EPA Reveals Mixed Results With Fiscal Year 2010 Enforcement Data

摘要

EPA is touting its enforcement figures for fiscal year 2010 as reflecting an "all-time EPA record" for the value of injunctive relief-pollution controls and other measures to improve the environment - it won through enforcement actions, though the data also show drops in the number of civil and criminal enforcement cases opened. Sources say that several of the FY10 numbers, released Dec. 2, are an improvement over FY09, which showed a major drop of more than $6 billion in injunctive relief compared to FY08 and a similarly massive drop of roughly 3 billion pounds of pollution reduced from enforcement actions. But key figures in FY09 hint at potential inefficiencies in how EPA pursues enforcement, and the drop in new cases initiated may lead to lower results in FY11, sources say.