Imperial Environmental Preservation & Refocusing Authority

"What does the Imperial Preservation & Refocusing Authority do? I'm not sure, but I believe it has something to do with exploiting a planet's natural resources and making it look like progress."

- A spacer and Brennis Doore

The Imperial Environmental Preservation & Refocusing Authority, also known generally as the Imperial Preservation & Refocusing Authority, or the IEPRA for short, was a government department of the Galactic Empire staffed by Lieutenant Rille Nuder and other Imperial officials during the time of the Galactic Civil War. The exact nature of the agency was not clear, although Brennis Doore, the Royal Naturalist Society of Naboo, and an assassin of an IEPRA official indicated that at least one of its policies involved exploiting a planet for their natural resources under the cover of progress and turning natural worlds into factory planets, possibly risking the planet's ecosystem in the process.

Activities on Naboo
"We must save Naboo before the Empire destroys it!"

- Statement from the Royal Naturalist Society of Naboo

By the time following the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, the Imperial Environmental Preservation & Refocusing Authority conducted routine missions to expunge dangerous and nuisance animals from any area where Imperial agents were scheduled to establish service posts on the planet Naboo. According to the IEPRA, these temporary survey sites were established in the wilds of Naboo for the purposes of galactic security. The IEPRA found it expedient to hire private contractors for this type of work, and frequently sent coordinates to hunters who wished to aid the IEPRA in removing wildlife. However, the IEPRA also experienced problems with the larger creatures of Naboo somehow managing to encroach upon their temporary sites. They consulted the Royal Naturalist Society of Naboo for advice, but the IEPRA alleged that they offered no insight as to why their wildlife eradication protocol was failing. As the IEPRA continued to research this problem, they called upon additional hunters to manually clear these areas again, so that their agents could conduct their business in peace.

Consequently, the Royal Naturalist Society of Naboo became incensed at the behavior of the Imperial Environmental Preservation & Refocusing Authority. According to the Society, to accommodate the various Imperial sites on the planet's surface, the IEPRA had interfered with the rich ecosystem of Naboo. This was argued to have disrupted the natural balance of predator and prey on the lush Mid Rim world. To restore this balance, the Society identified several habitats in which both predatory and prey species needed to be culled in order to realign the population. The Society called on hunters to participate in their program. However, the efforts of the Society did little to deter the actions of the IEPRA. Even after the Society's attempts to preserve the natural balance of Naboo's ecosystem, the IEPRA continued to eradicate additional creatures. The Royal Naturalist Society likened the killers of these animals to "despicable murderers." Feeling as though they had no choice but to respond again, the Society called upon the services of outdoorsmen willing to euthanize the starving animals which survived what the Society referred to as the "Empire's heartless campaign." In an effort to save Naboo from the apparently destructive actions of the Empire, the Society provided the coordinates to the locations of these killing grounds.

Indeed, the IEPRA was on occasion forced to solve problems created by the very Empire they served. In one instance, local animals ended up ingesting contaminated runoff from the Emperor's Retreat, a private sanctuary for Emperor Palpatine nestled within Naboo's Gallo Mountains. The IEPRA feared that the creatures which ingested the runoff posed a significant risk to the planetary ecosystem. The creatures had since dispersed to various places on the planet, forcing the IEPRA to contract additional hunters to dispose of these animals as quickly as possible. IEPRA satellite droids isolated several potential locations where these contaminated animals might be found. These coordinates were made available to qualified applicants.

Meanwhile, in Naboo's city of Keren, a petty thief by the name of Brennis Doore made an effort to turn his life around. Feeling as though a government job would be the answer to all his problems, Doore tasked a spacer with delivering an application to Lieutenant Rille Nuder, a representative of the Imperial Environmental Preservation & Refocusing Authority. Although Brennis Doore surmised that the IEPRA was a flawed institution which exploited a planet's natural resources under the guise of "progress," he believed himself well suited for a position within the department. The spacer agreed to help Doore, and delivered his application to Lieutenant Nuder, who was conducting business in an off limits area of Naboo being surveyed by the IEPRA. When Lieutenant Nuder finally received Doore's application, the Imperial officer told the spacer that he would review it after he finished processing the almost ten thousand applications waiting for him at his office.

