Environmental Law

All about environmental crimes and enforcement, from pre-trial to trial strategy.

Total news: 57
Last news: April 30, 2009 17:56:29

On April 28, 2009, Judge Malloy issued his order denying the motion to dismiss the indictment for prosecutorial misconduct. You can view the order here Judge Molloy’s order. There is one passage I found particularly interesting. Judge Malloy states: The... -�[Read�more]

Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. was fined $8,000,000.00 on Friday, April 24, 2009, stemming from its conviction on a number of environmental and worker safety charges. More later. As always, feel free to contact me via e-mail at walter.james@jamespllc.com.... -�[Read�more]

The USDOJ also likes to add some of the “good-old-fashion-crime” to any indictment. In addition to being able to argue its typical “crimes against nature,” the government also likes to talk about “good-old-fashion-crime.” What is “good-old-fashion-crime” (in addition to environmental... -�[Read�more]

Yesterday, April 22, 2009, Michael Panyard, the former general manager of Comprehensive Environmental Solutions Inc. in Dearborn, Mich., was sentenced to fifteen (15) months in prison, two years of supervised release and was ordered to participate in a comprehensive drug... -�[Read�more]

The USDOJ issued a press release yesterday regarding the sentencing schedule in the Atlantic States case. On Monday, April 20, 2009, John Prisque, the former plant manager of the Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. at Phillipsburg (a division of... -�[Read�more]

On April 16, 2009, Texas Oil and Gathering Inc. and two of its executives pleaded guilty to illegally dumping refinery wastes at an underground injection well. The investigation began because of an explosion at the well which killed three workers.... -�[Read�more]

Yes, the world keeps revolving and the Grace trial continues. I have not posted on the Grace trial the last two weeks; rather, I have been following it on the University of Montana blog http://blog.umt.edu/gracecase/. I have said it before;... -�[Read�more]

On February 23, 2009, the W.R. Grace trial began in Missoula, Montana. During opening statements, Kris McLean, the federal prosecutor, told the jurors Grace knew for years that its mining operation exposed residents of Libby, Montana, to asbestos and that... -�[Read�more]

On February 6, 2009, the USEPA, in coordination with the LDEQ, ordered Global Environmental Methods LLC to cease all operations at its waste oil and industrial process waste management and treatment facility in New Iberia, Louisiana. The order entered as... -�[Read�more]

Review the case and history of United States v. McKittrick, 142, F3rd 1170 (9th Cir. 1998). Or, better yet, read Ed Newcomer and Marie Palladini’s article in the ABA SEER EECC’s newsletter on the Endangered Species Act. http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/environcrimes/newsletter/jan09/EECC_Jan09.pdf Newcomer is... -�[Read�more]

Lisa P. Jackson has been approved by the senate as the USEPA Administrator. Eric Holder has been approved as the Attorney General. So, why has not enforcement picked up? All I can do is counsel patience for those who will... -�[Read�more]

On January 5, 2009, Granta Nakayama introduced Adam Kushner as the USEPA’s new Director of the Office of Civil Enforcement (“OCE”) (effective January 11, 2009). Kushner was previously the Director of the Air Enforcement Division of OCE and oversaw the... -�[Read�more]

In my blog post on June 6, 2008, I wrote about Gerald Lakota, a former environmental compliance employee at the Fujicolor facility in Terrell, Texas, who pled guilty to federal charges of falsifying water sample reports in an effort to... -�[Read�more]

That is the opinion of Steven Milloy, a junk science expert and the publisher of Junk Science.com. Mr. Milloy writes: It’s little wonder why the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list doesn’t include anyone accused of breaking federal environmental laws. It’s hard... -�[Read�more]

On December 18, 2008, the USEPA announced that a new general permit (in effect starting today) will be required for twenty-six types of discharges from vessels operating in the waters of the United States. By the USEPA’s estimate, this will... -�[Read�more]