EPA, OIG At Odds On Bolstering Elevation Policy For Health Emergencies

EPA and its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) are at odds over how to bolster the agency’s policy for elevating public health emergencies to senior officials after the watchdog found that EPA staff did not alert the administrator of the health risks residents of Benton Harbor, MI, faced from lead-contaminated drinking water. OIG issued a Sept. 7 report detailing the agency’s alleged failure in 2018 to use its elevation policy to alert the then-EPA administrator of elevated lead levels...