by EIP
Declining enforcement penalties collected by EPA under the Bush Administration.
Jan 1, 2003
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In the 2002 fiscal year - the first full year in which EPA was under the thumb of the Bush Administration and its allies in the energy lobby - the number of penalties recovered from polluters in civil cases that were settled in federal court declined by half compared to the previous three year average. Defendants paid over $130 million, $84 million, and $94 million, respectively, in fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001 to settle judicial actions. In 2002, the U.S. government was able to recover only $51 million in civil penalties. In addition, nearly twothirds of penalties in the 2001 fiscal year (October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001) came from settlements lodged before the Bush Administration took office on January 20, 2001. Declining penalties can be explained in part by the absence of large settlements with the kind of Fortune 1000 companies that were the subject of large enforcement actions in prior years.
In addition to paying penalties, companies are expected to return to compliance. EPA, however, will reduce penalties somewhat for those willing to undertake "supplemental environmental projects" or "SEPs" that bind companies to do work that is well beyond what is required to comply with the law. These SEPs offer substantial benefits to local communities by, for example, financing the purchase and preservation of wetlands and greenspace, underwriting the cost of fenceline monitoring and mobile asthma clinics, or supporting conversion of bus fleets to natural gas. The value of these SEPs declined from a three-year average of $106 million between fiscal years 1999 and 2001, to only $43 million in 2002. Significantly, more than half of the SEPs obtained in the 2001 fiscal year originated from settlements lodged during the Clinton Administration.
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