The Environmental Protection Agency, under GOP fire for handing down expensive penalties and bulking up on unreasonable rules, on Thursday put the price tag of its actions against polluters at over $10 billion this year alone.
The total cost was slightly more than $10.3 billion. The bulk was the result of enforcement actions that “required companies to invest more than $9.7 billion in actions and equipment to control pollution and clean up contaminated sites,” said the agency in a year-end report.
The other costs:
— $163 million in combined federal administrative, civil judicial penalties and criminal fines.
— $16 million in court-ordered environmental projects resulting from criminal prosecutions.
— $453.7 million in commitments from responsible parties to clean up Superfund sites
In addition, the agency put some polluters in jail for 155 combined years.
“By taking on large, high impact enforcement cases, EPA is helping to level the playing field for companies that play by the rules, while maximizing our ability to protect the communities we serve across the country,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
The enforcement actions also targeted pollution, resulting in a reduction of about 141 million pounds of air pollution and 337 million pounds of water pollutants.
Congressional Republicans are angry with EPA regulations and enforcement actions, especially against coal. Some have suggested that they will cut EPA funding and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week that “it will soon be very clear that Congress disagrees not only with the EPA’s unilateral actions but also with the administration’s entire international crusade against coal jobs.”
Key cases cited by EPA:
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
