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B-247155.2 1 (1993-03-01)

handle is hein.gao/gaobablhi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: KLA ) Comptroler General of the United SLttes Wealagtom, D.C. 20648 DO NOT MAKE AVAILABLE TO PUBUC REAC'NG B-247155.2 FOR 30 DAYS March 1, 1993 The Honorable John D. Dingell Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Committee on Energy and Commerce House of Representatives Dear Mr. Chairman: This responds to your February 1, 1993, request that we review the December 28, 1992, response of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to a July 7, 1992, General Accounting Office opinion, B-247155. In that opinion, we concluded that EPA's power to compromise, or remit, with or without conditions, administrative penalties assessed under section 205 of the Clean Air Act, as amended, does not authorize EPA to enter into settlement agreements allowing alleged violators to fund certain public awareness and other projects relating to automobile air pollution in exchange for reductions of the civil penalties assessed against them. EPA's December 28, 1992, letter states that EPA continues to believe that it has the legal authority to include these defendant-funded projects in settlement of enforcement actions. In this connection, EPA questions whether we considered its February 12, 1991, Policy on the Use of Supplemental Environmental Projects in EPA Settlements (the SEP policy) in developing our opinion. We did consider EPA's SEP policy in developing our opinion in B-247155, and we continue to believe that certain projects allowed under that policy are not authorized by section 205 of the Clean Air Act, as amended. Based on two earlier GAO opinions, we held in B-247155 that EPA's discretionary authority to compromise, or remit, with or without conditions, civil penalties assessed under section 205 empowers it to adjust penalties to reflect the special circumstances of the violation or concessions exacted from the violator, but does not extend to remedies unrelated to -he correction of the violation in question. See 70 Comp. Gen. 17 (1990); B-210210, Sept. 14, 1983. EPA's SEP policy, which discusses the types of supplemental projects which will be considered acceptable for use in enforcement settlements, does require what it calls a

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