Environmental Crimes: Reports

The report goes on to outline the types of cases being prosecuted by the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, the use of data and analytics in prosecuting environmental crimes, and worker safety concerns relating to the Clean Air Act's General Duty Clause and Risk Management Program.
Among other topics, the article also addresses a trend in environmental crime enforcement that indicates a renewed vigilance in prosecuting corporate officers and employees along with the corporations, as evidenced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon incident, as well as a number of significant appellate cases.

The article also discusses a trend within the Department of Justice (DOJ) of seeking to examine independent safety agency investigation interviews, and analyzes the DOJ’s stated intent to target large or significant enterprises, death or serious injury and cases involving multiple locations.

Solow and Carpenter also discuss the importance of corporate compliance and ethics programs, the government’s ability to assess the adequacy of those programs, and the lessons federal agencies can learn if they tap into their own enforcement experience as they develop regulatory programs. As they have in each of the seven years they have produced their annual review, the authors provide summaries of criminal cases brought around the country in 2012. In addition, the article features an interview with Douglas Parker, director of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, which oversees the agents who conduct investigations into criminal violations of federal environmental law.

As in past reviews, the authors also provide summaries of criminal cases brought around the country in 2011. In addition, the article features an interview with Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Peter Smith, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, on the subject of hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas operations.

The authors review activity in the first year of the Obama Administration and look at new enforcement initiatives, new discovery guidance, an increased focus on chemicals, and electronic waste. The authors also provide summaries of the criminal cases brought around the country last year.

The article includes the responses to questions posed by the author to Stacey Mitchell, who was appointed last summer to be the chief of the Environmental Crimes Section at the Department of Justice.