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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that, as a result of its enforcement actions, U.S. companies will spend a record-breaking $11.8 billion on pollution control and projects to clean up the environment this year.

The EPA calculates that the moves will result in a best ever reduction in pollution of 3.9 billion pounds per year, nearly four times the reduction achieved during 2007.

Enforcement activities undertaken this year include the seizure of imports of highly-polluting engines, forcing companies to pay for hazardous waste clean-up operations and tackling air pollution from power plants. Some of the highest profile enforcement cases have included:

One of the largest settlements in EPA history, when American Electric Power, a coal-fired electric utility company, agreed to install pollution controls and take other measures that will reduce a record 1.6 billion pounds of air pollution. The company also agreed to pay a $15 million penalty, the largest ever paid by an electric utility for New Source Review violations of the Clean Air Act.

The agreement of Jenn Feng Industrial Company, a Taiwanese manufacturer, and three American corporations to pay $2 million, the largest civil penalty ever for violations of Clean Air Act non-road engine regulations, for importing 200,000 chainsaws that failed to meet federal air pollution requirements.

The agreement of Massey Energy Company, Inc., Central Appalachia’s largest coal producer, to shell out $20 million penalty, the largest of its kind, for discharging pollution into local waterways.

British Petroleum Exploration (Alaska), Inc., pleading guilty and being ordered to pay a $12 million criminal fine and $4 million in restitution to the state of Alaska for two pipeline leaks, one of which was the largest spill ever on the state’s North Slope.

It’ll be interesting to observe whether this upward trend will continue under the Obama administration. The fact that EPA achieved a whopping 400% increase over a single year would seem to suggest that there is plenty of scope for further increases in enforcement activities and pollution control. Polluters take note – the years of ‘free-riding’ at the environment’s expense could well be over!

Image Credit – A6U571N via flickr.com on a Creative Commons license