Still, a breakdown in the relationship between the EPA and its watchdog increases the chances that people and the environment will suffer, said Jeff Ruch, Pacific director of the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Ultimately, the inspector general can’t force the EPA to implement its recommendations, “so no matter how scalding a report they issue, they have no power,” Ruch said. “The atom bomb in the IG’s arsenal is a management advisory—a glorified letter to the president and relevant committees of Congress, which, as tools go, is a fairly weak one.”