MONTGOMERY
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management is slow to take enforcement action and does not properly document how it establishes penalties, a federal audit says.
The audit, released this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, describes ADEM as weak and ineffective at inspections and unable to prove its enforcement of pollution laws meets federal standards.
Jim Warr, ADEM director, said Wednesday he had not finished studying the extensive audit.
"I don't want to comment on it until we've had a chance to read it and the people whose sections are involved have had a chance to review it," Warr said.
An EPA spokesman said the audit is a draft and will not be published in its final form until Alabama has a chance to respond and correct any errors.
The report is not all negative. It praises ADEM for its experienced and dedicated staff and has no criticism for the drinking water program.
It gives mostly good marks to the air program, although it questions the effectiveness and timeliness of its enforcement.
The report said ADEM's land program is one of the national leaders in identifying those significantly out of compliance with the law.
But among other problems, it says the department takes an average of more than six months from the first violation to the first penalty in some programs.
It also says there are extensive discrepancies between the inspections ADEM says it has conducted and fines it has issued, and those it has entered in the federal tracking system.
Some facilities that have ADEM water permits have not been inspected for at least five years, although the department's policy is to inspect even the smallest facility every three years.
The EPA is responsible for overseeing ADEM's enforcement of federal environmental laws. If the state's enforcement is not up to federal standards, the EPA can take over enforcement and permitting.
