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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
Program Assessment

Program

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EPA Enforcement of Environmental Laws (Criminal)

The criminal enforcement program investigates violations of laws, regulations, and permits that cause or threaten significant harm to humans and the environment. Violations are referred to the Department of Justice and to the States for prosecution.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Adequate

This rating describes a program that needs to set more ambitious goals, achieve better results, improve accountability or strengthen its management practices.
  • It is very difficult to assess either general or specific deterrence for either EPA or law enforcment in general. EPA struggles with determining the right way to measure the impact of its efforts.
  • EPA needs to develop outcome oriented measures with baselines and targets. EPA currently has minimal information on recidivism and compliance rates, but is undertaking efforts to remedy this lack.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Developing baseline and targets in the 06/07 timeframe that will measure pounds of pollutants reduced (characterized as to risk), thus providing a quantifiable positive impact on the environment.
  • Creating standardized definitions, and merging data bases from within the agency, to allow easier implementation of measures.
  • Developing baselines and targets to measure recidivism, thus allowing evaluation of program effectiveness.

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