SUMMARY OF DIVISION 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

FISCAL YEAR 2014
Morning Peeler Lake, Hoover Wilderness Photo by Steve Macfarlane
CONTENTS

FOREWORD 

OVERVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION 

MAKING PROGRESS TOWARD ACHIEVING THE GOAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 

PROTECTING OUR NATION’S AIR, LAND, AND WATER 

ENSURING CLEANUP OF OIL AND SUPERFUND WASTE 

PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP OF AMERICA’S WILDLIFE AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

ENFORCING THE NATION’S CRIMINAL POLLUTION AND WILDLIFE LAWS 

DEFENDING VITAL FEDERAL PROGRAMS AND INTERESTS 

PROMOTING NATIONAL SECURITY AND MILITARY PREPAREDNESS 

PROTECTING TRIBAL RIGHTS AND RESOURCES AND ADDRESSING TRIBAL CLAIMS 

SUPPORTING THE DIVISION’S STAFF 

In fi scal year 2014, the Environment and Natural Resources Division achieved 

important victories for the American public across its many practice areas. The 

chapters of this report briefl y explain the Division’s organizational structure, 

highlight its continued work toward the goal of achieving environmental justice for 

all communities, and describe the Division’s other key accomplishments. 
Osprey Photo by Laura Maul

Wildfl owers, Annapolis, Maryland Photo by Jessica White

6 | foreword
FOREWORD

In January, I returned to the Environment and 

Natural Resources Division as the Assistant Attorney 

General following my Senate confi rmation. I have 

had the honor and privilege of spending over two 

decades at the Department of Justice, fi rst as Chief of 

the Environmental Enforcement Section and then the 

Division’s career Deputy Assistant Attorney General, 

and during that time, I have witnessed the extraordinary efforts of career public servants who work 

countless hours, representing the United States in 

federal courts across our great nation. The Division’s 

backbone is those career professionals who have 

dedicated their lives to public service: upholding our 

laws, improving the environment, protecting our 

natural resources, and assuring the health and safety of our citizens.

In existence for over one hundred years, the Division is built upon a history of service, integrity, 

and adherence to the rule of law. It has broad responsibilities present in the thousands of cases 

under the Division’s jurisdiction: enforcing the nation’s civil and criminal pollution-control laws, 

defending environmental challenges to federal agency programs and activities, representing 

the United States in matters concerning the stewardship of the nation’s natural resources and 

public lands, acquiring real property, bringing and defending cases under the wildlife protection 

statutes, and litigating cases concerning Native American rights. In this report you will fi nd the 

highlights of the Division’s outstanding work from last year.

In the past year, the Division successfully litigated 926 cases and handled a total of 6,588 cases, 

matters, and appeals. We recorded over $400 million in civil and criminal fi nes, penalties, 

and costs recovered. The estimated value of federal injunctive relief – clean-up and pollution 

prevention actions funded by private parties – exceeded $6.2 billion. ENRD also saved the 

taxpayers money, avoiding claims of over $2.0 billion. The Division achieved a favorable 

outcome in 93 percent of cases, resulting in cleaner air, land, and water in the United States.

Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden

foreword | 7
8 | foreword

Among our top priorities this year are: the continued litigation of all aspects of the Deepwater 

Horizon oil spill; enforcing and defending EPA’s rules and regulations promulgated under 

the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gases and conventional pollutants; combating wildlife 

traffi cking; promoting responsible energy development; protecting tribal sovereignty, tribal 

lands and resources, and tribal treaty rights, vigorously litigating while maintaining our 

commitment to integrity and the rule of law. In all of our work, we continue to pursue the 

goals of Environmental Justice by ensuring that all communities enjoy the benefi t of a fair and 

even-handed application of the Nations’ environmental laws and affected communities have a 

meaningful opportunity for their voice to be heard in all appropriate instances.

