EPA's Flood of Dollars May Harm Cleanups

You would think that an infusion of tens of billions of tax dollars to the Environmental Protection Agency would be greeted with unqualified jubilation by agency personnel. But not by Sean O’Donnell. He’s EPA’s inspector general, and if the official in charge of oversight has reservations about his office’s ability to oversee the massive windfall, Congress and the public should take note.

At a recent hearing of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, O’Donnell fretted about his office’s capacity to oversee the new money for environmental justice and other programs added by recent legislation. For example, “the [Inflation Reduction Act] gave the EPA over $40 billion for entirely new programs that are going to entirely new recipients,” he stated. Yet “Congress didn’t fund oversight of this … That’s faster money to newer recipients and we are very concerned about … the ability to do effective oversight.”