest cases in FY 2018.
20-P-0131
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Figure 3: Total EPA enforcement case initiations, FYs 2006-2018
7,000
6,000
| 5,000
ro
£ 4,000
_ '
4—
5 3,000
-Q
E
3 2,000
1,000
J
Case initiations
decreased by
52% from
FYs 2007
through 2018
llllln
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Fiscal Years
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
The EPA initiates different types of enforcement actions, such as administrative
compliance orders with no penalty assessed, administrative penalty order
complaints, and referrals to the Department of Justice. From FYs 2007 through
2018, the number of case initiations in all three categories declined (Figure 4).
Even though referrals to the Department of Justice comprise just 5 to 8 percent of
the total initiations in any given year, they are an important indicator of future
enforcement results because they can result in enforcement actions with high
penalty assessments and significant impacts on human health and the
environment. As shown in Figure 4, except for a slight rebound in FYs 2015 and
2016, the total number of EPA referrals to the Department of Justice decreased
each year. In FY 2018, referrals dropped below 100 for the first time in the
13-year period we analyzed.
Civil administrative actions are nonjudicial enforcement orders initiated and concluded by the
EPA under its own authority. An administrative order with or without a penalty directs an
individual, a business, or other entity to take action to come into compliance.
Civil judicial actions are initiated by the EPA, then referred to the Department of Justice, which
files a formal lawsuit on behalf of the EPA.
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Figure 4: Total EPA enforcement case initiations, FYs 2006-2018
5,000
[Administrative Penalty Order Complaints
a)
TS
4,000
~ 3,000
E 2,000
-o
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-D
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Referrals to Department of Justice
Administrative Compliance Orders
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300
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50
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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Fiscal Years
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
The EPA generally initiates enforcement cases based on inspections, tips, and
self-reported violations. In FY 2007, the EPA initiated 24 enforcement cases for
every 100 inspections. The case initiation rate decreased to 17 cases per
100 inspections in FY 2018.
EPA Concluded Fewer Enforcement Cases
Overall, the number of EPA enforcement case conclusions decreased 51 percent
from 3,714 in FY 2007 to 1,819 in FY 2018 (Figure 5; Table A-l). The number of
conclusions held steady from FYs 2007 through 2009 but then subsequently
decreased every year except FYs 2015 and 2016, which experienced small
increases in enforcement case conclusions.
Figure 5: Total EPA enforcement case conclusions, FYs 2006-2018
7,000
6,000
l/l
o 5,000
= 4,000
O
3,000
2,000
1,000
Case conclusions
decreased 51%
from FYs 2007
through 2018
i
lllllu
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Fiscal Years
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
-------
EPA enforcement case conclusions include administrative compliance orders and
final administrative penalty orders concluded by the Agency, as well as civil
judicial cases concluded by the Department of Justice, in coordination with the
Agency. From FYs 2007 through 2018, 58 percent of the EPA's case conclusions
were final administrative penalty orders. Over the same time, the annual number of
final administrative penalty orders decreased by 55 percent, from 2,284 to 1,038
(Figure 6). Just 6 percent of all conclusions were judicial cases, and those decreased
from 188 in FY 2007 to 94 in FY 2018, a 50 percent decrease. Administrative
compliance orders, which are resolved with regulated entities without a penalty,
decreased by 45 percent over that same period, from 1,242 to 687.
Figure 6: EPA enforcement case conclusions, FYs 2006-2018
5,000
| 4,500
J 4,000
U
c
° 3,500
-------
reflected in the monetary values because the value of most concluded
enforcement actions was relatively small.
Table 2: Summary of trends in EPA's enforcement results with recorded monetary value,
FYs 2007-2018
Annual number
of concluded enforcement actions
Annual value of concluded enforcement actions
(2018 USD)
Visual depiction
of trend
Range
Median /
Average
Visual depiction
of trend
Ranqe
Median /
Average
Injunctive
relief
1,245 to
3,023
2,247/2,225
W~/A
$4 billion to
$21 billion
$11 billion/
$12 billion
Penalties
1,089 to
2,300
1,642/1,676
$69 million to
$6,135 million
$160 million /
$855 million
SEPs
100 to
202
122/134
AAA,
$18 million to
$53 million
$31 million /
$33 million
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Injunctive Relief
Declined
The number of concluded enforcement actions with injunctive relief declined
from FYs 2007 through 2018. The EPA concluded 2,932 enforcement actions
with injunctive relief in FY 2007 compared to 1,245 in FY 2018, a 58 percent
decrease (Figure 7; Tables 3 and A-2). From FYs 2007 through 2018, the total
annual injunctive relief dollar value varied significantly. Over those 12 years, the
EPA estimated the lowest value of injunctive relief in FY 2018 ($3.9 billion) and
estimated the highest value of injunctive relief in FY 2011 ($21 billion).
