Key Reports from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of the Inspector General

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- Eleven Years after Agreement, EPA Has Not Developed Reliable Emission Estimation Methods to Determine Whether Animal Feeding Operations Comply with Clean Air Act and Other Statutes* -- Abbreviations -- Why We Did This Review -- What We Found -- Recommendations and Planned Corrective Actions -- Memorandum -- Introduction -- Purpose -- Background -- Air Emissions from AFOs -- National Academy of Sciences Report on AFO Air Emissions -- Air Compliance Agreement with AFO Industries -- Monitoring Study Methodology -- Responsible Offices -- Scope and Methodology -- Prior Report -- EPA Plans for Finalizing EEMs Were Not Accomplished and Potential Air Quality Impacts Continue -- Development of EEMs Is Years behind Schedule -- Responding to SAB Concerns and a Lack of Resources Slowed Development of EEMs -- SAB Review of Draft EEMs and EPA Response -- Prior Stakeholder Feedback Questioned the NAEMS Monitoring Approach -- EPA's EEM Development Activities Since 2013 Have Been Limited -- AFO Air Emissions Remain Largely Uncharacterized and Important Agency Actions Are on Hold -- CAA Permit and CERCLA/EPCRA Reporting Determinations Have Not Been Made -- Agency Actions on Hold -- Conclusion -- EPA Needs to Implement Systematic Planning to Assure That EEMs Have Sufficient Quality -- EPA Quality System -- EPA Has Not Fully Implemented a Systematic Planning Process to Assure a Desired Level of Quality for EEMs -- Planning for Draft Development of EEMs Was Not Systematic -- Plans for Completing Development of EEMs Can Be Strengthened -- Conclusion -- Recommendations -- EPA Has Not Updated Some Stakeholders and Public on Current Status of EEM Efforts -- EPA Provided Extensive Public Outreach during Early Stages -- EPA Has Not Publicly Communicated on EEM Development Efforts Since 2013 -- Conclusion -- Recommendation