Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance


The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance is the law enforcement arm of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It is made up of attorneys, special agents, scientists and other employees.
WWW epa.gov/compliance/crimin...

Organization

The Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance consists of eight component offices.

Office of Administration and Policy

The Office of Administration and Policy recommends national policy on issues pertaining to enforcement and compliance, and provides a range of administrative support services which includes: human resources, labor relations, budget, finances, contracts, grants, records management and management of the compliance and enforcement information on the Agency's website.

Office of Civil Enforcement

The Office of Civil Enforcement develops and prosecutes administrative civil and judicial cases and provides legal support for cases and investigations initiated in EPA regional offices. It implements and enforces federal programs, and has responsibility for planning and setting priorities for enforcement activities, developing national enforcement policy and guidance, participating in Agency rule-making to ensure that regulations contain clear and enforceable provisions, and implementing effective communication to alert regulated entities to potential compliance problems.
Federal judicial actions are filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of EPA.

Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training

The Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training investigates alleged environmental crimes and provides a range of technical and forensic services for civil and criminal investigative support and counsel on legal and policy matters.

CID Mission

The primary mission of the Criminal Investigation Division is to investigate the most significant and egregious violations of environmental laws which pose significant threats to human health and the environment. Frequently, the investigations of environmental crimes will uncover other types of crimes, such as lying to the government, fraud or conspiracy. These crimes could also be prosecuted. Attorney General of the United States. These environmental laws include those specifically related to air, water and land resources.

CID training

CID special agents receive twelve weeks of basic federal law enforcement and Criminal Investigator training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center located in Glynco, Georgia. In addition to the Basic Law Enforcement Training, CID special agents also receive nine weeks of training in conducting criminal investigations of U.S. environmental laws. There is also periodic in-service training, as well as advanced training in various investigative techniques.

Office of Compliance

The Office of Compliance identifies, prevents, and reduces noncompliance and environmental risks by establishing enforcement initiatives and ensuring effective monitoring and assessment of compliance. OC provides compliance assistance and compliance data and ensures the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement personnel through training.

Office of Environmental Justice

The Office of Environmental Justice works to protect human health and the environment in communities with environmental pollution by integrating environmental justice into EPA programs, policies and activities.

Office of Federal Activities

The Office of Federal Activities coordinates EPA's review of all federal Environmental Impact Statements prepared by other agencies under the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as EPA's compliance with NEPA. OFA also works with federal and state agencies, foreign governments and international organizations in order to ensure compliance with United States environmental laws, and to promote a level playing field in trade internationally.

Federal Facilities Enforcement Office

The Federal Facilities Enforcement Office is responsible for ensuring that federal facilities take all necessary actions to prevent, control and abate environmental pollution. FFEO facilitates compliance through inspections and enforcement under all environmental statutes and cleanup at federal facilities.

Office of Site Remediation Enforcement

The Office of Site Remediation Enforcement manages the enforcement of EPA's national hazardous waste cleanup programs. The cleanup enforcement program protects human health and the environment by getting those responsible for a hazardous waste site to either clean up or reimburse EPA for its cleanup. EPA uses a number of cleanup authorities independently and in combination to address specific cleanup situations, including the Superfund law, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Oil Pollution Act.

Executives

Most Wanted EPA fugitives

Since launching the Most Wanted EPA Fugitives website, only 5 fugitives have been captured and 2 fugitives have surrendered as of March 2025.
As of 2019 Most Wanted EPA Fugitives were the following males:
  • Yousef Abuteir
  • Omran Alghazouli
  • Larkin Baggett
  • Richard Bauder, 2019
  • Butch R. Bustamonte
  • Raul Chavez-Beltran
  • Richard Dorenkamp
  • Axel Eiser
  • Bernd Gottweis
  • Alessandro Giordano
  • Carlos Giordano
  • Jens Hadler
  • John Karayannides
  • Stefan Knirsch
  • Peter Kuhn
  • Prem Kumar, 2011
  • Aage Lokkebraten
  • Carsten Nagel
  • Jurgen Peter
  • Frerik Pluimers
  • Zaccheo Giovanni Pamio
  • Michael Evangelos Psomadakis
  • Peter Solemdal
  • Kurt Sorboe
  • Zdzislaw Szypulski
  • Christian Tejada
  • Martin Winterkorn