Science & Technology

Report: EPA Asserts Statutory Law Enforcement Authority to Protect Its Administrator but Lacks Procedures to Assess Threats and Identify the Proper Level of Protection

Report #18-P-0239, September 4, 2018. Failure to properly justify the level of protective services provided to the Administrator has allowed costs to increase from $1.6 million to $3.5 million in just 11 months.

Report: EPA Needs a Comprehensive Vision and Strategy for Citizen Science that Aligns with Its Strategic Objectives on Public Participation

Report #18-P-0240, September 5, 2018. Without uniform guidance and direction, the EPA will be unable to fully use citizen science data that could contribute to the agency's mission.

Report: EPA Can Strengthen Its Process for Revising Air Quality Dispersion Models that Predict Impact of Pollutant Emissions

Report #18-P-0241, September 5, 2018. Air quality estimates derived from air quality dispersion models are used to make important decisions to protect public health, such as setting emissions limits.

Report: Management Alert - EPA Oversight of Employee Debt Waiver Process Needs Immediate Attention

Report #18-P-0250, September 12, 2018. When debt waiver requests are not resolved in a timely manner, EPA employees may assume their debts have been forgiven.

Report: EPA Needs to Re-Evaluate Its Compliance Monitoring Priorities for Minimizing Asbestos Risks in Schools

Report #18-P-0270, September 17, 2018. Asbestos exposure risk is higher in children because they are more active, breathe at higher rates and through the mouth, and spend more time closer to the floor where asbestos fibers can accumulate.

Report: Delayed Cleanup of Asbestos Debris at the Old Davis Hospital Site Necessitates Changes for EPA Region 4 and North Carolina

Report #18-P-0271, Sept 18, 2018. EPA Region 4 and North Carolina followed procedures at the Old Davis Hospital site; but, those procedures did not result in the timely removal of asbestos that posed a potential threat to human health and the environment.

Report: Measures and Management Controls Needed to Improve EPA's Pesticide Emergency Exemption Process

Report #18-P-0281, September 25, 2018. The EPA needs outcome measures to demonstrate the benefits or risks of pesticide emergency exemptions on human health and the environment.

Report: Collecting Additional Performance Data from States Would Help EPA Better Assess the Effectiveness of Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Programs

Report #18-P-0283, September 25, 2018. Inspection and maintenance programs help improve air quality and protect human health by identifying vehicles in need of repair.

Report: EPA Paid $14.5 Million to Foreign Fellows that Could Have Funded Research by U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents

Report #18-P-0288, September 26, 2018. We found that 64 percent of EPA fellowships awarded to NAS were to foreign nationals.

Report: Management Alert - EPA's Incident Tracking System Lacks Required Controls to Protect Personal Information

Report #18-P-0298, September 28, 2018. The EPA's incident tracking system lacks the required privacy and security controls to protect PII and SPII, which could lead to identity theft.

Report: EPA Law Enforcement Availability Pay Properly Certified but Controls over Process Could Be Improved

Report #19-P-0001, November 6, 2018. Criminal investigators worked an average of 2 hours of unscheduled duty per regular workday to meet annual certification requirements for 2017.

Report: EPA's Fiscal Years 2018 and 2017 Consolidated Financial Statements

Report #19-F-0003, November 14, 2018. We found the EPA's financial statements to be fairly presented and free of material misstatement

Report: Audit of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's Fiscal Years 2018 and 2017 Financial Statements

Report #19-F-0004, November 14, 2018. The CSB received an unmodified opinion on its fiscal years 2018 and 2017 financial statements

Report: EPA Unable to Assess the Impact of Hundreds of Unregulated Pollutants in Land-Applied Biosolids on Human Health and the Environment

Report #19-P-0002, November 15, 2018. The EPA identified 352 pollutants in biosolids but cannot yet consider these pollutants for further regulation due to either a lack of data or risk assessment tools.

Report: City of Houston Complied with Clean Water State Revolving Fund Requirements

Report #19-P-0041, December 4, 2018. We questioned whether point repairs to address customer complaints under four Houston contracts were eligible under the CWSRF, and EPA Region 6 concluded that they were.

Annual Plan for the EPA and CSB - FY 2019

December 12, 2018. This OIG Annual Plan identifies mandated and discretionary assignment topics continuing from FY 2018, as well as mandated and discretionary assignments scheduled to start during FY 2019.

Report: EPA's Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program Needs Additional Internal Controls

Report #19-P-0045, December 14, 2018. WIFIA managers need to identify possible risks to the program and develop internal controls to minimize these risks.

Report: EPA Consistently Implements Processes Within Its Information Security Program, but Opportunities for Improvement Exist

Report #19-P-0058, January 30, 2019. Further improvements are needed to strengthen internal processes to better protect human health and environmental data from cybersecurity threats.

Report: U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's Compliance for Fiscal Year 2018 with Improper Payments Legislation and Guidance

Report #19-N-0070, February 12, 2019. Pursuant to our role under the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA) of 2010, we reviewed the CSB's compliance for fiscal year 2018 with improper payments legislation and guidance.

Report: EPA Finalized a Study of the Historical Applications of Coal Ash as Structural Fill

Report #19-N-0084, March 8, 2019. The ORCR determined that no further EPA action is warranted to address historical structural fill applications.