Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) recently released a survey of agency investigators and enforcement attorneys, finding that nearly 70 percent of the 120 respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, "The EPA criminal program is headed in the right direction."
The survey included an essay section allowing respondents to describe how EPA's criminal enforcement program can be improved. A number of respondents referenced Whitman's practice of assigning criminal investigators to "security detail," which often involves running errands for her, among other personal tasks.
One agent wrote "the Administrator's entire new 'security detail' is a farce. The only reason the Administrator has this is because it allows her to avoid waiting in lines (restaurants, airports, etc.), permits her to have limo service (courtesy of taxpayers), and allows her (through CID agents' efforts) to change her dinner reservations without regard of busy times/inconvenience to everyone involved/public perception… This whole program is an outrageous waste of taxpayer funds and should be dropped immediately."
Eighty-four percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that "[n]ew security assignments are significantly diverting resources away from enforcement against environmental crimes." However, EPA officials claim that added security has been "necessitated by the post-Sept. 11 terrorism concerns and specific threats against Whitman, which they declined to describe," according to the Washington Post
New figures released by PEER make clear that enforcement efforts at the agency have weakened since the President Bush took office -- with a 40 percent drop in referrals for federal prosecution of criminal pollution cases, and a 25 percent drop in civil pollution cases.