The State of the Environment—An Overview - "new" Crime—environmental Crime

Table 1.2 lists the major environmental and wildlife protection acts of the federal government. As recently as the 1980s very few Americans understood that harming the environment could be considered a crime. Since that time, however, a substantial portion of the American public has begun to recognize the seriousness of environmental offenses, believing that damaging the environment is a serious crime and that corporate officials should be held responsible for offenses committed by their firms. Even though the immediate consequences of an offense may not be obvious or severe, environmental crime is a serious problem and does have victims—the cumulative costs in damage to the environment and the toll to humans in illness, injury, and death can be considerable.

Law enforcement agencies generally believe that successful criminal prosecution—even the threat of it—is the best deterrent to environmental crime. Under the dual sovereignty

TABLE 1.2
Major federal environmental and wildlife protection acts

Environmental protection acts

Clean Air Act (CAA)—Prevent the deterioration of air quality

Clean Water Act (CWA)—Regulate sources of water pollution

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability (CERCLA or Superfund)—Address problems of abandoned hazardous waste sites

Emergency Planning & Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA)—Help local communities protect public health, safety, and the environment from chemical hazards Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)—Control pesticide distribution, sale, and use

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—The basic national charter for protection of the environment. It establishes policy, sets goals, and provides means for carrying out the policy

Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA)—Prevent and respond to catastrophic oil spills

Pollution Prevention Act (PPA)—Reduce the amount of pollution produced via recycling, source reduction, and sustainable agriculture

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)—Protect human health and the environment from dangers associated with waste management

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)—Protect the quality of drinking water

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)—Test, regulate, and screen all chemicals produced in or imported into the U.S.

Wildlife protection acts

Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA)—Provide a program for the conservation of bald and golden eagles

Endangered Species Act (ESA)—Conserve the various species of fish, wildlife, and plants facing extinction

Lacey Act—Control the trade of exotic fish, wildlife, and plants

Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA)—Protect migratory birds during their nesting season

SOURCE: Adapted from "Major Environmental Laws," in Guide to Environmental Issues, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Washington, DC, June 26, 1998 [Online] http://www.epa.gov/epahome/laws.htm [accessed March 31, 2004]

doctrine, both state and federal governments can independently prosecute environmental crimes without violating the double jeopardy or due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

As attitudes toward environmental crimes have changed, the penalties for such offenses have become harsher. Federal criminal enforcement has grown from a misdemeanor penalty for dumping contaminants into waterways without a permit, to a felony for clandestine (secret) dumping. Several federal laws now include criminal penalties. Companies, their officials, and staff can be prosecuted for knowingly violating any one of a number of crimes. Such crimes include transporting hazardous waste to an unlicensed facility, storing and disposing of hazardous waste without a permit, failing to notify of a hazardous substance release, falsifying documents, dumping into a wetland, or violating air quality standards.

Figure 1.4 shows the status of EPA criminal enforcement activities for fiscal years 1999 through 2003. Nearly $400 million in fines were assessed over this period and more than 900 years' worth of sentences were handed out. Figure 1.5 shows both criminal and civil penalties assessed each year from 1998 to 2003. Together, criminal and civil penalties totaled $167 million in 2003.

Since the 1970s, environmental laws have become more complicated. The increasing strictness of those laws may have contributed to the growing incidence of environmental violations. First, many businesses have found compliance increasingly expensive, and many are simply avoiding the costs even if it means violating the law. These companies consider the penalties just another "cost of doing business." Second, businesses and their legal counsel are becoming increasingly savvy in avoiding prosecution through the use of dummy corporations, intermediaries, and procedural techniques.

Smuggling and black-market sales of banned hazardous substances also resulted from environmental legislation. In 1997 federal officials reported that the sale of contraband Freon (a refrigerant used in air conditioning systems) had become more profitable than cocaine at that time. Freon is one of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a class of chemicals known to cause ozone depletion in the atmosphere. In Mexico, which shares a 2,000-mile border with the United States, Freon is still legal to manufacture and export, but those activities are banned in the United States. However, Freon continues to exist in the cooling systems of many older model cars in the United States, which means a demand also exists.

Another type of environmental crime gaining attention, called "ecoterrorism," occurs when radical environmental groups use economic sabotage to stop what they see as threats to the environment. The Earth Liberation Front is blamed for more than 600 attacks and nearly $43 million in property damage since the late 1990s. The group is accused of setting fire to a genetics laboratory, uprooting experimental crops, and damaging buildings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has named the group one of the most dangerous domestic terrorist groups in America.