Bush Enforcement Against Polluters Down 75% From Clinton's Final 3 Years

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WASHINGTON — During the first three years of the Bush administration, the number of civil lawsuits that the federal government filed against polluters dropped by 75% compared with the last three years of the Clinton administration, an environmental group reported Tuesday. Eric Schaeffer, director of the group that compiled the data, said they showed that the administration had been weak on enforcing anti-pollution laws.

Bush administration officials defended their record, saying that the real measure of effectiveness should be whether pollution was being reduced, not the quantity of lawsuits. They said they has emphasized negotiated settlements as a speedier alternative to protracted litigation.

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The number of lawsuits filed over alleged pollution-law violations dropped from 152 in the three years ended in January 2001 to 36 in the three years ended in January 2004, according to EPA data analyzed by the Environmental Integrity Project, an environmental watchdog group. Schaeffer, who left his job as the head of the EPA enforcement office almost three years ago to protest what he considered the Bush administration's lax approach to cracking down on polluters, said the data showed that "my concerns were, unfortunately, justified."

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Civil lawsuits filed by the federal government against companies accused of pollution law violations have declined substantially from the Clinton to Bush administrations:

Clean Air Act

Clinton: 61

Bush: 9

Clean Water Act

Clinton: 56

Bush: 22

Hazardous waste law

Clinton: 19*

Bush: 5

Safe Drinking Water Act

Clinton: 13

Bush: 1

* Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

Note: Time periods are for three years, ending Jan. 19, 2001 (Clinton) and Jan. 19, 2004 (Bush)

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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-pollute13oct13,1,7323157.story?coll=la-news-a_section