EPA Opens Records on Water Enforcement
You can now access a more comprehensive picture of water enforcement across the country at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
State Review Framework page on its Web site.
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson recently directed the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) to develop an action plan to make the agency's clean water enforcement more transparent. In response, the agency posted detailed information on the current state of clean water compliance and enforcement in each state and copies of the latest clean water enforcement and compliance performance reports for each state. EPA also launched new Web-based tools to help the public search, assess, and analyze the data the agency used to help prepare those reports.
Jackson also directed the agency to:
- Provide information in a user-friendly format that is easily understood and useable by the public;
- Raise the bar for clean water enforcement performance and ensure enforcement is taken against serious violations that threaten water quality; and
- Improve EPA’s enforcement performance in states where the agency directly implements the clean water program.
OECA will work with EPA’s Office of Water and consult closely with the agency’s 10 regional offices and the states on the action plan. After obtaining input from other stakeholders, Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of OECA, will report back to Jackson in 90 days with recommendations.