Is Obama Soft on Environmental Crime?

President Barack Obama may be tough on pollution, but he's gone soft on the worst corporate polluters, according to government records released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) that show the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criminal enforcement program is understaffed and under-performing.

We're not talking about bureaucrats or policy wonks here. Investigators for the EPA Criminal Investigation Division (CID) carry guns and badges and investigate the most serious environmental crimes and corporate pollution offenses.

The U.S. Pollution Prosecution Act of 1990 requires a minimum of 200 CID agents. According to EPA statistics, however, there were only 173 agents in 2010, down from 205 in 2003. PEER says the number of agents working in 2010 is actually 160, because the higher figure of 173 includes 13 open positions that are budgeted but unfilled.

The EPA is not unaware of the problem. The FY 2010 EPA budget summary declares: "The program will increase the number of agents to complete its three-year hiring strategy of raising its special agent workforce to 200 criminal investigators." Unfortunately, with only a few months left in 2010, the number of active CID investigators is going down, not up.

Too few agents leads to other problems. According to Justice Department figures:

CID referred only 339 criminal cases for federal prosecution in 2009, a 40 percent decline from 1999 Criminal prosecutions filed from EPA cases and convictions obtained are both down more than 25 percent from 1999 to 2009

It's not a new problem. During President George W. Bush's first term, negative publicity about the White House diverting CID agents to Homeland Security led to a management review that recommended a series of reforms to restore the emphasis on investigating and prosecuting environmental crimes. Unfortunately, the bulk of these reforms were never implemented.

"It is simple--without pollution cops on the beat, polluters go free," said Florida PEER Director Jerry Phillips, a former state enforcement attorney. "Besides staffing and resources, CID needs leadership that helps rather than hinders its special agents in making busts that stick."

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