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Thursday, January 24, 2019

Analysis: EPA's civil penalties for polluters dropped 'dramatically' in Trump's first two years

A new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data shows that, under the two years of the Trump administration, civil penalties for polluters have fallen to the lowest average level since the EPA enforcement office was created in 1994.

"In the two decades before President Trump took office, EPA civil fines averaged more than $500 million a year, when adjusted for inflation. Last year’s $72 million in fines was 85 percent below that amount, according to the agency’s Enforcement and Compliance History Online database," Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis report for The Washington Post.

Stiff penalties encourage companies to comply with the law, but if they're too cheap or not frequently imposed, companies could figure it's cheaper to break the law and pay the fine. Administration officials have said that, instead of focusing on penalties, they prefer to work with companies to prevent them from polluting in the first place, Eilperin and Dennis report.

One reason for fewer penalties could be that it's now easier for companies to meet standards. The analysis "shows that in addition to the drop in civil penalties for polluting, the amount of money companies must pay to come into compliance with federal environmental laws also declined last fiscal year, to nearly $5.6 billion," Eilperin and Dennis report. "That represents the lowest amount of injunctive relief since 2003, in inflation-adjusted dollars, and is below the roughly $7.8 billion average for the two decades before Trump took office."

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at his confirmation hearing last week that the agency wasn't going easier on polluters, and EPA opened more criminal enforcement cases in 2018 than in 2017. EPA officials told the Post said they could not disclose the exact figures for recent civil and criminal penalties until after the partial government shutdown ends.

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