Greater Oversight of Title Ⅴ Program Needed Amid Declining Revenues, Report Finds

摘要

Additional oversight from the Environmental Protection Agency is necessary to address declining and frequently insufficient revenues to operate the agency's Title Ⅴ permitting program, according to a Oct. 20 Office of Inspector General report. Permitting revenues from the program have been declining, and operating expenses often exceeded Title Ⅴ revenues between 2008 and 2012, according to the report. Among nine of the largest state and local permitting authorities, there was a $69 million shortfall out of $672 million in expenses incurred between those years, it found. The EPA Office of Inspector General attributed the insufficient oversight of the Title Ⅴ program to a lack of a national oversight strategy, outdated guidance on fee collection, a lack of accounting expertise among EPA staff and an unwillingness by some regions to pursue formal corrective actions.