U.S. EPA must make its civil rights program an agencywide priority and not just focus on improving its troubled Office of Civil Rights, according to a new internal report.

OCR came under fire last year after outside firm Deloitte Consulting found that the office was plagued with leadership challenges and misplaced priorities (Greenwire, April 4, 2011).

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson pledged to resolve such problems, and this week EPA released a draft report from an internal "executive committee" that found the office has made "significant progress." Among other accomplishments, EPA has set an agency record for the number of discrimination complaints processed within a year.

But the committee also recommends sweeping changes throughout EPA, including a stringent training program for office staff and the integration of discrimination clauses in the strategic plans of all offices and regions.

"Addressing OCR issues and policies/procedures is not enough to fundamentally improve EPA's civil right program. Bold actions are needed, and civil rights -- like any important priority of the Agency -- needs to emulate One EPA principles," the committee wrote. "A model civil rights program needs broad buy-in, senior level commitment, and accountability from many quarters, not just OCR."

But environmental justice advocates are still concerned about OCR's process for handling cases under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits recipients of federal funding from using the money in a way that has a discriminatory impact based on race, color or national origin.

Enforcing Title VI is one of OCR's main responsibilities, but the Deloitte report noted a backlog of cases that stretched back to 2001. In a letter to Jackson in October, advocates from the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and other groups wrote of concerns that "the complaint investigation and resolution process has developed too slowly, are in violation of the relevant regulations, and affords minimal transparency."

Jackson and OCR Director Rafael DeLeon met with them Wednesday. Officials have declined to provide specifics on the issues raised in the meeting, and in a statement, an EPA spokesman would only say that "there was a general consensus from the attendees that the dialogue will continue."

But the advocates' letter outlines a couple of cases they found troubling. One was EPA's August settlement of a 12-year-old complaint on the unjust exposure of Latino schoolchildren to a harmful pesticide. EPA found "sufficient evidence" of a possible Title VI violation, but the agency's settlement with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation did not require it to admit guilt.

The advocates who filed the complaint have called it a "secret settlement" that was far too lenient (E&ENews PM, Aug. 25, 2011).

In a "community outreach" call yesterday, DeLeon said he hopes to meet with advocates again within the next month.

"Certainly there's a lot of interest in some greater transparency in our process," he said, while declining to provide specific concerns raised at Wednesday's meeting. "We've talked about this and are looking at ways to address many of those concerns."

DeLeon emphasized that only 35 Title VI cases remain open. His office has processed or closed 50 cases in the past two years, he said, exceeding agency records.

On the call, DeLeon was also forced to face Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a former EPA employee who has accused him of discrimination. Coleman-Adebayo won a whistle-blower lawsuit against the agency in 2000 that prompted Congress to pass the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation (No FEAR) Act of 2002.

DeLeon was cleared of any wrongdoing in August (Greenwire, Aug. 8, 2011). But Coleman-Adebayo asked "why the environmental justice community should listen to you," considering pending discrimination complaints.

DeLeon brushed aside the question, wishing her a "happy New Year" and suggesting that the "more appropriate focus for this discussion is all the great work" of the EPA's environmental justice program.

EPA's top environmental justice officer, Lisa Garcia, agreed.

"It's not about one specific person; it's really about the agency community," she said. "The administrator is committed to making sure all of these important issues are elevated and everyone is working to improve lives in communities."