The Division’s top civil enforcement priority remains the litigation of the Deepwater Horizon 

oil spill to hold accountable those responsible for the billions of barrels that were spilled into 

the Gulf of Mexico for nearly 90 days. In December 2010, the United States brought a civil suit 

against BP, Anadarko, MOEX, and Transocean for civil penalties under the Clean Water Act 

and a declaration of liability under the Oil Pollution Act, as part of multidistrict litigation in the 

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. We have completed all three phases 

of a trial for civil penalties under the Clean Water Act, and have settled claims with two of the 

defendants, MOEX and Transocean. BP also plead guilty to criminal violations of the Clean 

Water Act and felony manslaughter charges. The remaining defendants in the civil litigation 

– BP and Anadarko – each face a maximum penalty exposure in billions of dollars. Under the 

RESTORE Act, the penalties will go to restoring natural resources, environmental improvement, 

and economic redevelopment in the Gulf States.

The Division continues to make important contributions to combating the effects of climate 

change and other harmful air pollutants. Last year, the Supreme Court in Utility Air Regulatory 

Group v. EPA, largely upheld EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act 

at sources that were already regulated for other conventional pollutants. The Division also 

defended a challenge under the Energy Policy Act to greenhouse gas emission standards for new 

power plants in State of Nebraska v. EPA. The Division had two important wins in challenges 

to EPA’s rules to curb air pollution from power plants. In EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, 

the Supreme Court upheld EPA’s Cross State Air Pollution Rule or “Transport Rule”, which 

allows EPA to allocate responsibility to upwind states for air pollution that travels into 

downwind states. In White Stallion Energy Center v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit rejected challenges 

to EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and that case is pending Supreme Court review. 

And as this goes to publication, the D.C. Circuit is hearing ENRD’s argument in consolidated 

challenges to EPA’s proposed standards for coal-fi red power plants. The Division also obtained 

the largest Clean Air Act penalty in U.S. v. Hyundai Motors Company, for violations related to 

testing and certifi cation of close to 1.2 million vehicles that will emit approximately 4.75 million 

metric tons of greenhouse gases in excess of their certifi cation to EPA. Automakers Hyundai 

and Kia will pay a $100 million penalty, spend approximately $50 million on measures to 

prevent future violations, and forfeit 4.75 million greenhouse gas emissions credits estimated to 

be worth over $200 million.

These are only a few examples of the extraordinary work of the Division. I am proud of the 

work that the Division accomplished last year, and I want to thank Bob Dreher and Sam Hirsch, 

both of whom served as Acting Assistant Attorney General in 2014, for their leadership during 

that time. It is a privilege for me to serve as the Assistant Attorney General, and I am grateful 

to work with so many outstanding colleagues and good friends. The many successes refl ected 

in this report are due to their expertise, dedication, and professionalism, and I encourage you 
foreword | 9

to take the time to learn about their work. In closing, I would like to leave you with my goals for the 

coming year:

• Goal 1: Enforce the nation’s bedrock environmental laws that protect air, land, and water for all 

Americans

• Goal 2: Vigorously represent the United States in federal trial and appellate courts, including by 

defending EPA’s rulemaking authority and effectively advancing other agencies’ missions and 

priorities

• Goal 3: Protect the public fi sc and defend the interests of the United States

• Goal 4: Advance Environmental Justice through all of the Division’s work and promote and 

defend tribal sovereignty, treaty obligations, and the rights of Native Americans

• Goal 5: Provide effective stewardship of the nation’s public lands, natural resources and animals, 

including fi ghting for the survival of the world’s most protected and iconic species and marine 

resources, and working across the government and the globe to end the illegal trade in wildlife

John C. Cruden

Assistant Attorney General

Environment and Natural Resources Division

United States Department of Justice

April 22, 2015
OVERVIEW OF THE 

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL 

RESOURCES DIVISION 

The richness and complexity of the Division’s history is 

inseparable from the larger story of the growth and maturation 

of American society. During the 19th Century, the federal 

government sought to encourage settlement by transferring 

the nation’s public lands to private owners. Federal land 

policy changed abruptly at the turn of the century, when the 

government began to focus on retaining ownership of public 

lands, and managing the resources on those lands, for the benefi t 

of the entire nation. 

