EPA Still Wants to Garnish Your Wages Without a Court Order

by Sean Hackbarth, Contributing Author: A few weeks ago, EPA quietly tried to reinterpret its authority and wanted to garnish wages from those who owe it a debt. After a storm of criticism from Members of Congress and the public, EPA pulled back.

However, the agency is still trying to grant itself this power, only this time it’s going through the standard notice-and-comment process that most federal regulations go through.

What’s is the problem EPA wants to solve by having the ability to dig to go after your wallet? Will this stop polluters? Is EPA inundated with deadbeats?

Apparently not, according to Catrina Rorke and Sam Batkins at the American Action Forum who looked at EPA’s data.

They point out that, over the past six years, EPA has imposed more than $2.3 billion in “non-major” fines against companies and individuals that committed “infractions that do not involve large facilities emitting tons of toxic pollutants annually."

However, Rorke and Batkins found, “the majority of fines for individuals involve paperwork infractions – not environmental contamination.” Individuals or businesses were fined for failing to file notification or reports with EPA.

And as for a delinquency problem, here's their key finding:[T]he average length of time that individuals were delinquent paying EPA was zero quarters. In other words, people generally pay their fines on time.So why does EPA want to be able to garnish an individual’s wages? Based on its data, it’s not to ensure a cleaner environment nor solve delinquency problems. Roark and Batkins conclude (correctly in my view):EPA’s proposal to grant itself wage garnishment authority more closely resembles a power grab than an appropriate administrative step to rectify an observed issue in their fine repayment process.Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy questioning her agency's action:

I question why this change is necessary. EPA has used federal court orders to enforce its fines prior to the enactment of the DCIA and in the 18 years following its enactment. The use of the DCIA wage garnishment authority has largely been confined to federal agencies that offer direct payments or loans to citizens as opposed to a means of collecting agency imposed fines and penalties.------------
Sean Hackbarth is a blogger at Free Enterprise and does policy advocacy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author at ARRA News Service.

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