ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES
I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
A. Criminal Versus Civil Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
B. Criminal Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
C. Interaction with Other Criminal Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
II. GENERAL ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
A. Overview of the Elements of an Environmental Criminal
Violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
B. Liability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
1. Individual Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
2. Corporate Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578
C. Common Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
1. Constitutional and Procedural Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
2. Other Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 584
D. Voluntary Compliance and Sentencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
E. Sentencing Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
III. CLEAN AIR ACT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
A. Purpose & Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
B. Violations of CAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
1. Substantive Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
a. Implementation Plans for National Ambient Air
Quality Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
b. Other CAA Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
i. National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air
Pollutants (“NESHAP”). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
ii. New Source Performance Standards (“NSPS”) 592
iii. Sulfur Dioxide Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
iv. Stratospheric Ozone Protection . . . . . . . . . . . 593
2. Statement and Filing-related Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
3. Endangerment Violations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
C. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
IV. CLEAN WATER ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
A. Purpose & Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
B. Elements of a CWA Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
1. Violation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
a. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
i. Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
ii. Pollutants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
iii. Point Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
iv. Navigable Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
571
v. Discharge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
b. Criminal Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
i. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (“NPDES”) Permit Program . . . . . . . 601
ii. Monitoring, Reporting, and Regulatory
Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
iii. Discharge of Oil and Hazardous Substances . . 603
2. Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
a. Negligence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604
b. Knowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
c. Knowing Endangerment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
C. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
D. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
V. SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
A. Purpose & Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
B. Elements of SDWA Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
1. Enforcement of Ban on Tampering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
2. Underground Injection of Contaminants . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
VI. COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND
LIABILITY ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
A. Purpose & Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
B. CERCLA Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 612
C. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
D. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
VII. RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
A. Purpose & Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
B. Elements of an RCRA Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
1. Violation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
2. Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
a. Knowing Violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
b. Knowing Endangerment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
C. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
D. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
VIII. TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
A. Purpose & Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
B. Elements of a TSCA Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
1. Violation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
2. Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
C. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
D. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
IX. THE FEDERAL INSECTICIDE, FUNGICIDE, AND RODENTICIDE ACT . . . . . . 626
A. Purpose & Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
572 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 61:571
B. Elements of a FIFRA Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
1. Violation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
2. Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
C. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
D. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627
I. INTRODUCTION
The criminal environmental enforcement regime is multi-faceted and complex.
This regime involves: the overlapping authority of federal, state, and local agen-
cies; penalties ranging from fines to prison sentences; civil and criminal liability
for both individuals and the corporations that employ them; and a wide array of
statutes under which enforcement can be brought.
1
These statutes structure the
enforcement regime according to the pollution type, with separate rules governing
air, water, solid waste, and other types of pollution.
2
See generally Laws and Executive Orders, U.S. EPA, https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/laws-and-
executive-orders (last visited Feb. 29, 2024); David M. Bearden, Claudia Copeland, Linda Luther, James E.
McCarthy, Mary Tiemann, Robert Esworthy & Jerry H. Yen, Environmental Laws: Summaries of Major Statutes
Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, CONGR. RSCH. SERV. (2013), https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/
RL30798.pdf (providing an overview of statutes for each pollutant).
Although the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) under the Trump
administration pursued the lowest number of environmental prosecutions since the
mid-1990s,
3
Fewer Criminal Prosecution of Environmental Crimes Under Trump, TRAC REPS. (Oct. 29, 2019), https://
trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/581/.
the Biden administration has expressed a desire to take a more aggres-
sive approach to environmental justice.
4
See Environmental Justice, WHITE HOUSE, https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/(last visited
Feb. 29, 2024) (detailing initiatives by the Biden Administration to promote environmental justice).
In 2021, President Biden established the
Office of Environmental Justice within the Department of Justice (“DOJ”),
5
and in
2022 his administration successfully championed the largest federal investment to
reduce the effects of climate change.
6
Jim Tankersley, Biden Signs Climate Health Bill Into Law as Other Economic Goals Remain, N.Y. TIMES
(Aug. 16, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/us/politics/biden-climate-health-bill.html.
The DOJ has also indicated a general desire
to increase environmental prosecutions, especially those affecting disadvantaged
communities.
7
Memorandum from Vanita Gupta, Associate Att’y Gen., to Heads of Dep’t Components, U.S. Atty’s,
Comprehensive Environmental Justice Enforcement Strategy (May 5, 2022), https://www.justice.gov/asg/page/
file/1499286/download (setting forth principles and actions implemented by DOJ to promote environmental
justice).
Given these changes, it is important for regulated industries—and
1. See generally Joshua Ozymy & Melissa L. Jarrell, Comment, EPA’s Criminal Prosecution and Punishment
of Environmental Crimes, 50 ENV’T L. REP. 10452, 10452–53 (2020) (providing an overview of the criminal
enforcement process); David M. Uhlmann, Environmental Crime Comes of Age: The Evolution of Criminal
Enforcement in the Environmental Regulatory Scheme, 2009 UTAH L. REV. 1223, 1224–26 (2009) (giving
general background on statutes criminalizing environmental crimes and associated concerns about prosecutorial
discretion).
2.
3.
4.
5. See id.; see also Exec. Order No. 14008: Climate Crisis: Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,
86 Fed. Reg. 7619 (Jan. 27, 2021).
6.
7.
2024] ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES 573