Much of that variability stemmed from concluded enforcement actions with at
least $1 billion in injunctive relief. These high dollar-value enforcement results
comprised, on average, less than 1 percent of the total number of concluded
enforcement actions but contributed 58 percent of the total injunctive relief dollar
value. For example, the case settled with Volkswagen accounted for 80 percent of
total injunctive relief dollars in FY 2017, but the Volkswagen case comprised just
two of the 1,394 enforcement actions with injunctive relief concluded that year
(less than 1 percent). Although the EPA records the injunctive relief value for the
year in which the enforcement action was concluded, the corrective actions
involved are often implemented over the course of several years and sometimes
decades.
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Figure 7: Trend in injunctive relief, FYs 2006-2018
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a) =
"o .i,
_c
11
u 5
M— VI
O c
>- o
n t;
tj
£ <
3
jS Injunctive Relief of $1 Billion or More (2018 USD)
Injunctive Relief of Less than $1 Billion (2018 USD)
Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Injunctive Relief
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Table 3: Number and value of concluded enforcement actions with injunctive relief,
by action size, FYs 2006-2018
Concluded enforcement actions with
Concluded enforcement actions with
$1 billion or more in injunctive relief
less than $1 billion in injunctive relief
Total
Total value
Total
Total value
FY
number
(in billions, 2018 USD)
number
(in billions, 2018 USD)
2006
0
$0.00
5,454
$6.13
2007
4
6.06
2,928
4.68
2008
4
7.78
3,019
5.15
2009
1
1.14
3,014
4.66
2010
4
7.76
2,846
5.73
2011
4
15.44
2,712
5.85
2012
1
5.14
2,516
4.82
2013
1
1.08
1,975
6.78
2014
3
5.15
1,727
5.15
2015
3
3.57
1,737
4.38
2016
3
9.19
1,555
5.13
2017
2
16.34
1,392
4.11
2018
1
$1.64
1,244
$2.30
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
The EPA assessed injunctive relief valued at $1 million or less in 92 percent of
the enforcement actions concluded with injunctive relief from FYs 2007 through
2018. Together, the large number of concluded actions resulting in relatively low
values of injunctive relief made up just 1 percent of the total injunctive relief
dollars in this time frame. Considering all injunctive relief values from FYs 2007
through 2018, the $3.9 billion of injunctive relief in FY 2018 was 62 percent less
than the median annual value of $10.5 billion. If billion-dollar outlier actions are
not considered, the injunctive relief value for FY 2018 was at least 44 percent less
than in any other year we assessed. However, despite this overall decline, the
annual median value of injunctive relief tended to increase over time, from $3,040
in FY 2007 to $5,000 in FY 2018.
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Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Penalties Declined
The number of concluded enforcement actions with penalties generally declined
from FYs 2007 through 2018. There were 2,300 actions concluded with penalties
in FY 2007 compared to 1,089 in FY 2018, a 53 percent decrease (Figure 8a;
Tables 4 and A-3). The EPA reported the fewest enforcement actions concluded
with penalties in FY 2018, 17 percent lower than the next-lowest total (1,306) in
FY 2017. The total annual dollar amount of EPA-assessed penalties varied
substantially from FYs 2007 through 2018. FY 2018 had the lowest penalty total
with $69 million; FY 2016 had the highest with $6.1 billion.
On average, the EPA assessed $855 million in penalties each year, whereas the
median annual penalty total was $160 million. The stark difference between the
average and median annual penalty totals illustrates the impact of large
enforcement outcomes. Specifically, the courts assessed unusually high penalties
against BP Exploration in FY 2016 and Volkswagen in FY 2017. Overall, from
FYs 2007 through 2018, 88 percent of penalty dollars came from enforcement
outcomes of $10 million or more, despite those enforcement actions comprising
just 0.1 percent of the number of actions concluded with penalties.
To clearly demonstrate the declining trend in the annual amount of penalties
derived from concluded enforcement actions with penalties of $1 million or less,
we present the monetary results on a logarithmic scale in Figure 8b. The annual
total of $69 million in FY 2018 penalties was 19 percent less than the next-lowest
annual total of $86 million in FY 2007.
A logarithmic scale is a way of displaying in a compact way numerical data that vary greatly.
In Figures 8 and 11, we present the annual total values using both linear and logarithmic
scales. As the largest values are thousands of times larger than the smallest values, the trends
in smaller-sized actions are more easily seen on a logarithmic scale.
