EPA’s in-house watchdog is launching a review of the agency’s oversight of state and local ambient air monitoring operating schedules.
The goal is to determine whether “underreported air pollution” resulted, Patrick Gilbride, head of the inspector general’s directorate of implementation, execution and enforcement, wrote in a memo this week to EPA air chief Joe Goffman.
The evaluation’s expected benefits, Gilbride added, “include ensuring that the EPA has accurate and reliable information about air quality to safeguard public health, protect the environment, and enhance fairness in the regulated community.”
The evaluation is the latest in an intermittent series by Inspector General Sean O’Donnell’s office that pertains, either directly or indirectly, to air pollution tracking.
