Recent Studies Show Lack of Enforcement of Environmental Laws

Enforcement of federal environmental law has declined significantly during the Bush years, according to several recent studies, even as the 30-year trend of environmental improvement has begun to reverse course. Declining Enforcement A recent report by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) indicates that the Bush Department of Justice has filed 75 percent fewer lawsuits against polluters than the previous administration. Whereas Clinton launched 152 lawsuits against polluters in the first three years of his administration, Bush has filed only 36. The decline is even starker when the focus shifts to power plants: the Bush administration has pursued only three lawsuits against energy companies, in a 90 percent drop from the 28 filed by the Clinton administration. Though EPA did issue large penalties to petroleum refineries this year, settlements would have been larger and reached more quickly if the Justice Department had pursued litigation, according to the EIP report. Even in high profile cases, such as the recently reported evidence that industry attempted to cover up data showing high levels of lead in the nation's drinking water, the Justice Department has turned a blind eye. A study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), which has compiled all manner of government data, including environmental enforcement data, also found that criminal prosecution of environmental violations has declined across the board during the Bush administration The study examined alleged criminal violations of more than 1,400 federal environmental statutes and found that "federal prosecutors have filed environmental charges against substantially fewer defendants during the administration of President Bush than during either of President Clinton's two terms." During the last four years, environmental prosecutions have dropped 23 percent from the second Clinton term. Another TRAC analysis found that criminal prosecution of environmental violations varied wildly across the nation. According to the report, "[T]he U.S. Attorneys and their assistants throughout the country declined to prosecute well over half (922) of [the 1,600 polluting companies and individuals referred, from the beginning of FY 2001 to the first quarter of FY 2004] -- or 58 percent. On each of these, however, investigative agencies had referred the matter to federal prosecutors believing the evidence indicated they were criminal violators." U.S. Attorneys often cited "weak evidence, lack of criminal intent, and agency request or office policy" in deciding not to prosecute. TRAC also found that the lack of enforcement varied by statute. For instance, the most frequently cited law in pollution cases during both the Clinton and Bush years was 33 U.S.C. § 1319, a water pollution statute. While charges citing this law increased by 54 percent from Clinton's first to second term, filings dropped by 28 percent during the Bush years. Filings under the hazardous waste management law likewise dropped 39 percent under Bush, and filings under the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act dropped by 41 percent. "A few environmental areas showed different trends. Prosecutions under Atomic Energy statutes were down across all three presidential administrations. In contrast, prosecutions for Title 49 offenses on the transport of hazardous wastes rose. Numbers of cases in these categories were, however, modest," the report added. A fourth TRAC report released Monday tracks enforcement of wildlife protection laws under the Bush administration. As it turns out, "enforcement of the federal laws designed to protect migratory birds, endangered species, marine mammals and other kinds of wild life has slumped during the Bush Administration, according to authoritative Justice Department data." Filings of felony charges for violations of wildlife protection laws fell by 20 percent during the Bush years and filings of misdemeanors fell by 40 percent. The trend in legal filings varied depending on the statute. The wildlife protection law that is most often used in criminal prosecutions, a law protecting wildlife against the taking, killing, or possessing of migratory birds, has witnessed the greatest decline in filings; filings under that law dropped by 47 percent under the Bush administration. Though criminal prosecution is certainly not the only way to decrease pollution and environmental hazards, the results of these studies contradict public statements by EPA Mark Leavitt citing the vigor with which EPA pursues those who disobey the law. In January of this year, during his inaugural speech, Mike Leavitt told EPA employees, "[A]nyone who evades the law should feel the full weight of the law until compliance is met." Declining Environmental Improvement Though the air and water quality have improved over the last 30 years, the lack of enforcement of environmental laws coincides with a slackening and reversal of the rate of improvement during the Bush administration. A recent Knight-Ridder study looked at 14 indicators of pollution and found that nine had worsened while three zigzagged and only two improved:
  • Superfund cleanups of toxic waste fell 52 percent.
  • Fish-consumption warnings for rivers doubled.
  • Fish-consumption advisories for lakes increased 39 percent.
  • The number of beach closings rose 26 percent.
  • Civil citations issued to polluters fell 57 percent.
  • Criminal pollution prosecutions dropped 17 percent.
  • Asthma attacks increased 6 percent.
  • Global temperatures and unhealthy air days increased slightly.
Knight-Ridder also found "record-low additions to national parks, wilderness, wildlife refuges and the endangered species list. The Bush administration also approved 74 percent more permits to drill for oil and gas on public lands in its first three years than were granted in the previous three years." At the same time, more Americans are living in cities with unhealthy air. "The number of times that air in U.S. cities was declared unhealthy increased from 1,535 in 2000 to 1,656 in 2001 and 2,035 in 2002. And the EPA's inspector general issued a report last month saying that national air-emission reductions don't accurately reflect the stagnating pollution levels in metropolitan areas," according to the report.
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