Report: Limited Oil Spill Funding Since the Enbridge Spill Has Delayed Abandoned Oil Well Cleanups; Emergency Oil Responses Not Impacted
Report #13-P-0370, September 4, 2013
What We Found
We reviewed hotline allegations that: (1) the EPA failed to request additional oil spill funding in response to its ongoing Enbridge pipeline spill costs and other uncontrolled oil discharges; (2) the EPA headquarters told regions there would be a shortage of emergency funding through 2014; (3) limited funding resulted in cleanup delays at known oil-discharge sites; (4) the EPA’s administrative orders lacked required language specifying which costs can be recovered by the government; and (5) the EPA had not submitted requests for reimbursement of its Enbridge spill oversight costs. Our findings partially substantiated allegation 1 and substantiated allegation 3, but did not substantiate allegations 2, 4 and 5.
Report Materials