EPA enforcment ahs increased.

EPA ENFORCEMENT HAS SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement this year was the highest in over a decade. The EPA negotiated 47 administrative penalty settlements and 22 judicial settlements totaling $4.3 million. Further, EPA required the expenditure of over $203 million by violators of environmental laws to come into compliance, which is more than double the $88 million of compliance work required in 2001.

EPA's criminal enforcement was also up significantly in 2002, with 21 convictions with a total of 10 years of incarceration, 28 years of probation and fines of $3.4 million. Among those cases was the conviction and sentencing of a New Hampshire apartment manager for violating federal lead paint disclosure laws after the death from lead paint exposure of a two year old.

EPA has also increased what it calls "Supplemental Environmental Projects" (SEPs). SEPs allow violators to use administrative penalty funds to focus on the management of public health issues such as indoor air pollution, asthma and childhood lead poisoning in the communities where the violations took place. The largest SEP in 2002 was an agreement by Waste Management of Massachusetts, a Boston trash hauler, to spend $1.4 million to install diesel particle traps on 200 Boston school buses and purchase low-sulfur diesel fuel for the buses. The case stemmed from Clean Air Act violations, specifically, illegal releases of ozone-depleting pollutants into the air by improperly crushing discarded refrigerators and air conditioners.