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Figure 8: Trends in EPA-assessed civil penalties, FYs 2006-2018
(a) Number of concluded enforcement actions with a penalty and value of penalties
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
S7,000
$6,000
$5,000
.3! ^
a z> $4,000
$3,000
-2 $2,000
$1,000
$0
H 5
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Penalties Greater Than $1 Million (2018 USD)
Penalties of $1 Million or Less (2018 USD)
Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with a Penalty
(b) Value of penalties, showing contribution of small enforcement actions concluded with
penalties of $1 million or less
$10,000
E $1,000
Ol (U
$ Ci
0) CO
$100
$10
$1
lllllllllllll
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
¦ Penalties of $1 Million or Less (2018 USD) ¦ Penalties Greater Than $1 Million (2018 USD)
•Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
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Table 4: Number and value of concluded enforcement actions with penalties, by
action size, FYs 2006-2018
Concluded enforcement actions with
penalties of more than $1 million
Concluded enforcement actions with
penalties of $1 million or less
FY
Total
number
Total value
(in millions, 2018 USD)
Total
number
Total value
(in millions, 2018 USD)
2006
15
$76
4,692
$68
2007
14
33
2,286
52
2008
19
84
2,123
63
2009
19
46
1,942
56
2010
23
60
1,871
65
2011
21
106
1,765
67
2012
22
160
1,806
67
2013
21
1,129
1,477
66
2014
17
53
1,393
59
2015
23
157
1,449
61
2016
26
6,079
1,403
56
2017
17
1,616
1,289
55
2018
9
$22
1,080
$48
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
For the enforcement actions concluded with penalties from FYs 2007 through
2018, the EPA assessed penalties valued at $100,000 or less in 92 percent of
cases. As shown in Figure 8a, there were low overall enforcement action numbers
in FYs 2017 and 2018 (1,306 and 1,089, respectively). These low numbers
resulted from decreases in actions involving penalties of all sizes, other than those
of $100 or less. However, while the number of concluded enforcement actions
with penalties declined over time, the annual median penalty value increased over
time, rising from $2,556 in FY 2007 to $8,949 in FY 2018.
Number of SEPs Decreased
The total number of SEPs associated with a concluded enforcement action
decreased significantly from FYs 2007 through 2011 and then stayed relatively
steady from FYs 2012 through 2018 (Figure 9; Tables 5 and A-4). Overall, the
number of SEPs decreased 48 percent, from 194 in FY 2007 to 100 in FY 2018.
The estimated total annual value of SEPs also generally declined from FYs 2007
through 2018, but there were annual variations. FY 2017 had the lowest total
estimated value ($18 million) of SEPs, whereas FY 2009 had the highest ($53
million).
In addition, 59 percent of the total value of SEPs from FYs 2007 through 2018
came from concluded enforcement actions that had a large estimated SEP values
of $1 million or more. However, enforcement actions with these larger-valued
SEPs only accounted for 5 percent of the number of concluded enforcement
actions with SEPs. The annual median dollar value of concluded enforcement
actions with SEPs increased from $30,400 in FY 2007 to $93,443 in FY 2018,
with some annual variation.
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Figure 9: Trend in SEPs, FYs 2006-2018
$100 n r 300
t/j
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Value of SEPs Greater Than $1 Million (2018 USD)
Value of SEPs of $1 Million or Less (2018 USD)
Number of SEPs
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Table 5: Number and value of concluded enforcement actions with SEPs, by action
size, FYs 2006-2018
Concluded enforcement actions with
Concluded enforcement actions with
SEPs valued more than $1 million
SEPs valued $1 million or less
Total
Total value
Total
Total value
FY
number
(in millions, in 2018 USD)
number
(in millions, in 2018 USD)
2006
22
$62
199
$28
2007
5
21
182
13
2008
8
23
178
20
2009
9
39
143
13
2010
4
11
113
13
2011
6
15
97
13
2012
9
33
116
15
2013
4
12
106
12
2014
5
9
97
10
2015
6
25
117
16
2016
6
20
101
13
2017
5
8
90
10
2018
8
$15
88
$14
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Estimated Environmental Benefits Associated with Concluded
Enforcement Actions Varied or Declined
Of the three types of environmental benefits tracked by the EPA, the number of
concluded enforcement actions for two types of environmental benefits—waste
reduction and pollutant reduction—varied from FYs 2012 through 2018
(Table 6).6 The number of the third type of environmental benefit—cleanup
commitments—generally declined during that time.
6 The EPA changed the way it tracks its environmental benefits information in FY 2012. We constrained the scope
of our trend analyses for these three measures to FYs 2012 through 2018 to allow year-to-year comparisons.
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The annual value of pollutant reduction commitments generally declined from
FYs 2012 through 2018. Concluded enforcement actions with large commitments
greatly impacted the annual value of environmental benefits, which led to
variations in the mass and volume values.
