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• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	20-P-0131
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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