POGO Jumps on Environmental Contractor Misconduct

Some people celebrated Earth Day by picking up roadside trash. The nonprofit watchdog Project on Government Oversight celebrated it by exposing government contractor misconduct.

POGO's Earth Day special blog listed some interesting facts gleaned from its Federal Contractor Misconduct Database.

• "Environmental violations are the most common of the 18 misconduct categories in the FCMD, comprising nearly 25 percent of the instances and 10 percent of the penalties."
• "Of the instances in which a federal department is listed as the enforcement agency, or the authority primarily responsible for investigating or prosecuting the underlying case, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lags slightly behind the Department of Energy as the most common enforcement agency in the FCMD."
• "The lion's share of environmental violations by the top 100 contractors have been racked up by four energy companies: BP, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Valero. However, Lockheed Martin, General Electric and Honeywell have also amassed a sizable share."

The database might be a starting point for some follow-up.