Little done to deter violations of Clean Air Act

Through analysis of Clean Air Act data kept by the Environmental Protection agency, The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Ind.) found government regulators have a list of more than 200 facilities in Indiana they say have broken air pollution laws in the past three years, yet little or nothing has been done to stop them. The majority of the Indiana companies that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says have violated the federal Clean Air Act since January 1, 2007 were still in violation three years later, and in more than a third of those cases, state and federal regulators have taken no action. Twelve of the 62 facilities with “high-priority violations” have been in violation for three years without any enforcement action whatsoever. The package includes a searchable database of every Clean Air Act permit holder in the state, showing inspections, violations and fines, and a direct link to the EPA data.