On November 16, 1909, Attorney General George Wickersham 

signed a two-page order creating “The Public Lands Division” of 

the Department of Justice to step into the breach and address the 

critical litigation that ensued. He assigned all cases concerning 

“enforcement of the Public Land Law,” and relating to Indian 

affairs, to the new Division, and transferred a staff of nine—six 

attorneys and three stenographers—to carry out those responsibilities. 

As the nation grew and developed, so did the responsibilities of the Division, and its name 

changed to the “Environment and Natural Resources Division” (ENRD) to better refl ect those 

responsibilities. The Division celebrated its 100th anniversary on November 16, 2009. Today, 

we are mindful of the strong legacy that we have inherited and the opportunities and challenges 

that lie ahead of us. 

The Division, which is organized into ten sections, has a main offi ce in Washington, D.C., and 

fi eld offi ces across the United States. It has a staff of over 600 people, and is organized into 

ten sections. It currently has over 7,000 active cases and matters and has represented virtually 

every federal agency in connection with cases arising in all fi fty states and the United States 

territories. 

One of the Division’s primary responsibilities is to enforce federal civil and criminal environmental laws, such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act, the Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 

ENRD LITIGATING 

SECTIONS

— Appellate

— Environmental Crimes

— Environmental Defense

— Environmental Enforcement

— Indian Resources

— Land Acquisition

— Law and Policy

— Natural Resources

— Wildlife and Marine Resources

10 | enrd
Yellowstone National Park, Wikipedia photo

Everglades National Park, Wikipedia photo

enrd | 11
WHAT WE DO

The Environment and Natural Resources Division has primary responsibilities for litigation as well as policy work on 

behalf of United States regarding:

— Prevention and Cleanup of Pollution

— Environmental Challenges to Federal Programs and Activities

— Stewardship of Public Lands and Natural Resources

— Property Acquisition for Federal Needs

— Wildlife Protection

— Indian Rights and Claims

The Division has the largest environmental law practice in the country.

and Liability Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. The main federal agencies that the Division represents 

in these areas are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

The Division’s sections that carry out this work are the Environmental Enforcement Section, the 

Environmental Defense Section, and the Environmental Crimes Section. 

A substantial portion of the Division’s work includes litigation under a wide array of statutes related to 

the management of public lands and associated natural and cultural resources. All varieties of public 

lands are affected by ENRD’s litigation docket, ranging from entire ecosystems, such as the nation’s 

largest sub-tropical wetlands (the Everglades) and rain forest (the Tongass), to individual rangelands or 

wildlife refuges, to historic battlefi elds and monuments. Examples of ENRD’s land and natural resources 

litigation include original actions before the U.S. Supreme Court to address interstate boundary and 

water allocation issues, and suits challenging federal agency decisions that affect economic, recreational, 

and religious uses of the national parks, national forests, and other public lands; challenges brought by 

individual Native Americans and Indian tribes relating to the United States’ trust responsibility; and 

actions to recover royalties and revenues from development of natural resources, including subsurface 

minerals. The Division primarily represents the land management agencies of the United States in 

these cases, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the U.S. Department of 

the Interior’s (Interior) National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service. The Natural Resources Section is primarily responsible for these cases. 

The Division’s Wildlife and Marine Resources Section handles civil cases arising under the fi sh and 

wildlife conservation laws, including suits defending agency actions under the Endangered Species Act, 

which protects endangered and threatened animal and plant species; the Marine Mammal Protection Act, 

which protects marine mammals, such as whales, seals, and dolphins; and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act, which regulates fi shery resources. The Environmental Crimes 

Section brings criminal prosecutions under these laws and under the Lacey Act against people who are 

found smuggling wildlife and plants into or out of the United States or across state boundaries. The main 

federal agencies that ENRD represents in this area are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service. 

