EPA rebuilds its enforcement muscle

Nation's Business, May, 1997 by Stephen Blakeley

The Environmental Protection Agency, whose enforcement budget has been cut substantially by Congress in recent years, has not lost its resolve to prosecute major polluters while also encouraging compliance by small companies and communities.

The EPA's dual roles of bad cop and good cop are likely to gain more attention if Congress approves President Clinton's fiscal 1998 budget for the agency's enforcement activities. The proposed enforcement bud get totals $541 million, a 4.2 percent increase from current levels and about the same level the EPA had in 1994.

After taking control of Congress, Republicans cut EPA enforcement funds, which dropped as low as $515.5 million in fiscal 1996. (See the accompanying chart.)

Despite its reduced resources, however, the EPA recently announced that it had referred 262 criminal cases to the U.S. Department of Justice for prosecution in 1996 and had assessed a combined total of $173 million in criminal, civil, and administrative penalties; both totals are records.

"The environmental cop is back on the beat in full force. It was a very strong year for the [enforcement] program," says Sylvia Lowrance, deputy assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Environmental Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. And because the EPA's conflicts with Congress seem to have quieted down, she says, "we see stability in the enforcement budget. We [should] have the resources we need to run a vital program."

While the EPA hopes its image as a tough "enviro-cop" will help deter potential polluters, it tries to encourage voluntary compliance through various incentive programs. Several of them are geared toward small employers and small communities.

For instance, the EPA's Small Business Ombudsman office, in Arlington, Va., provides a one-stop resource center for small-business owners struggling to understand and comply with environmental-protection rules. The office can be reached at 1-800-368-6888.

The EPA has adopted policies designed to help small firms avoid financial penalties by disclosing and correcting voluntarily any environmental problems they encounter. And the agency is setting up several industry-specific compliance centers to help businesses follow environmental rules.

Mary Bernhard, manager of environmental policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says these small-business assistance initiatives "are a direct result of the business community's demands that EPA recognize the legitimate and unique needs of small businesses." Because the EPA tends to focus its resources on major polluters, she adds, small firms that use the agency's small-business resources are less likely to be affected by any increase in EPA enforcement activity.

EPA's Enforcement Money

Fiscal        Funding       Change From
 Year      (In Millions)    Previous Year
1994         $540.1           -5.3%
1995         $516.1           -4.4
1996         $515.5           -0.1
1997         $518.7            0.6
1998(*)      $540.7            4.2

(*) President Clinton's Budget Request SOURCE: U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY