WASHINGTON — The Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002 by former EPA enforcement attorneys, has not received a response from state or federal regulators to its allegations concerning the Colossus 2 facility. The group’s report, released October 10, 2023, and authored by senior attorney Abel Russ, remains the sole public document outlining the claims. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the state agency responsible for issuing air pollution permits, has not commented on the EIP’s allegations.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Michael Regan, has not announced any formal investigation as of October 2023. That silence leaves the EIP’s allegations in a regulatory limbo.
The timeline matters. The EIP was founded by former EPA enforcement attorneys. Their report on Colossus 2 landed in October 2023.
MDEQ, the state permitting authority, has offered no public response. The EPA, which holds the authority to investigate and enforce the Clean Air Act, has likewise stayed quiet.
A Watchdog’s Complaint, Still Unanswered
Abel Russ, the EIP senior attorney who wrote the report, laid out the organization’s case against the facility. The specifics of the allegations remain in the report itself. What is known is that the EIP’s methodology draws on the same legal frameworks its founders once used as government enforcers.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality operates as the primary permitting body for industrial air emissions in the state. Under the Clean Air Act, states can administer their own permitting programs with EPA oversight.
When a state agency declines to act, the federal government retains the authority to step in. As of this writing, no such federal intervention has been announced. EPA Administrator Michael Regan has made enforcement a stated priority during his tenure.
But the Colossus 2 matter, at least publicly, has not drawn the same attention.
Regulatory Gaps and Political Silence
The absence of a public response from MDEQ is itself a fact worth noting. State environmental agencies typically issue statements when allegations surface, if only to say they are reviewing the matter. MDEQ’s silence is not an admission, but it is a data point.
The EPA’s lack of a formal investigation announcement as of October 2023 leaves the matter in a holding pattern. Federal environmental enforcement often moves slowly, but the Clean Air Act provides tools for both administrative orders and civil actions.
Whether those tools will be deployed here remains unknown. The EIP’s founding by former EPA enforcement attorneys gives the organization credibility in environmental law circles. Their reports are typically grounded in public records and permit data.
The Colossus 2 report is no exception, though the underlying documents have not been independently verified by this news organization. What happens next depends on two actors: MDEQ, which could issue a response or initiate its own review, and the EPA, which could open a federal investigation.
Neither has moved publicly. The EIP, for its part, continues to operate as a watchdog, monitoring industrial permits and filing legal challenges when warranted. For now, the Colossus 2 case sits in the regulatory quiet of a Mississippi summer, with the facts of the EIP’s report still awaiting any official acknowledgment.
Sources
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