Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to: (1) detect when major stationary sources of air pollution violated air pollution control requirements; and (2) ensure that appropriate enforcement actions are taken when violations are found.
GAO found that: (1) EPA did not issue regulations implementing emission monitoring policy and did not develop criteria for determining the feasibility of using monitors; (2) air quality violations were 10 times more likely to be detected by emission monitors than by on-site inspections; (3) EPA did not assess cash penalties in more than half of the significant violator cases at major stationary sources between fiscal years 1988 and 1989; (4) the joint EPA and state implementation plans did not require state and local agencies to assess penalties to eliminate the economic benefit sources obtained by not complying with regulations; and (5) state and local programs typically assessed penalties to correct the cause of the violation.