Table 6: Summary of trend in enforcement results with commitments for environmental benefits,
FYs 2012-2018
Annual number of concluded
enforcement actions
Annual value of concluded enforcement actions
Visual depiction
of trend
Range
Median /
Average
Visual depiction of
trend
Range
Median / Average
Pollution
reduction
v\
779 to
1,210
944 / 980
V
215 million pounds to
1,281 million pounds
515 million pounds /
554 million pounds
Waste
reduction
Aa
42 to 51
44/45
Jv
148 million pounds to
61,938 million pounds
541 million pounds /
9.8 billion pounds
Cleanup
V
101 to
229
148/161
/v
75 million cubic yards to
871 million cubic yards
397 million cubic yards /
425 million cubic yards
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Commitments to Reduce, Treat, or Eliminate Pollution as a Result of
Concluded Enforcement Actions Decreased
The number of concluded enforcement actions that included commitments to
reduce, treat, or eliminate pollution decreased by 31 percent when comparing
FYs 2012 and 2018, although the number increased in FY 2015 and again in
FY 2016 (Figure 10; Tables 7 and A-5). The EPA concluded the highest number
of enforcement actions with this type of commitment (1,210) in FY 2016. The
annual total value of the commitment in pounds generally decreased by 64 percent
from FYs 2012 through 2018, but there was a single-year spike in the number of
pounds in FY 2013. However, FY 2013 saw the highest level by weight, with
commitments to treat 1,281 million pounds, 71 percent higher than the second-
highest weight commitment in FY 2012 (751 million pounds). The median
concluded enforcement action size involving pollutant commitments stayed
relatively steady from FYs 2012 through 2017, and then dropped from 1,920
pounds in FY 2017 to 1,212 pounds in FY 2018.
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Figure 10: Trends in pollutant commitments, FYs 2012-2018
1,400
to
—
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E
"O
c
1,200
E
D
1,000
E
o
a.
o
u
c
O
800
c
=
ro
2
600
"o
Cl
400
200
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
^ £
1 -2
o K
c <
o
u =
0)
o £
5 8
E £
= =
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Pollutant Commitments Greater Than 10 Million Pounds
Pollutant Commitments of 10 Million Pounds or Less
Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Pollutant Commitments
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Table 7: Number and value of concluded enforcement actions with pollutant
commitments, by action size, FYs 2012-2018
Concluded enforcement actions
with more than 10 million pounds of
pollutant commitments
Concluded enforcement actions with
10 million pounds or less of pollutant
commitments
FY
Total
number
Total value
(in millions of pounds)
Total
number
Total value
(in millions of pounds)
2012
10
595
1,114
156
2013
21
1,123
1,025
158
2014
11
377
845
138
2015
10
386
934
138
2016
5
167
1,205
154
2017
3
105
899
111
2018
7
173
772
95
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Concluded enforcement actions with large pollutant commitments greatly
impacted annual results. Over 75 percent of the total pollutant reduction
commitments resulted from concluded enforcement actions of over 10 million
pounds, yet those large commitment actions comprised just 1 percent of the
actions concluded with any-sized commitment to reduce, treat, or eliminate
pollution. Furthermore, 87 percent of the total concluded enforcement actions had
100,000 pounds or less of pollutant reduction commitments. If large commitment
actions are excluded from the analysis, the pounds of pollutant commitments
remained stable from FYs 2012 through 2016, then decreased in FYs 2017 and
2018.
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Commitments to Properly Treat, Minimize, or Dispose of Waste as a
Result of Concluded Enforcement Actions Remained Steady
The number of concluded enforcement actions with waste commitments remained
relatively steady from FYs 2012 through 2018, ranging between 42 and
51 enforcement actions each year (Figure 11a; Tables 8 and A-6). However, there
were far fewer concluded enforcement actions that included waste commitments
compared to commitments to achieve the other two types of environmental
benefits. Nearly all (96 percent) of concluded enforcement actions with waste
commitments from FYs 2012 through 2018 included less than 100 million pounds
of waste commitments. All of these small commitments combined accounted for
just 2 percent of the total pounds of waste commitments in that time frame.
Annual total waste commitments from small concluded actions—those with waste
commitments less than 100 million pounds—remained steady from FYs 2012
through 2018 (Figure 1 lb). Concluded actions with a large weight of waste
commitments impacted the trend in annual total waste commitments. For
example, over 99 percent of the FY 2016 total waste commitment by weight
involved a single case settled with Mosaic Fertilizer (Figure 11a):
• Because of this settlement, the EPA reported waste commitments for
FY 2016 that were more than 14 times greater than for any other year.
• The commitment from this settlement made up 90 percent of all the
commitments for waste to be treated, minimized, or properly disposed for
FYs 2012 through 2018.
