Environmental Enforcement Plummets Under Bush PEER Report - There has been a steep decline in environmental enforcement during President George W. Bush's first year in office, according to figures by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER's analysis of the latest numbers shows cases referred by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for criminal prosecution dropped
by a fifth (20 percent) overall during the 2001 fiscal year. The fall-off
in EPA referrals was more significant in several of the agency's principal
anti-pollution priority areas: This downturn reflects cases through September of 2001 and does not include effects of EPA staff reassignments announced last month. EPA stated that about 40 percent of its criminal enforcement staff would be moved to non-environmental security tasks. "The faucet for environmental cases entering the prosecution pipeline is being cranked way down during President Bush's first year in office," commented PEER analyst Jessica V. Revere, who noted that criminal prosecution is generally reserved for the most severe pollution violations. "We can expect even greater declines in 2002 with the removal of nearly half of the criminal investigators and the new agency leadership's pledge to de-emphasize environmental enforcement." The PEER analysis is based upon U.S. Department of Justice figures obtained and reviewed by the University of Syracuse's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. A complete copy of the PEER enforcement analysis of 2001 is available
upon request and may be found on the PEER web site at: PEER is a national alliance of local state and federal resource
professionals, working to protect the environment. |
||
About
TCWN / Join TCWN / Request
a Newsletter / Newsletter
Archives / TCWN Library / Calendar
/ Join
Our Email List Tennessee Clean Water Network |