HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general says the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands needs to improve the way it handles federal money awarded for wastewater treatment infrastructure and other environmental programs.
The EPA inspector general said in a report released Monday the commonwealth’s Department of Environmental Quality and the Commonwealth Utility Corporation need to improve their internal controls.
The report says more than $58 million in funds may not be administered efficiently and effectively without adequate internal controls and oversight. The report says this would reduce the effect these funds could have on improving human health and the environment.
The inspector general auditors toured 18 sites for the report, including sewer replacements and connections and wastewater treatment plants.