Environmental Cnmes: Upping the Ante for Noncomphance With Environmental Laws
| Author | Captain James P. Calve |
| Pages | 05 |
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES: UPPING THE
ANTE
FOR
NONCOMPLIANCE WITH
ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
by Captam
James
P. Calve-
"
Well, is it possible,
Mr.
Dee, that when [the environmental coor-
dinator] raised those
issues
that
you
simply turned off
your
ears
because environmental compliance
wm
not something that
was
important to your miss1on7"
-UnitedStatesv.
Dee'
"Federal employees
are
not above the law"
-United
States
v
Deez
I.
INTRODUCTION
Environmental prosecutions are
a
threat to federal employees.
In
addition to adverse administrative personnel actions that may
result
from violation of environmental
laws,
federal employees
face
the
possibility of felony conviction and jail.
On June
16,
1988,
a
federal @.and
jury
m the Northern District af
New
Yark
returned a fortytwo
count
indictment against a Depart.
ment
of Army
civilian
employee at Fort Drum,
Yew
York,
for Illegal-
ly disposing of old cans of waste paint
On
October 14,
1988,
a
jury
found him guilty of failing to report the disp~sai.~
On
June
28,
1988,
a federal @and
jury
m
the District of Maryland
indicted three cwilian managers at Aberdeen Proving Grounds on
felony charges for illegally storing and disposing of toxic ~hemrcais.~
The
tliai generated
a
pat deal of publicity and acnmony
The
Assis-
bal17,
35
Fed
Bar
Sews
&
J
441.
442
(1888)
279
MILITARY LAW
REVIEW
[Vol
133
tant Umted States Attorney who tried the case charged the defen-
dants with abandoning their responsibility to comply with
en-
vironmental laws
The
defendants countered with allegations that
the government was conductmg
a
witch humi
On
February
23.1888,
a
jury
returned guilty verdicts against each defendant an vanow
counts of the indictment.B
On
January
24,
1981,
B
federaljury
con-
victed
Mr
Richard Pond, the Aberdeen wastewater treatment fachty
operator, af
me
counts
mvolving
violatians of the
Clean
Water Act.'
He
was convicted of violating permit
requirements
and making false
statements
in
monitoring reports.
These
cases
are not aberrations. Protection of the environment
IS
a
topic of neat
concern
10
many
Americans Amencans annually
generate three to four billion tons of wmte.' Besides consuming
limited resources, this activity,
if
unregulated, threatens human
health and the environment The federal gorernment has
begun
to
use
criminal sanctions to protect the public and the environment
from persons who ignore envmnmental regulations.
The federal government finds itself
on
both sides of the
issue.
In
its role
as
regulator. the federal government enacts and
enforces
air,
water, hazardous waste. and other environmental laws. As the na-
tional
government,
It
owns
almost one-third of the land
in
the United
States and operates
27,000
mstallatlons and
38i.000
faciiltles10
Although these faclhties perform
missions
that are vital to the
coun-
try. they
also
poilute the environment."
'Baltimore
Sun,
Jan
11
1988
BL
83
eo1
1
B8
cd
I
Wnired
Stales,
Dee.
No HhR-88-0211
(D
Pd
Ma?
11,
1888)
'United
States,
Pond,
CR
580-0420
ID
Md
Jan
24
19911
SA
wwes
of
60.000
people
rmked
ennlranmenfal
crimes
sebenrh
I"
senousne~~
among all crimes
L
8
Depanment
of
Jumee, Bureau
of Justice
Sfat~t1~~
Januaw
1884
ctUd
zn
Starr
Countenno
Enciionmenlai
Crwnes
13
B
C
En
280
19911
KOYCOMPLIAXE WITH EWTL
LAWS
Of
COUISB,
pollution at federal facilities does not
just
occur, it results
from the
conscious
actions
and
decisions af federal employees.
Ac-
cordingly, Executhe
Order
12088 directs federal agencies and their
employees
to
comply with federal, state, and
local
environmental
iaws.Lz
,*Exec
Order
No
12,088.
43
Fed
Reg
47
707 (1978)
'DSee
Rich,
Celhng
7hugh
on
Emrmnnrnlal
Cnm.
Resources
Oer
1989
sf
II
lnoflng
that
the
theme
of
the
National
District
Attorneys
Assocmflan's
(NDAA)
July
1089
conference
ubj
the
en~lrnnmenl
BI cnme
ilCtim
and
that the
NDAA
leadership
wants
to
promote
eniimnmenral
pmreculmns)
YeElflrh
State
Holardow
Was@
Crimes.
17
Enrtl
L
Rep
IEnvtl
L
lnsl
!
10,465
(1887)
"See
Re~oiunon,
Xatmnal
District
Attorneys
Aivlclation
July
16
1888
(ur~ng
Con
meu
EO
subject
federal
facilitrea
and
employeelto
the
same
rfandardr
ofaccounlabllify
ag
sfdtes
toed
gm~menn
and
pn~fe
industry
and
specifically
requesting
the
ability
to
prosecute
federal
employee.
for
atate
enrironmenlal
climes!
281
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