WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, joined eight of his Senate colleagues in sending a letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young, as well as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, expressing support for increased funding for enforcement and compliance staffing and activity at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget request. 

“Environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act protect public and environmental health and are enforced by monitoring regulated entities and holding those in noncompliance accountable.  These efforts result in significant community benefits through the reduction and remediation of pollution and the protection of important natural resources,” the senators wrote.

“Yet, during Fiscal Years 2018 through 2021, EPA enforcement fell by nearly half from historic levels across a host of activities: inspections, criminal investigations, civil and criminal prosecutions, defendants charged, civil penalties, criminal fines, and cleanup costs paid by polluters,” the senators continued. “… It is critically important that we deliver the resources necessary for EPA to carry out its mission.”

The letter was led by Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). In addition to Carper, the letter was cosigned by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I,), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

The full text of the letter is available here.