The Other Environmental Regulators: How States Unevenly Enforce Pollution Laws

Upon the creation of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act, Congress granted the EPA primary responsibility for meeting anti-pollution goals, but allowed the EPA to delegate enforcement authority to state agencies. However, some state enforcement programs frequently do not meet national goals, and states do not always take necessary enforcement actions necessary to do so, ultimately weakening the EPA’s enforcement program. Thus, evaluating relative state performance is made more difficult by the lack of consistency in the ways the states report on their enforcement activity. The purpose of the current report is to examine the relative performance of states with regard to their enforcement activities—specifically, their caseloads and the penalties they collect. This report recommends that states be required to employ a standard form of online disclosure. Absent that, transparency should be provided by the EPA.