The EPA Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) February 15, 2024, report on EPA’s practices in collecting, retaining, and producing criminal discovery materials in environmental cases found that EPA’s special agents largely...more
In Short - The Situation: The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ" or "Department") and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") recently announced the creation of a regional, cross-agency taskforce, targeting...more
On July 20, 2023, the U.S. Senate confirmed the long-awaited appointment of David Uhlmann as the new Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Enforcement and Compliance Division. Mr. Uhlmann...more
On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the launch of its Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Environmental Crimes Task Force. This new task force will focus specifically on combating...more
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a November 28th news release stating that Joshua M. Franklin has pleaded guilty to a negligent violation of the Clean Water Act. The charge is stated to stem from an...more
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a September 12th news release stating that DiAne Gordan (“Gordon”) had been sentenced to 36 months in prison for allegedly fabricating discharge monitoring reports...more
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon (“Department of Justice [“DOJ”]) issued an August 24th news release stating that Hydro Extrusion USA (“Hydro”) had been charged with negligent endangerment under...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a June 16th news release stating that Clearwater Utility Services of Tumwater, Washington, and its owner pleaded guilty to...more
In recent days, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has made a series of announcements aimed at addressing environmental justice concerns and enforcement practices. The actions taken by DOJ include the establishment of the...more
The Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section Chief, Deborah Harris, recently discussed environmental crime enforcement during an American Bar Association virtual conference. Ms. Harris told attendees that...more
On September 15, 2021, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominees, including Amanda Howe, nominated for Assistant Administrator for...more
The acting head of the EPA’s enforcement office issued a memorandum on June 21, 2021 (the “Memorandum”), that outlines actions to advance the EPA’s environmental justice (“EJ”) goals in criminal enforcement matters....more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training publishes an Environmental Case Crimes Bulletin (“Bulletin”) that summarizes publicized investigative activity...more
The Biden Administration has a number of enforcement priorities. While not listed as a primary objective, the Justice Department and the EPA can be expected to increase criminal enforcement of environmental laws....more
A trilogy of recent federal and state enforcement actions show just how far agencies will go to enforce environmental regulations. Now may be a good time for a compliance audit....more
Lee Forsgren was appointed Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water in July 2017. We recently had the opportunity to hear him speak to a trade group where he discussed EPA’s priorities under the Trump...more
The 9th Circuit United States Court of Appeals (“Court”) in a September 13th opinion considered whether “knowingly storing and disposing of hazardous waste without a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”) permit” is...more
The headlines generated by the Volkswagen emissions scandal continue to amaze the environmental community and the general public, both here and abroad. The events are shocking in part because they involve a household name in...more
Regardless of whether you are a Trump supporter or Trump hater, and there certainly seems to be very few people who are indifferent to the guy, trying to prognosticate what he will do is very difficult. He is a political...more
In December of 2015 the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)and the Department of Labor jointly announced an expansion of the “Worker Endangerment Initiative” to address violations of worker safety and environmental laws. In...more
The news has been full of stories and articles concerning Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR), also referred to as coal ash. CCR became a hot topic in 2008 when a coal ash pond at a utility plant in Tennessee spilled more than 5...more
On September 15, 2015, we wrote an OSHA Bulletin that summarized a memorandum issued by Deputy Attorney General Yates. You can read the Bulletin here. On December 17, 2015, Yates issued another memorandum that will impact all...more
On December 17, 2015, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued a memorandum to all 93 U.S. Attorneys urging federal prosecutors to work with the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resource Division (ENRD) to...more
In This Issue: - Death and Taxes? Recent Supreme Court Arguments in Gabelli v. SEC Concerning a General Statute of Limitations for Civil Fines May Also Affect How Long the IRS Has to Assess Penalties - Avoiding...more
Under the headline “EPA Enforcement in 2012 Protects Communities from Harmful Pollution,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on December 17, 2012, released its annual report of enforcement activities for the 2012...more