EPA racks up big numbers through enforcement measures in 2016

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

In today’s Top Federal Headlines, the Environmental Protection Agency released its Annual Enforcement Results for fiscal 2016.

• This was quite the year for the Environmental Protection Agency. It pulled in $6 billion from penalties and fines. It also secured more than $13.7 billion in investments by companies to control pollution. That does not include the $14.7 billion Volkswagen will have to invest in its settlement with the agency. That case wrapped up too late to be counted towards last year. (Environmental Protection Agency)

• A Chinese national has pleaded guilty to stealing military technology documents and sending them back to his home country. Justice officials said while working as a senior engineer for United Technologies, Yu Long sent and delivered many documents containing sensitive intellectual property to use a bargaining chip for other opportunities with state-run institutions in China. He faces a maximum sentence of 35 years. (Department of Justice)

• President Barack Obama grants clemency for 231 federal prisoners, the most any president has cleared in a single day. Many of the inmates were facing long sentences for drug-related charges. Obama has commuted the sentences of more than 1,100 people during his time in office, far ahead of any of his predecessors. (White House)

• The Pentagon has less than a year left before the congressionally mandated deadline to get its financial statements ready for an audit. DoD’s inspector general said it’s going to be a difficult task. In a new update on the Defense Department’s management challenges, the IG’s office pointed out the Pentagon has been preparing for an audit since the 1990s — but has yet to change several longstanding business practices that are getting in the way of an audit. One preliminary review by outside audit firms found more than 700 deficiencies that still needed to be addressed as of last year. The IG said the department needs to focus on streamlining and simplifying what it calls a “staggering” number of convoluted business systems that are expensive to maintain, lack internal controls, and are hard to build reliable audit processes around. (Department of Defense Office of Inspector General)

• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has identified $13 billion in what he calls wasteful spending by the Defense Department. At the top of his list, the $12.4 billion to pay for 26 Littoral Combat Ships with no proven combat capability. Some smaller but seemingly more outrageous items include $1 million for travel claim reimbursements for unauthorized expenses at casinos and strip clubs and $1.3 million to research the mating habits of African Giant Pouched rats. McCain said wasteful spending at the Pentagon is detrimental to U.S. national defense. (Federal News Radio)

• Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has released his report on the Homeland Security Department’s headquarters consolidation project. Carper said bringing leaders from DHS entities to the St. Elizabeths campus in southeast D.C. would save $1.2 billion. If fully funded, the project could be completed by 2021. (Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)

• The Senate is modernizing its telecommunications infrastructure. It’s moving to the cloud for unified communications. The upper chamber hired CenturyLink under a $26 million contract to provide voice over IP as a service. Under the five-year deal, CenturyLink will provide VOIP services to more than 450 Senate offices in all 50 states. The company will install, maintain, operate and manage the VOIP services. CenturyLink beat out six other vendors to win the contract. (CenturyLink)

• The Air Force is trying to make some of its new personnel policies stick into the Trump administration. The service is creating a board that will continue to look at burdensome training and duties along with other personnel issues. The board will be staffed by civil servants and service members to ensure they remain through the presidential transition. (Federal News Radio)

• Teresa Gerton has been named the new president of the National Academy of Public Administration. She replaces Dan Blair, who is leaving in January after five years. Gerton comes to NAPA after serving in the Army for 20 years and as a civilian executive in the Defense and Labor departments. (National Academy of Public Administration)

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