12 | enrd
Division cases frequently involve allegations that a federal program or action violates constitutional 

provisions or environmental statutes. Examples include Fifth Amendment takings claims, in which 

landowners seek compensation based on the allegation that a government action has precluded 

development of their property, and suits alleging that a federal agency has failed to comply with the 

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Both takings and NEPA cases can affect vital federal 

programs, such as those governing the nation’s defense capabilities (including military preparedness, weapons programs, nuclear materials management, and military research), renewable energy 

development, and food supply. In other cases, plaintiffs challenge regulations promulgated to 

implement the nation’s pollution control statutes, such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, 

or activities at federal facilities that are claimed to violate such statutes. The Division’s main clients 

in these areas include the Department of Defense, EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. 

Department of Transportation, and Interior’s various components. The Natural Resources Section

and the Environmental Defense Section handle these cases. 

Another portion of the Division’s caseload consists of eminent domain litigation. This important work, 

undertaken with Congressional direction or authority, involves the acquisition of land for the federal 

government, including for national parks, the construction of federal buildings, and national security-related purposes. The Land Acquisition Section is responsible for this litigation. 

The Division’s Indian Resources Section litigates on behalf of federal agencies to protect the rights 

and resources of federally recognized Indian tribes and their members. This includes defending against 

challenges to statutes and agency actions that protect tribal interests, and bringing suits on behalf of 

federal agencies to protect tribal rights and natural resources. The rights and resources at issue include 

water rights, the ability to acquire reservation land, and hunting and fi shing rights, among others. 

In addition, the Natural Resources Section defends claims asserted by Indian tribes and tribal 

members against the United States. The main federal agency that the Division represents in connection 

with this work is Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

The Appellate Section handles the appeals of all cases litigated by Division attorneys in the trial 

courts, and works closely with the Department of Justice’s Offi ce of the Solicitor General on ENRD cases 

that reach the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The Law and Policy Section advises and assists the Assistant Attorney General on environmental 

and natural resources legal and policy questions, particularly those that affect multiple sections in the 

Division. It reviews and analyzes legislative proposals on environmental and natural resources issues 

of importance to the Division, handles the Division’s response to congressional requests, provides 

comments on behalf of ENRD on federal agency rulemakings, and handles, with the Appellate Section, 

amicus participation in cases of importance to the United States, as well as other special projects on 

behalf of Division leadership. Attorneys in the Law and Policy Section serve as the Division’s ethics and 

professional responsibility offi cer and counselor and as its alternative dispute resolution counselor. In 

addition, the Section coordinates the Division’s Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act work, and 

handles international legal matters, often in collaboration with the Environmental Crimes Section. 

The Executive Offi ce is the operational management and administrative support section for ENRD. 

It provides fi nancial management, human resources, information technology, procurement, facilities, 

security, litigation support, and other important services to the Division’s workforce. The Executive 

Offi ce takes advantage of cutting-edge technology to provide sophisticated automation facilities to 

ENRD employees. By utilizing new technologies and innovative business processes—and by in-sourcing 

enrd | 13
Earth Day 2014, DOJ photo

services traditionally provided by contractors and equipping employees to better serve themselves—the 

Executive Offi ce is able to achieve signifi cant cost savings for the American public on an annual basis. 

14 | enrd
ENRD CLIENT AGENCIES

To learn more about the client agencies referenced in this report, visit their websites:

United States Department of Agriculture www.usda.gov

United States Forest Service www.fs.fed.us

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service www.aphis.usda.gov

United States Department of Commerce

National Marine Fisheries Service www.nmfs.noaa.gov

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration www.noaa.gov

United States Department of Defense

United States Air Force www.af.mil

United States Army www.army.mil

United States Army Corps of Engineers www.usace.army.mil

United States Marine Corps www.marines.mil

United States Navy www.navy.mil

United States Department of Energy www.energy.gov

Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov

General Services Administration www.gsa.gov

United States Department of Homeland Security www.dhs.gov

United States Customs and Border Protection www.cbp.gov

Federal Emergency Management Agency www.fema.gov

United States Coast Guard www.uscg.mil

United States Department of the Interior www.doi.gov

Bureau of Indian Aff airs www.bia.gov

Bureau of Land Management www.blm.gov

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management www.boem.gov

Bureau of Reclamation www.usbr.gov

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement www.bsee.gov

National Park Service www.nps.gov

Offi ce of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement www.osmre.gov

