Who's minding the store?

The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report this week which criticizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for overestimating how much money they collect from companies that violate national environmental laws.  The actual penalties EPA collected significantly declined in the last ten years. Fines levied against violators decreased from $240.6 million in 1998 to $137.7 million in 2007.

On the one hand, this could mean that there has just been a radical improvement this last decade in compliance with our nation’s environmental laws. But that is unlikely.

The real story here is the lack of interest on the part of the Bush Administration to enforce the laws designed to clean our air, water and land, and protect the public’s health. In addition to negligent behavior on the part of government agencies, this is also about giving away resources that are owed to the public.  These forgone penalties mean a loss of revenue for the government to spend on protecting the environment, investing in a clean energy economy and creating green, family wage jobs for our country.  When the government is running record level deficit, it matters.

EPA’s practice is not only negligent, it is short-sighted and costly to Americans. Companies that wrongfully violate our nation’s laws to protect our air, water and land are obligated to pay the penalty, not the American people.