Trump administration set to ELIMINATE enforcement arm of EPA

[Maru Kitteh]

POLITICS
Trump Administration Considering Shutting EPA’s Enforcement Office: Report
Critics say the move could imperil families across America.
02/08/2017 09:36 pm ET
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Kate Sheppard Enterprise editor/Senior reporter, The Huffington Post
Nick Visser Reporter, The Huffington Post


WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration is considering closing down the enforcement division of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a report Wednesday evening from Inside EPA.

The new administration is reportedly looking to close the Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance, or OECA, and instead let individual program offices (such as the air program, the water program and others) handle enforcement. The outlet Inside EPA quoted “a source familiar with the plan” who says the Trump administration intends to “disassemble the enforcement office ... take it, break it up and move it back into the program offices.”

In a statement emailed to The Huffington Post, the agency’s press office said the “EPA does not have a confirmed Administrator and we cannot speculate on future plans for the agency.”

Closing the office would almost certainly mean less enforcement work happens at the agency. OECA handles both civil and criminal enforcement of the country’s core environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. The office is an independent body with about 3,000 employees who “work to advance environmental justice by protecting communities most vulnerable to pollution.”

More at link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-enforcement-office_us_589b9593e4b0c1284f2a7ab3

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THIS IS MADNESS and it MUST STOP. [/font]