EPA is struggling to implement 32 new wastewater and drinking water mandates included in the recently enacted water resources development law even though some of the requirements -- such as measures addressing the cost of replacing lead service lines -- lack new funding, officials told their drinking water advisers Dec. 6.
The watchdog office says its return on investment declined from 17-to-1 to 9.4-to-1 in fiscal year 2018, though the current figure is still far above the goal it set at the start of the year.
Industry officials are urging lawmakers to renew EPA's expiring authority to collect industry fees to support timely pesticide reviews, either through a stand-alone bill or by attaching it to a broader appropriations package, after lawmakers declined to extend the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA) program in the Farm Bill.
A year after rejecting the Inspector General's warning that the community risk screening tool represents a potential $400,000 annual waste, EPA is now agreeing to discontinue the tool's use.
An EPA union official says the agency's upcoming restructuring of its regional offices appears designed to overhaul existing enforcement policies and chains of command, likely bolstering political leadership's ability to push reduced regional enforcement and more-lenient compliance while limiting the national enforcement office's oversight of regions.
House Democratic staff on multiple committees are reaching out to stakeholders for ideas on ways to bolster clean water infrastructure in a possible bipartisan bill in the next Congress -- an effort that could strengthen EPA's water infrastructure funding programs which already face significant demand for funding.
In the wake of the midterm elections, Congress is gearing up for a debate in the upcoming lame duck session on whether and how to fund EPA and several other agencies for the rest of fiscal year 2019 ahead of an early December deadline -- amid signs prior to the election that lawmakers appear likely to provide the agency with level funding.
The watchdog office is investigating an anonymous complaint that alleges improprieties in EPA's handling of three contracts for licensing and operating its budgeting software.
The Office of Inspector General is seeking records on EPA's enforcement results going back to the George W. Bush administration, aiming to identify long-term trends in the agency's record.
The Office of Inspector General's review of EPA's law enforcement availability pay program grew out of its investigation of former Administrator Scott Pruitt's 24-hour security detail.
