EPA Releases Annual Enforcement Results for Fiscal Year 2012

Yesterday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Enforcement Annual Results for Fiscal Year 2012.  According to the interactive web portal available here, 

EPA enforcement accomplishments in FY 2012, include:

• $251 million in criminal fines and civil penalties assessed to deter pollution

• 6.6 billion pounds of pollution and hazardous waste reduced, eliminated, properly disposed of or treated

•  $44 million in additional investments for supplemental environmental projects that benefit communities

• Improving compliance with drinking water regulations by 60%: Sustained and focused enforcement attention on serious violators of clean drinking water standards has resulted in dramatic improvements in compliance.

• Progress cleaning up raw sewage and stormwater: 67% of large municipalities with combined sewer overflows are now on track to address their local water issues, many using innovations like green infrastructure to help reduce stormwater flows. 

• Bringing criminal prosecutions where criminal activity threatens public health: EPA is taking criminal enforcement action against companies or individuals who fail to use required pollution control equipment, knowingly violate pollution rules, resulting in death or serious harm, or falsify pollution information. See a case example in Louisiana

• Advancing environmental justice: EPA incorporated fenceline monitoring into settlements, ensuring that local residents have access to critical information about pollution that may be affecting their community. See an oil refinery case example.

• Increasing transparency: EPA’s enforcement and compliance online history tools, including the map of enforcement cases in 2012, state dashboards, and Clean Water Act pollutant loadings tool, provide the public with critical access to environmental information.

Prior results are available here:
2011
2010
2009
2008