Criminal Investigations down at EPA

The number of EPA’s crime investigations has dropped significantly over the past four years, according to enforcement figures released by the agency last week. In fiscal 2005, which ended on Sept. 30, EPA had made 372 environmental crime investigations, down from 482 in 2001, a drop of 23%. Granta Y. Nakayama, EPA’s assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance, says the agency has shifted its criminal enforcement efforts to cases with the greatest environmental impact. Investigators are focusing on larger, more complicated cases involving numerous facilities that require many resources, Nakayama says. Agency investigations led to criminal charges of 372 defendants in 2001 and 320 defendants in 2005, according to EPA. Agency actions in 2005 led to $154 million in civil penalties and $100 million in criminal fines and restitution. EPA says its enforcement efforts in 2005 will reduce pollution by 1.1 billion lb. EPA adds that more than 600 companies voluntarily disclosed possible environmental violations to the agency in 2005.