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Figure 11: Trends in waste commitments, FYs 2012-2018
(a) Number of concluded enforcement actions with waste commitments and weight of
commitments
60
70,000
U1
4->
60,000
O)
E
"D
C
D
50,000
E
O
E
o
u
Q_
C
O
40,000
¦o
40 -5
30
o
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Waste Commitments of 100 Million Pounds or More
Waste Commitments LessThan 100 Million Pounds
^^"Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Waste Commitments
(b) Value of waste commitments, showing contribution of small enforcement actions with
contributions of less than 100 million pounds
_ 100,000 -I
D
O
Cl-
io,ooo
£ E
£ ™
£ W3
1,000
100
10
limn
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
¦ Waste Commitments of 100 Million Pounds or More
¦ Waste Commitments LessThan 100 Million Pounds
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
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Table 8: Number and value of concluded enforcement actions with waste
commitments, by action size, FYs 2012-2018
Concluded enforcement actions
with 100 million pounds or more of
waste commitments
Concluded enforcement actions with
less than 100 million pounds of waste
commitments
FY
Total
number
Total value
(in millions of pounds)
Total
number
Total value
(in millions of pounds)
2012
3
4,236
40
132
2013
0
0
43
148
2014
1
497
50
214
2015
1
208
43
327
2016
4
61,726
42
211
2017
1
164
47
81
2018
2
486
40
56
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Commitments to Clean Up Contaminated Soil or Water as a Result of
Concluded Enforcement Actions Decreased
Overall, the annual number of concluded enforcement actions with commitments
to clean up contaminated soil or water steadily declined from 229 in FY 2012 to
101 in FY 2018, a total decrease of 56 percent (Figure 12; Tables 9 and A-7).
Meanwhile, the annual total commitment value of contaminated soil or water to
be cleaned varied. The EPA's concluded enforcement actions generated the most
total cleanup commitments in FYs 2013 and 2014 with 761 and 871 million cubic
yards, respectively. Enforcement actions concluded in FY 2015 only generated
75 million cubic yards in cleanup commitments.
Figure 12: Trend in cleanup commitments, FYs 2012-2018
-
E .y
E 3
° 5
U ^
§" .2
c —
ro ^r
— _
U
1000
800
600
400
200
250
200
150
^ £
1 .2
u
<= <
o +-
u s=
100
50
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Cleanup Commitments Greater Than 10 Million Cubic Yards
Cleanup Commitments of 10 Million Cubic Yards or Less
Number of Concluded Enforcement Actions with Cleanup Commitments
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
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Table 9: Number and value of concluded enforcement actions with cleanup
commitments, by action size, FYs 2012-2018
Concluded enforcement actions
Concluded enforcement actions
with more than 10 million cubic
with 10 million cubic yards or less
yards of cleanup commitments
of cleanup
commitments
Total value
Total value
(in millions of
(in millions of
FY
Total number
cubic yards)
Total number
cubic yards)
2012
7
321
222
$76
2013
4
708
202
53
2014
3
843
172
28
2015
2
50
146
25
2016
2
165
138
26
2017
3
404
124
29
2018
9
235
92
$9
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Concluded enforcement actions with large cleanup commitments created
variability in the annual results. Overall, 92 percent of the seven-year total value
came from actions with commitment values over 10 million cubic yards. Much of
the annual variability stemmed from the timing of these large cleanup
commitments. When we excluded those 30 large commitments from our analysis,
the cleanup commitments show a decline from FYs 2012 through 2018, for a net
decrease of 88 percent.
Despite making up a significant portion of the total volume of cleanup
commitments, the large commitment actions comprised just 3 percent of the total
number of enforcement actions concluded with any commitment amount from
FYs 2012 through 2018. Rather, 82 percent of the total number of enforcement
actions concluded with cleanup commitments included commitments of
100,000 cubic yards or less.
EPA's Enforcement Resources Declined
To place the decline in enforcement results in context, we also analyzed the trends
in the resources available to the EPA for conducting enforcement.7 Overall
funding for the EPA's enforcement program generally declined from FYs 2006
through 2018, as did the number of enforcement staff, also referred to as full-time
equivalents.
Comparing FY 2006 to FY 2010, annual funding for the EPA's enforcement
program increased by 6 percent, from $650 million to $686 million. However,
funding decreased from FYs 2010 through 2018, reaching a low in FY 2018 at
$534 million (Figure 13). Funding for the enforcement program decreased by
18 percent when comparing FYs 2006 and 2018, but remained between 6 and
7 percent of the EPA's total budget each year from FYs 2006 through 2018.
7 These resources include programs for enforcement and compliance assistance to regulated entities, but the EPA
does not track these resources separately.
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Figure 13 also shows that the number of full-time equivalents generally declined
from FYs 2012 through 2018 after being relatively steady from FYs 2006 through
2011. Overall, the total number of enforcement full-time equivalents dropped
from 3,301 in FY 2006 to 2,605 in FY 2018, a 21 percent decrease.
