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
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 Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training publishes an Environmental Case Crimes Bulletin (“Bulletin”) that summarizes publicized investigative activity...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
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
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