United States Fish and Wildlife Service www.fws.gov

United States Geological Survey www.usgs.gov

United States Department of Transportation www.dot.gov

Federal Aviation Administration www.faa.gov

Federal Highway Administration www.fhwa.dot.gov

Federal Transit Administration www.fta.dot.gov

Pipeline Safety and Hazardous Materials Administration www.phmsa.dot.gov

United States Maritime Administration www.marad.dot.gov

United States Department of Veterans Aff airs www.va.gov

enrd | 15
MAKING PROGRESS TOWARD 

ACHIEVING THE GOAL OF 

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address 

Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and 

Low-Income Populations (1994), was the federal 

government’s fi rst policy statement on environmental justice. Attorney General Janet Reno 

represented the Department at the signing of this 

historic document over 20 years ago. The ideals of 

Executive Order 12898 are as true today as they were 

in 1994: every American deserves clean air, water, 

and land, regardless of income, race, or ethnicity. 

The Department remains committed to achieving 

environmental justice, and ENRD plays an important 

role in making environmental justice a reality. 

The Division’s core mission includes the strong 

enforcement of civil and criminal environmental laws 

to ensure clean air, water, land, and other resources for the protection of human health and the 

environment for all Americans. ENRD seeks to integrate the principles of environmental justice 

into its work to ensure that 

all communities enjoy a fair 

and impartial application of 

the nation’s environmental 

and natural resources laws 

and that communities 

affected by violations of 

the law have a meaningful 

opportunity for input in the 

consideration of appropriate 

remedies. 

“Because we all deserve the chance to live, learn, and 

work in healthy communities, my Administration 

is fi ghting to restore environments in our country’s 

hardest-hit places. . . . . While the past two decades have seen 

great progress, much work remains. In the years to come, we 

will continue to work with States, tribes, and local leaders to 

identify, aid, and empower areas most strained by pollution. By 

eff ectively implementing environmental laws, we can improve 

quality of life and expand economic opportunity in overburdened 

communities.” 

—President Barack Obama, February 10, 2014 Presidential 

Proclamation: 20th Anniversary of Executive Order 12898 on 

Environmental Justice

Signing of Executive Order 12898 

Photo Courtesy of William J. Clinton Presidential Library

16 | environmental justice
EPA Photo

EPA Photo

environmental justice | 17
In fi scal year 2014, the Division continued to achieve meaningful environmental justice results. 

This chapter is divided into two sections. First, it describes ENRD’s continued collaboration 

with other federal agencies and Department components. Second, it highlights the Division’s 

actions to further environmental justice through its own work and litigation docket.

Collaborative Work with Other Federal Agencies and 

Department Components in Fiscal Year 2013 

Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG)

Executive Order 12898 established the EJ IWG and identifi ed the participating federal agency 

members. The federal government and the public celebrated the 20th anniversary of the 

issuance of the Executive Order and the creation of the EJ IWG in February 2014. Chaired by 

EPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the formation of the EJ IWG 

highlights the importance of federal agencies working collaboratively to address environmental 

justice concerns. The EJ IWG works to facilitate the active involvement of all federal agencies 

in implementing Executive Order 12898 by minimizing and mitigating disproportionate 

negative impacts on overburdened communities and fostering environmental, public health, and 

economic benefi ts for all Americans. 