Figure 13: Total EPA enforcement resources, FYs 2006-2018
$800
VI
c
J $700
i
c $600
GO
c
^ $500
3 1/1
£ 00 $400
c *—l
D
2,500
O"
LU
a;
E
2,000
i-p
D
LL
1,500
C
-------
$31 million, and the number of enforcement full-time equivalents decreased by
nearly 10 percent.8
Table 10: Trends in enforcement activities, actions, and results from FYs 2018 to 2019
Number of enforcement activities, actions,
and results
Value of enforcement results
(all monetary values in 2018 USD)
Inspections
(compliance
monitoring
activities)
• EPA inspections decreased by
approximately 4 percent in FY 2019 _
compared to FY 2018, from 10,734 to
10,328. ^
• While the downward trend continued into
FY 2019, the rate of decrease slowed.
Case
initiations
• EPA case initiations—in the form of
compliance orders, penalty orders, and
referrals to the Department of
Justice—decreased in FY 2019 compared
to FY 2018. ¦
• There were 87 cases referred to the
Department of Justice in FY 2019,
13 percent fewer than the prior low of
100 case referrals in FY 2018.
Case
conclusions
• The EPA concluded 1,680 cases in
FY 2019, 7 percent fewer than in FY 2018.
Injunctive
relief
• The number of concluded enforcement
actions with injunctive relief decreased by _
17 percent, from 1,233 in FY 2018 to
1,028 in FY 2019. ^
• Concluded enforcement actions resulted in
$4.35 billion in injunctive relief in FY 2019, .
up 9 percent from FY 2018.
• 43 percent of the FY 2019 injunctive relief
resulted from an enforcement action
against the City of New York.
Penalties
• The number of concluded enforcement
actions with a penalty decreased by _
12 percent, from 1,088 to 960.
• The EPA assessed $354 million in
penalties in FY 2019, which was more than .
400 percent higher than in FY 2018.
• 73 percent of the FY 2019 penalty dollars
resulted from a sinqle enforcement action
against Fiat Chrysler.
SEPs
• The number of SEPs decreased by
18 percent, from 99 in FY 2018 to 81 in B,
FY 2019. ~
• The total SEP value decreased 12 percent
from FY 2018 to FY 2019, from $29 million ¦
to $26 million.
Pollution
commitments
• The EPA concluded 3 percent more ^
enforcement actions that included
pollution commitments in FY 2019 than in
FY 2018.
• Concluded enforcement actions in FY 2019 .
resulted in 347 million pounds of pollution
commitments, 19 percent more than in
FY 2018.
Waste
commitments
• The number of concluded enforcement _
actions with waste commitments
decreased from 42 in FY 2018 to 31 in
FY 2019, a 26 percent decrease.
• Concluded enforcement actions resulted in _
99 percent fewer pounds of waste
commitments, from 541 million in FY 2018
to five million in FY 2019.
Cleanup
commitments
• Compared to FY 2018, the number of _
concluded enforcement actions with
cleanup commitments decreased by
22 percent in FY 2019, from 102 to 80.
• Concluded enforcement actions produced _
95 percent fewer cubic yards of waste
commitments, from 245 million cubic yards
in FY 2018 to 13 million in FY 2019.
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
8 In FY 2019, the offices of Federal Activities and Environmental Justice moved from the Office of Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance to the Office of the Administrator, which accounted for 91 percent of the decrease in the
enforcement budget and 9 percent of the decrease in the full-time equivalents between FYs 2018 and 2019.
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Summary
In this report, we describe the trends in the EPA's national annual compliance
monitoring activities, enforcement actions, and enforcement results. Generally,
enforcement results declined during our audit scope. These trends generally
continued to decrease in FY 2019, although four measures increased. While
identifying the trends is important, it is equally important to understand the key
factors explaining the trends. Our forthcoming report will include an expanded
discussion about the enforcement trends—including trends in regional and statute-
specific federal enforcement results—and will describe our findings related to the
key factors that contributed to these trends.
Agency Response and OIG Assessment
On March 30, 2020, the assistant administrator for Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance provided an official response to the report (Appendix B). Additionally,
we met with managers from the Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance to receive technical comments on the report, which we incorporated
where appropriate.
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Appendix A
EPA's Annual Enforcement Measures by Year
This appendix presents the EPA's enforcement measures for FYs 2006 through 2018. We
generally excluded FY 2006's compliance monitoring activities, enforcement actions, and
enforcement results from our trend analyses. We determined that FY 2006 was a unique year
because the EPA concluded a historic number of enforcement actions and that including
FY 2006 in our trend analyses exaggerated the overall decline in enforcement activities and
results. In addition, data for estimated environmental benefits stemming from EPA enforcement
activities and actions are constrained to FYs 2012 through 2018 because the EPA changed how it
tracks environmental benefits information in FY 2012.
