Government Agency

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Environmental Protection Agency logo (link)
Tax ID:

52-0852695

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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal agency involved in environmental regulation.

Financials

OpenTheBooks EPA Oversight Report (2018-2022)

In July 2023, OpenTheBooks, an online database and project of watchdog group American Transparency, released a report titled, “Environmental Protection Agency: Quantifying Agency Operations During Fiscal Years 2018-2022,” that claimed to detail agency operations and financial details from between the years 2018 through 2022 (archived here). 1 According to the report, the EPA received over $100 billion in federal funds for new grants between 2018 and 2022 including $100 million from the 2021 American Rescue Plan, $60 billion from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and another $40 billion from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. 2

The report also details an increased focus on “Environmental Justice” during the Biden Administration including several executive orders, a new “Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights” within the agency, and an increase in grants tagged “environmental justice” from $5.6 million in grants spent during the 2021 fiscal year to over $14 million spent in grants during the 2022 fiscal year. 3

In 2023 the EPA’s Inspector General Sean O’Donnell admitted during a Congressional hearing that $41.5 billion in federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act towards the EPA, to be received in 2023, did not include funds towards agency oversight, stating, ” Without adequate resources, not only have we been unable to do any meaningful IRA oversight, but we have also had to cancel or postpone work in important EPA areas, such as chemical safety and pollution cleanup.” 4

According to the report, between 2018 and 2022, the EPA used 66,109 contracting transactions amounting to $6,406,870,570, or roughly $1.3 billion a year. Not only did the amount increase by 0ver $400 million during the 2021 fiscal year under the Biden Administration, but contract spent included $15 million on furniture and $244,466 agency staff awards. 5 During the same period of time, the EPA made over 29,000 grantee transactions totaling $26,459,600,452, or roughly $5.3 billion per year (or half the EPA’s budget), with 89% (or $23.7 billion) being granted to state and local governments. The states that received the largest grants during that period of time included California ($2.2 billion) and New York ($1.5 billion). 6

References

  1. “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | OpenTheBooks Oversight Report.” OpenTheBooks, July 26, 2023. https://www.openthebooks.com/us-environmental-protection-agency–openthebooks-oversight-report/
  2. “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | OpenTheBooks Oversight Report.” OpenTheBooks, July 26, 2023. https://www.openthebooks.com/us-environmental-protection-agency–openthebooks-oversight-report/
  3. “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | OpenTheBooks Oversight Report.” OpenTheBooks, July 26, 2023. https://www.openthebooks.com/us-environmental-protection-agency–openthebooks-oversight-report/
  4. “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | OpenTheBooks Oversight Report.” OpenTheBooks, July 26, 2023. https://www.openthebooks.com/us-environmental-protection-agency–openthebooks-oversight-report/
  5. “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | OpenTheBooks Oversight Report.” OpenTheBooks, July 26, 2023. https://www.openthebooks.com/us-environmental-protection-agency–openthebooks-oversight-report/
  6. “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | OpenTheBooks Oversight Report.” OpenTheBooks, July 26, 2023. https://www.openthebooks.com/us-environmental-protection-agency–openthebooks-oversight-report/
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