Assassination of an Imperial Environmental Refocusing Official
"That Imperial sleaze planned to destroy my homeworld's ecosystem and turn it into a factory planet. Preventing that is worth a bounty hunter on my tail."

- The killer of an Imperial Environmental Refocusing Official

In the meantime, a citizen became angered at an Imperial Environmental Refocusing Official for their alleged plans to destroy the ecosystem of their homeworld and turn it into a factory planet. To slow their progress, the citizen took it upon themselves to murder the IEPRA official. However, because the assassin left behind their sniper rifle, the Empire discovered the identity of the assailant. The Empire subsequently issued a bounty on the target, who was believed to be "moderately armed" and "medium-threat." A bounty hunter contracted by the Bounty Hunters' Guild ultimately succeeded in locating and eliminating the target, but not without being ordered by the Empire to give the following message to the target before termination: "You left your sniper rifle behind. Very sloppy." Following the death of the target, the Empire sent their congratulations, but discouraged the bounty hunter from publicizing their success. The Empire believed that these types of murderers often wished to die a public death, and become seen as martyrs.

Environmental Activities Throughout the Galaxy
Despite its often negative reputation, the Imperial Environmental Preservation & Refocusing Authority did on occasion conduct environmental initiatives for the benefit of citizens throughout the galaxy. For instance, the IEPRA, beset by manpower shortages, nevertheless contracted the services of individuals willing to help nerf herders plagued by creatures spooking their nerfs and causing stampedes. Furthermore, to halt the spread of Hesken Fever, the IEPRA hired individuals to destroy vermin related to the infestation, thus preventing the disease from spreading to other settlements. Every year, the IEPRA also oversaw the extermination of pests during seasonal infestations, paying usual fees for every nest that was cleared. The IEPRA was also forced to undo the damage caused by a geneticist who had been performing illegal cloning and gene manipulation experiments in an attempt to create exotic animal hybrids. Although the geneticist was arrested by the Imperial Office of Criminal Investigations, some of his experiments were already released into wilderness areas so that he could study their adaptability. Unfortunately for the residents of these areas, many of the hybrids survived and began reproducing. With dens of these creatures spread throughout the Empire, the IEPRA deemed it prudent to clean them out. To succeed in this endeavor, they paid enterprising individuals a handsome reward for every den that was destroyed.

Nevertheless, many of the IEPRA's actions were not necessitated by environmental concerns, but rather by commercial importance. When a dangerous pack of predators began terrorizing the workers of a land owner, the IEPRA demanded a fortune to clear out the pests. Ultimately, the frustrated land owner ended up losing six of his workers to the flesh-eating creatures, while another twelve ended up quitting. Unable to rely on the services of the IEPRA, the land owner resorted to hiring a private individual to eliminate the predators. Although they would not help the land owner, the IEPRA did become involved in the process of clearing undeveloped land, so that Corporate Sector Authority land surveyors could assess the property for purchase. To allay concerns lobbied by the Intergalactic Zoological Society, the IEPRA assured them that the greatest care would be taken in relocating any indigenous creatures. In actuality, however, the IEPRA instructed their contractors to "just blast those little buggers into oblivion." The IEPRA assured their exterminators that if the IZS lodged a protest with their office, they would be able to provide them with proper documentation. Privately however, the IEPRA made it clear that their only concern was to ensure the absolute safety of the land surveyors. Indeed, the IEPRA often found itself frustrated by the IZS and other wildlife preservationists promoting what the IEPRA called their "bleeding heart causes." Annoyed by the preservationists attempts to save every obscure beast in the galaxy, the IEPRA facetiously considered sending a bill to the Intergalactic Zoological Society for all the nests they had to destroy due to overpopulation concerns.

Behind the scenes
The Imperial Environmental Preservation & Refocusing Authority was mentioned in a bounty hunter terminal mission titled Killer of Imperial Environmental Refocusing Official.