April 17, 2024

EPA’s Fiscal Year 2023 Enforcement and Compliance Results

In early 2024, EPA published its FY 2023 enforcement and compliance results. These results are partly driven by EPA’s strategic plan, a set of goals to combat climate change and improve environmental justice. As summarized in the report, the percentage of onsite inspections in environmental justice communities increased to 60%, three years ahead of schedule and above the original goal of 55%. The agency accomplished this goal by increasing its enforcement and compliance resources and bolstering its presence in environmental justice communities.

Regarding civil enforcement, 1,791 civil cases were completed, with an estimated 1.21 billion pounds of pollutants eliminated and violators paying over $708 million in penalties. Additional FY 2023 civil enforcement information is available on EPA’s website. EPA’s criminal enforcement program opened 199 new cases for negligent environmental violations. Defendants were prosecuted in 74% of criminal cases and EPA had a conviction rate of 100%. Additional FY 2023 criminal enforcement information is also available on EPA’s website.

EPA established national enforcement and compliance initiatives for FY 2024-2027, marking a shift towards curbing climate change and tackling per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. The agency published its FY 2023 results for these two emerging areas of focus on its website. The climate change results summarize enforcement actions to reduce hydrofluorocarbon use and links readers to a new webpage addressing climate change in enforcement and compliance. The PFAS contamination results are explained through case studies of unique enforcement actions against specific facilities dealing with PFAS contamination. The agency also provides a set of PFAS analytical tools, a consolidated source of PFAS information on testing and contamination in the United States.

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This document addresses issues of a general nature related to the federal RCRA regulations. Persons evaluating specific circumstances dealing with the RCRA regulations should review state and local laws and regulations, which may be more stringent than federal requirements. In addition, the assistance of a qualified professional should be enlisted to address any site-specific circumstances.