Table A-1: EPA compliance monitoring activities (inspections) and
enforcement actions (cases initiated and concluded) by year, FYs 2006-2018
FY
Number of
inspections
Number of
cases initiated
Number of case
conclusions
2006
18,038
6,271
6,167
2007
16,046
3,784
3,714
2008
20,030
3,741
3,690
2009
20,201
3,731
3,724
2010
21,269
3,394
3,349
2011
19,513
3,199
3,201
2012
20,068
2,920
2,963
2013
18,315
2,379
2,466
2014
15,821
2,191
2,235
2015
15,729
2,287
2,292
2016
13,763
2,391
2,350
2017
11,947
1,937
1,980
2018
10,687
1,829
1,819
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
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Table A-2: EPA enforcement results by year for injunctive relief, FYs 2006-2018
FY
Total number
of concluded
enforcement
actions with
injunctive relief
Total injunctive
relief in billions
(2018 USD)
Median injunctive
relief enforcement
action (2018 USD)
Average injunctive
relief enforcement
action (2018 USD)
2006
5,454
$6.13
$3,113
$1,124,012
2007
2,932
10.74
3,040
3,662,356
2008
3,023
12.93
2,328
4,275,597
2009
3,015
5.79
3,504
1,921,753
2010
2,850
13.49
3,562
4,733,298
2011
2,716
21.30
4,178
7,841,052
2012
2,517
9.96
2,733
3,955,561
2013
1,976
7.85
5,375
3,974,583
2014
1,730
10.30
3,726
5,952,311
2015
1,740
7.95
4,649
4,571,483
2016
1,558
14.32
5,225
9,192,587
2017
1,394
20.45
5,120
14,673,143
2018
1,245
$3.95
$5,000
$3,171,375
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Table A-3: EPA enforcement results by year for penalties, FYs 2006-2018
FY
Total number of
concluded
enforcement
actions with a
penalty
Total penalties
in millions
(2018 USD)
Median penalty
enforcement action
(2018 USD)
Average penalty
enforcement action
(2018 USD)
2006
4,707
$143
$623
$30,432
2007
2,300
86
2,556
37,181
2008
2,142
147
3,841
68,539
2009
1,961
102
2,920
52,081
2010
1,894
125
3,619
65,932
2011
1,786
173
5,707
96,879
2012
1,828
227
6,558
124,239
2013
1,498
1,195
8,976
797,542
2014
1,410
112
8,834
79,346
2015
1,472
218
9,073
147,857
2016
1,429
6,135
8,778
4,293,115
2017
1,306
1,672
9,761
1,280,145
2018
1,089
$69
$8,949
$63,800
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
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Table A-4: EPA enforcement results by year for SEPs, FYs 2006-2018
FY
Total number of
concluded
enforcement
actions with SEPs
Total SEPs
value in millions
(2018 USD)
Median SEP
enforcement action
value (2018 USD)
Average SEP
enforcement action
value (2018 USD)
2006
243
$90
$62,250
$407,506
2007
194
34
30,400
180,248
2008
202
43
47,482
232,621
2009
168
53
38,629
347,220
2010
119
24
40,094
206,454
2011
109
28
68,625
275,804
2012
133
48
61,481
384,714
2013
124
24
52,648
216,563
2014
105
18
49,943
180,132
2015
133
41
92,964
332,524
2016
115
33
84,123
309,050
2017
110
18
72,708
186,801
2018
100
$29
$93,443
$301,343
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Table A-5: EPA enforcement results by year for commitments to reduce, treat, or eliminate
pollution, FYs 2012-2018
FY
Total number of
concluded
enforcement
actions with
pollution
commitments
Total value of
commitments
(million pounds)
Median
enforcement action
value (pounds)
Average
enforcement action
value (pounds)
2012
1,124
751
1,577
668,061
2013
1,046
1,281
1,854
1,224,724
2014
856
515
1,846
601,129
2015
944
524
1,823
555,030
2016
1,210
321
1,957
265,441
2017
902
215
1,920
238,592
2018
779
268
1,212
343,804
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
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Table A-6: EPA enforcement results by year for commitments to properly treat,
minimize, or dispose of waste, FYs 2012-2018
FY
Total number of
concluded
enforcement
actions with
waste
commitments
Total value of
waste
commitments
(million pounds)
Median
enforcement
action value
(pounds)
Average
enforcement
action value
(pounds)
2012
43
4,368
8,706
101,578,770
2013
43
148
3,500
3,439,958
2014
51
711
3,600
13,937,828
2015
44
535
2,567
12,169,683
2016
46
61,938
6,025
1,346,471,350
2017
48
246
2,829
5,115,987
2018
42
541
17,343
12,892,508
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
Table A-7: EPA enforcement results by year for commitments to clean up
contaminated soil or water, FYs 2012-2018
FY
Total number of
concluded
enforcement
actions with
cleanup
commitments
Total value of
cleanup
commitments
(millions of cubic
yards)
Median
enforcement
action value
(cubic yards)
Average
enforcement
action value
(cubic yards)
2012
229
397
3,000
1,731,743
2013
206
761
2,173
3,693,768
2014
175
871
2,100
4,975,208
2015
148
75
938
506,841
2016
140
191
772
1,363,257
2017
127
433
2,640
3,409,015
2018
101
245
1,400
2,421,625
Source: OIG analysis of the EPA's annual enforcement data.
