Environmental Protection Agency officials ignored laws that require them to track the usage, whereabouts and emissions output of the agency’s vehicle fleet, according to a government watchdog.
The agency provides little oversight or guidance for maintaining its collection of 1,064 cars and trucks, which cost taxpayers $6 million each year.
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| The agency lacks documentation for the emissions testing of its own fleet of vehicles. |
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Because the EPA has no system for monitoring the use of its vehicles, officials in charge of maintaining the fleet can’t know whether drivers are following the law or taking the cars off approved routes when they’re behind the wheel.
Three different drafts of guidelines for proper fleet usage have been in the works for five years, the EPA inspector general found.
While federal regulations allow special agents and employees on “protective service detail” to drive the vehicles between home and work if they obtain special permission from their agency, the EPA failed to keep records of who is taking taxpayer-funded trucks and cars home at night.
Since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970, which required drivers to submit their personal vehicles to emissions testing, the EPA has been responsible for managing federal emissions regulations on a national level.
But the agency lacks documentation for the emissions testing of its own fleet of vehicles.
“By not ensuring that vehicles have supporting documentation for emission testing, the EPA’s fleet may be at risk of not meeting state emission standards,” the report says.
Other federal agencies struggle to maintain oversight of their fleets as well. In September, the Washington Examiner reported a Department of Homeland Security audit uncovered as much as $48 million in funds wasted on underused vehicles thanks to the lack of a centralized system for monitoring the fleet.
Go here to read the full EPA IG report.
