Using data obtained in part under the Freedom of Information
Act, the Project found that EPA filed only 36 civil lawsuits for
violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking
Water Act, and other environmental laws in the first three years
of the Bush administration. By contrast, in the last three years
of the Clinton administration EPA filed 152 suits.

The report was compiled by EIP's Eric Schaeffer, the former head
of EPA's Office of Regulatory Enforcement. Schaeffer resigned in
2002 in protest over the administration's reluctance to enforce
the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.

"EPA's recent record suggests that the 'full weight of the law'
has gotten a lot lighter over the past three years," said
Schaeffer. "Teddy Roosevelt must be turning over in his grave."

According to the EIP report, the nation's largest energy
companies (and biggest polluters) are on an "extended vacation"
from EPA enforcement actions. While the Justice Department has
continued to litigate cases it inherited from the Clinton
administration, it filed new lawsuits against only three energy
companies from 2001 to January 2004.

"While refineries and coal-fired power plants appear virtually
immune from prosecution, the Justice Department did find time to
take a dry cleaner to federal court for failure to pay an
administrative penalty," the report notes.

In fact, last November EPA's enforcement staff was told to "set
aside" investigations against more than 70 power companies,
including some of the biggest polluters of the nation's air.

The EPA had earlier referred 14 cases against power companies to
the Justice Department for prosecution, but the Department has
filed only one new case since January of 2001.

EPA staff have also been ordered to halt investigations of
industrial scale "factory farms" that house thousands of animals
and often make the air in surrounding communities unfit to
breathe.

According to the report, EPA has been able to mask the decline
in its enforcement program by cashing in settlements set in
motion by the Clinton administration. In fact, many of the most
important settlements EPA has celebrated either in press
releases or in its annual enforcement reports resulted from
Clinton-era lawsuits, the EIP report says.

In addition to drastically scaling back on enforcement, the Bush
administration has shackled EPA staff with debilitating
cutbacks. Only two months after coming to power, the White House
proposed eliminating more than 13 percent of the Agency's civil
enforcement staff.

Former EPA top enforcement official J.P. Suarez, appointed by
President Bush, said of enforcement cutbacks, "We did not have
enough money for travel, for technical support, for
investigations, for depositions [and] for experts...I can tell
you that there is going to be a major collapse if that is not
rectified..."

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SOURCES:
"Polluters Breathe Easier," EIP report.