"EPA referred just 152 criminal cases to DOJ last fiscal year — a third lower than the prior year, when the number had reached a new floor during the Trump administration, according to data obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

“It has been steadily worsening and bottoming out under Trump,” said Jeff Ruch, a director at PEER. “This seems to indicate we may not have reached bottom.”

EPA Administrator Michael Regan has described enforcement as a central part of his environmental justice agenda — necessary to protect minority and low-income communities long overburdened by pollution sources that stack on top of each other.

Yet the new data comes as President Biden’s pick to be EPA’s top cop — David Uhlmann, a hard-charging former federal prosecutor — faces snags in his Senate confirmation process (Greenwire, Jan. 14). And the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance that he is poised to lead has seen major staffing shortages, particularly in the criminal investigations division."

Kelsey Brugger reports for E&E News January 25, 2022. [2]