Through its work with the EJ IWG, the Division has taken a leadership role in ensuring a 

coordinated federal response to environmental justice issues. Representatives from ENRD 

regularly participate in senior staff-level meetings of the EJ IWG and identify ways the 

Department can support and further the EJ IWG’s work. Senior leadership in ENRD attended 

several EJ IWG meetings in 2014. On November 18, 2014, EPA Chief of Staff Gwendolyn 

Keyes Fleming hosted a special meeting of the EJ IWG senior leadership team and agency 

chiefs of staff. The meeting focused 

on strengthening coordination on 

environmental justice projects and 

activities across federal agencies. It 

also provided an overview of EPA 

Administrator Gina McCarthy’s 

planned Cabinet-level meeting on 

environmental justice, tentatively 

scheduled for 2015.

Implementing the Interagency Memorandum on Environmental Justice 

In 2011, the Department of Justice joined 16 other federal agencies and White House offi ces in 

signing a Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898 

(MOU). The Division played an important leadership role in the development of the MOU and 

continues to play an important role in its implementation. The MOU, among other things, 

identifi es four specifi c areas that agencies should focus on when carrying out their environmental justice strategies and other efforts: (1) implementation of NEPA; (2) implementation 

of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (Title VI); (3) addressing impacts from 

climate change; and (4) addressing impacts from commercial transportation and supporting 

infrastructure.

DOJ Website

18 | environmental justice
EJ IWG NEPA Committee 

Over the past year, the Division’s Natural Resources Section continued its active participation 

on the NEPA Committee established by the EJ IWG in May 2012. The NEPA Committee seeks 

to encourage agencies to use their NEPA processes as a vehicle for incorporating environmental justice principles into decision making. NEPA requires federal agencies to determine 

the environmental consequences of their proposed actions before they act. Additionally, 

when a proposed action is likely to have a signifi cant impact on the environment, NEPA 

requires agencies to provide the public with an opportunity to access public information about, 

and participate in the decision making process for, the proposed action. The Presidential 

Memorandum accompanying Executive Order 12898 emphasizes the importance of the NEPA 

process in focusing federal agencies “on the environmental and human health conditions in 

minority communities and low-income communities with the goal of achieving environmental 

justice.” 

The NEPA Committee meets on a monthly basis and employs a robust and innovative process 

to fulfi ll its purpose. The co-chairs of the NEPA Committee and its two subcommittees 

are from the Department of Justice, EPA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, while working groups are chaired by EPA, 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the 

U.S. Department of Energy. Seven other federal agencies actively participate in the NEPA 

Committee’s work. 

In fi scal year 2014, ENRD’s Natural Resources Section continued to work with the NEPA 

Committee’s Education Subcommittee and Community of Practice Subcommittee. NRS serves 

as a co-chair of the Education Subcommittee, which is developing a training product that will 

help federal agencies train NEPA practitioners on best practices for incorporating environmental justice into the NEPA process. The Education Subcommittee expects to fi nalize the 

training product in the coming year. 

The training product is a companion to a document entitled “Promising Practices on EJ 

Methodologies in NEPA Reviews,” which is being developed by the Community of Practice 

Subcommittee. The document will provide NEPA practitioners with a set of methodologies to 

use in incorporating environmental justice principles into agency NEPA analyses. The Natural 

Resources Section provided signifi cant input into the methodologies document, which the 

Community of Practice Subcommittee expects to fi nalize in the coming year.

EJ IWG Title VI Committee 

ENRD has participated regularly in the Title VI Committee, which is chaired by the Department’s Civil Rights Division. The Title VI Committee seeks to ensure consistent enforcement 

of Title VI across the federal family and to encourage the use of this critical enforcement tool to 

address environmental justice issues. In 2014, the EJ IWG launched a Title VI webpage.

environmental justice | 19
Climate Change 

On June 25, 2013, President Obama announced his plan to cut carbon pollution and prepare 

the United States for the impacts of climate change. The President’s Climate Action Plan calls 

upon federal agencies to “continue to identify innovative ways to help our most vulnerable 

communities prepare for and recover from the impacts of climate change.” This focus on 

building capacity in low-income, minority, and tribal communities for climate adaptation comes 

from a number of policy mandates from both the White House and individual agency leaders. 

