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Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters

EPA cuts down on criminal cases, says focus is on biggest offenders

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 30, 2007 8:15 AM CDT

(Newser) – The EPA has taken a decidedly less aggressive tack in criminal cases, the Washington Post reports, a trend advocates fear will embolden polluters. The number of prosecutions, new investigations, and total convictions have all dropped by more than a third. One ex-official, who resigned in protest, blamed the Bush administration, saying agents couldn’t count on support from the White House.

The administration says it pursues mainly bigger, higher profile cases to secure more convictions and cites the 1.1 billion pounds of air pollution it helped cut. But critics, insisting the agency needs to clean up its act, point to its waning resources. Agents, for example, are sometimes pulled from cases to act as security detail for the EPA administrator.

Marco Lopez jogs along train tracks Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 in Arvin, Calif. Arvin is home to the nation's worst air pollution. Arvin's level of ozone, the primary component in smog, exceeded the national... (Associated Press)

Lisa Bokun, logistics section chief with the Environmental Protection Agency, left, speaks with EPA information technology specialist Jim Poindexter near some of the agency's new response vehicles in... (Associated Press)

A car gives off exhaust in Montpelier, Vt., Monday, March 2, 2007. Vermont is a big winner in two major environmental decisions handed down today by the U.S. Supreme Court. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse... (Associated Press)

Los Angeles sit under a blanket of smog in this Jan. 14, 2000, file photo. Pollution standards are too weak to protect people from the air they breathe, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson declared,... (Associated Press)

(FILES) This general view taken 20 September, 2006 shows the... (Getty Images)

City In Smog (Archive Photos)

Smog covers midtown Manhattan in New York on Tuesday, July 10, 2007. In hopes to reduce traffic and air pollution, authorities in New York City are trying to implement a car tax which will allow the city... (Associated Press)

Ana Maria Corona holds her asthma medication on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 in Arvin, Calif. Arvin is home to the nation's worst air pollution. Arvin's level of ozone, the primary component in smog, exceeded... (Associated Press)

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Feds Pursue Fewer Polluters

EPA cuts down on criminal cases, says focus is on biggest offenders

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Bush administration • environment • Department of Justice • pollution • Clean Air Act • Environmental Protection Agency • contamination • civil lawsuits • US Attorney's Office • House Energy and Commerce Committee • air pollution • John Dingell

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

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More Newser Stories

Test Finds Mercury in Every Fish

A quarter contaminated beyond EPA safety limit

Court Reinstates Bush Clean Air Rule

Federal judges reverse position on clean air rule, giving Obama time to replace it

EPA to Loosen Clean-Air Rules in National Parks

Bush moves to allow coal-fired plants nearer US land preserves

EPA Must Regulate Greenhouse Gases

Supreme Court ruling a rebuke to Bush's hands-off policy on auto emissions

Environmental Strategy of GOP: 'Too Dirty to Fail'

They protect polluters on the false pretext of saving jobs: EPA chief

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Newser By Users

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