EPA Civil Enforcement Settlements and Consent Decrees

A subset of civil judicial and administrative enforcement cases resolved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The collection includes selected settlements, often linked to press releases, resolving alleged violations of environmental laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. It is not a complete repository of all EPA enforcement actions.

Use Cases

• Analyze the frequency and types of environmental laws (e.g., Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act) cited in settlements to identify enforcement trends.
• Study the relationship between press releases and the selection of cases for public disclosure on the EPA's webpage.
• Examine the subset of cases of national interest to understand priorities in civil judicial and administrative enforcement actions.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
• Includes cases resolved through formal legal instruments like civil judicial consent decrees.
• Dataset is tagged with specific environmental statutes (e.g., CAA, CWA, RCRA, CERCLA) for categorization.

Limitations

• The dataset explicitly excludes most administrative actions, CERCLA liability cases, and all criminal enforcement matters.
• Data is not a complete repository and represents only a subset of cases deemed of national interest.
• Last update was in December 2020, indicating potential staleness for current analysis.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA).

Collection Method

Selected settlements and complaints from civil enforcement cases, typically linked to EPA press releases.

Freshness

Last updated 2020-12-04.

Geography

United States (federal enforcement).