For example, Executive Order 13653 (Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate 

Change), which was signed by President Obama on November 1, 2013, called for the federal 

government to build on recent progress and pursue new strategies to improve the nation’s 

preparedness and resilience. 

ENRD represents the Department of Justice on the interagency Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, which was established by Executive Order 13653. In 2014, representatives 

from ENRD and the Department’s Justice Management Division met to discuss the Department’s climate adaptation goals as they relate to environmental justice.

Annual Reporting 

The Department issued its 2014 Implementation Progress Report on Environmental Justice. 

This report details the signifi cant efforts and results achieved by the Department to further the 

goals of environmental justice during fi scal year 2014. The Division contributed signifi cantly to 

the accomplishments discussed in the report. 

 

Environmental Justice Strategy and Guidance 

In 2014, the Department updated and reissued its Environmental Justice Strategy and its 

Environmental Justice Guidance. The Department initially prepared these documents in 1995 

following the issuance of Executive Order 12898, and has made them available to the public on 

the Internet since 2011 (www.justice.gov/ej). The Department solicited public comments on the 

documents in 2012, and ENRD played a critical role in the 2014 revisions. 

The overarching goal of the 2014 revisions is to ensure that the Department’s approach to 

addressing environmental justice makes a meaningful difference in overburdened communities. 

First, the documents provide a clearer explanation of the internal operating structure of the 

Department regarding environmental justice. The structure includes a Director of Environmental Justice in the Offi ce of the Associate Attorney General, a Senior Advisory Council chaired 

by the Associate Attorney General, an Environmental Justice Working Group chaired by the 

Director of Environmental Justice, and Environmental Justice Coordinators. 

Second, the Department updated the Strategy to refl ect the addition of three Department 

components to the Senior Advisory Council and Environmental Justice Working Group: the 

Access to Justice Initiative; the Offi ce of Legal Policy; and the Offi ce of Tribal Justice. Third, 

the Department revised the Strategy and the Guidance, where appropriate, to replace the phrase 

“federally recognized tribes” with language that encompasses American Indians, Alaska Natives, 

and Native Hawaiians. The change in terminology better refl ects the breadth of circumstance 

under which environmental justice concerns may arise. Finally, the Department revised the 

20 | environmental justice
Guidance to include updated examples of potential “environmental justice matters” to assist 

Department employees in implementing the Strategy.

Increasing Communication and Awareness across Federal Agencies 

The Division also continued to collaborate with other federal agencies to increase the dialogue 

on and awareness of environmental justice issues. A cross-agency group of career attorneys that 

ENRD, along with EPA’s Offi ce of General Counsel, organized in fi scal year 2011 remained an 

important vehicle for increasing communication and awareness. In fi scal year 2014, the group 

(known as “Law Leaders on Environmental Justice”) continued to serve as an important forum 

for open dialogue, continuing education, and informal counseling among the federal agencies on 

environmental justice issues such as legal training. 

The Division assisted other federal agencies in providing environmental justice training to their 

staff. For example, in September 2014, the Department participated in a three-day environmental conference hosted by the Department of Agriculture‘s Offi ce of General Counsel. Nearly 

an entire day of the conference was devoted to environmental justice issues. ENRD’s Environmental Justice Coordinator participated in a panel discussion on environmental justice along 

with EPA’s Director of the Offi ce of Environmental Justice, the Department of Agriculture’s 

Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, and also its Deputy Under 

Secretary for Rural Development. Several attorneys from ENRD’s Natural Resources Section 

also participated in panel discussions, and a number of other Division attorneys attended. In 

addition, the Natural Resources Section provided training on environmental justice issues. 

ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section provided training to criminal environmental investigators at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. The training, organized by the 

EPA Criminal Investigation Division and attended by state investigators from throughout the 

country, addressed how to identify cases that raise environmental justice issues and what steps 

may appropriately be taken to seek to identify and address such issues during case investigation, 

prosecution, and resolution. Also, the Environmental Crimes Section and EPA provided presentations on environmental justice at the March 2014 meeting of the Department’s Environmental 

Crimes Policy Committee. The EPA presentation focused on implementation of environmental 

justice principles by its Offi ce of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training. 

