Pandemic Report (As of July 2021): U.S. EPA Office of Inspector General Report

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a report titled:

Pandemic Report – As of July 2021 (“Report”)

OIG states that the Report is intended to document its work related to the COVID-19 pandemic which involves:

• Audits
• Evaluations
• Investigations

The focus of such work is related to the pandemic’s impact on EPA’s activities and the resulting effect on public health and the environment .

The United States Chemical Safety and Hazardous Investigation Board’s activities are also addressed.

EPA programs assessed in terms of pandemic effects are noted to include, by way of example:

• Emergency responses to release of hazardous substances
• Air quality enforcement
• Potential misconduct and criminal activity

OIG notes that both actual and potential subjects of audits and evaluations include:

• Enforcement and regulatory waivers and flexibilities.
• Fraud schemes taking advantage of the crisis by marketing unsafe and non-EPA-approved products to the public.
• Agency staffing shortfalls implicating oversight of critical environmental and public health programs.
• Agency return to work and employee health and safety upon reentry.
• Maintaining strong cyber and information technology protections while most of the workforce is teleworking.
• Ability of delegated state and tribal environmental programs to meet critical environmental and public health responsibilities.
• How EPA is administering its CARES Act funding.

The Report identifies the following as types of investigations OIG is undertaking or may undertake:

• Fraud schemes relating to the EPA’s programs and operations.
• Fraudulent claims for money that should be spent to advance an EPA program.
• Improper avoidance of obligations to pay as required by an EPA program.
• Misrepresentations of the EPA’s endorsement of COVID disinfectant or other products by fraudulently applying the Agency seal, identifier, or product registration numbers to product labels or advertisements.
• Cyberscams targeting EPA employees, contractors, and grantees and state and tribal programs overseen by EPA, as well as security threats to the EPA.

The Report also provides a list of previous OIG reports related to the pandemic and COVID-related complaints. Further, it identifies prior OIG reports relevant to EPA’s handling of emergencies and disasters.

A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.