Did you know that the U.S. government’s environmental liability increased from $212 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 1997 to $645 billion in FY2023?

That stat comes from the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) report entitled High-Risk Series: Heightened Attention Could Save Billions More and Improve Government Efficiency and Effectiveness (GAO-25-107743). The GAO issues High-Risk Series reports in odd-numbered years.

Check out the following two sections of this year’s report, along with GAO recommendations (click here for a PDF of the report): U.S. Government’s Environmental Liability (begins on page 116) and Transforming EPA’s Process for Assessing and Managing Chemical Risks (begins on page 293).