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Appendix B
I Q \
at;
March 30, 2020
MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: Response to the Office of Inspector General Draft Report "EPA's Compliance
Monitoring Activities, Enforcement Actions, and Enforcement Results Generally
Decreased from Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2018," Project No. OA&E-FY19-
0030
FROM: Susan Parker Bodine
TO: Kathryn Hess, Acting Director
Water Directorate, Office of Audit and Evaluation
Office of the Inspector General
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the draft findings presented in the Office of
Inspector General (OIG) Draft Report, "EPA's Compliance Monitoring Activities, Enforcement
Actions, and Enforcement Results Generally Decreased from Fiscal Years 2006 Through 2018."
We generally agree with the report's data on EPA-led enforcement activities, actions, and results
from fiscal years 2006 through 2018. However, we do have several comments on the report.
First, we are concerned that the OIG has significantly shortened the time for review and
comment on this important report. At a minimum, we would like to be afforded the normal
review period of 30 days for draft reports.
Perhaps due to the short deadline for completing the report, none of the graphs have been
updated to include the EPA's FY 2019 Enforcement and Compliance Annual Results. As a
result, the report does not fully reflect enforcement trends. Although the report's text does
acknowledge significant increases in enforcement and compliance results that occurred in FY
2019, the following areas were not captured in the graphs:
• Voluntary self-disclosed violations at over 1900 facilities expediting return to
compliance, an estimated 20% increase compared to FY 2018.
Agency Response to Draft Report
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C., 20460
ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR
FOR ENFORCEMENT AND
COMPLIANCE ASSURANCE
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• Investment of over $4.4 billion in actions and equipment that achieve compliance with
the law and control pollution, an increase of over $400 million from FY 2018.
• $471.8 million in combined Federal administrative and judicial civil penalties and
criminal fines, the highest total of all but four of the past ten years.
• Commitments to reduce, treat, or eliminate 347.2 million pounds of pollution (air,
toxics, and water), the highest value in the past four years.
• 7.56 million pounds of emissions prevented from mobile sources, an increase of nearly
6.9 million pounds from FY 2018.
• 170 criminal cases opened, an increase from 128 in FY 2018, continuing to reverse the
downward trend that began after 2011.
• A total of 137 criminal defendants charged, an increase from 107 in FY 2018, reversing
a downward trend that began after 2013.
• Commitments for $570.4 million in new site cleanup work, $283 million in
reimbursement of EPA's costs, and more than $108 million in oversight billed, totaling
$961 million, an increase of over $349 million from FY 2018.
• Cleanups and redevelopment at over 160 sites through use of Superfund enforcement
tools, an increase of 6 sites from 2018.
Additionally, the report fails to note that our enforcement and compliance program focuses on
achieving compliance using many tools, not limited to the number of individual enforcement
actions taken. Recognizing that states are the primary implementers of our nation's
environmental laws, the EPA will continue to focus where it can provide the most value,
including on matters affecting multiple states or tribes, serving as a backstop when a state or
tribe does not address serious noncompliance in a timely fashion, and assisting states and tribes
when they lack the capability, resources, or will to address noncompliance.
If you have any questions, please contact OECA's Audit Follow Up Coordinator, Gwendolyn
Spriggs at spri ggs.gwendolyn@epa. gov.
Attachment
cc: Larry Starfield, OECA
David Hindin, OECA/OC
Rochele Kadish, OECA/OC
Danielle Tesch, OIG
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Appendix C
Distribution
The Administrator
Assistant Deputy Administrator
Associate Deputy Administrator
Chief of Staff
Deputy Chief of Staff/Operations
Agency Follow-Up Official (the CFO)
Agency Follow-Up Coordinator
General Counsel
Associate Administrator for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations
Associate Administrator for Public Affairs
Director, Office of Continuous Improvement, Office of the Administrator
Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Director, Office of Administration and Policy, Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance
Director, Office of Civil Enforcement, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Director, Office of Compliance, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Director, Office of Site Remediation Enforcement, Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance
Audit Follow-Up Coordinator, Office of the Administrator
Audit Follow-Up Coordinator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
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