Also, Land Acquisition Section attorneys, appraisers, and support staff participated in training 

on federal agencies’ prelitigation responsibilities to assist landowners affected by eminent 

domain. The Land Acquisition Section remains committed to incorporating environmental 

justice principles into its condemnation work, including by seeking to ensure that landowners 

have equal access to justice and receive due process when private property is taken for public use 

by eminent domain. The Section also discusses environmental justice concerns with agencies 

that are considering whether to ask the Section to fi le condemnation actions on their behalf. 

Participating in Community and Other Outreach 

The Division has continued to help the EJ IWG fulfi ll one of its critical responsibilities under 

EO 12898: holding public meetings for the purposes of fact-fi nding, receiving public comments, 

and conducting inquiries concerning environmental justice. 

environmental justice | 21
On September 4, 2014, the EJ IWG held a public meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota, for 

tribes and indigenous communities. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate an interactive 

discussion and create a supportive environment for exploring how the federal government can 

strengthen interagency collaboration on environmental justice and work more effectively with 

tribes and indigenous communities. Attorneys from ENRD and representatives from ten other 

federal agencies participated in a dialogue with tribal leaders, tribal environmental program 

personnel, indigenous community groups, students, and community stakeholders. There were 

approximately 69 attendees, which included representatives from 14 different tribes. EPA has 

posted a summary of the meeting at: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/

resources/publications/interagency/iwg-2014-09-04-meeting-summary.pdf. 

The Division will continue to work with the EJ IWG to conduct listening sessions with 

communities to discuss federal environmental justice strategies and solicit recommendations 

on how agency efforts can be improved. Through these sessions we gain valuable feedback 

directly from communities that often helps us improve how we integrate environmental justice 

principles into our work. We look forward to continuing our participation in them. 

In addition to community outreach conducted with the EJ IWG and in the context of specifi c 

cases, the Department utilizes other forums to hear from stakeholder communities. For 

example, ENRD representatives attended public meetings of the EPA National Environmental 

Justice Advisory Council held in February 2014 in Denver, Colorado, and in October 2014 in 

Arlington, Virginia. These public meetings continue to afford communities the opportunity to 

comment on environmental justice issues of concern to them. 

ENRD, the Department’s Offi ce of Tribal Justice, and U.S. Attorneys’ Offi ces continue to engage 

in an unprecedented level of community outreach to ensure that the Department understands 

and is responding to community concerns. This outreach is conducted in many different 

forums, including meetings organized by communities, events organized by senior Department 

offi cials, EJ IWG listening sessions and community calls, environmental justice conferences, and 

meetings or calls relating to particular cases. 

In addition, ENRD and U.S. Attorneys’ Offi ces have worked with other components in the 

Department, federal agency partners, and community representatives to otherwise engage 

in community outreach, including outreach to tribes. Tracy Toulou, Director of the Offi ce of 

Tribal Justice, Sam Hirsch, ENRD Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and Brendon 

Johnson, the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota, co-chair the Department’s Indian 

Civil Litigation and Policy Working Group. The working group discusses environmental justice 

issues, relevant litigation, and opportunities and plans for outreach at its monthly meetings. 

Attorney General Holder, and other Department senior staff, also spoke about environmental 

justice on a number of occasions. 

• On July 24, 2014, Ellen Mahan, Deputy Chief in ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement 

Section spoke about environmental justice on a panel on “Civil and Criminal Environmental 

Enforcement Update” at an American Bar Association program entitled “At the Forefront: 

An Insider’s Perspective on Environmental Enforcement and Litigation.” 

• On July 29, 2014, Quentin Pair, ENRD trial attorney, and Daria Neal, Deputy Section Chief 

for the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section of the Civil Rights Division, partici22 | environmental justice
pated on an environmental justice panel at a National Bar Association conference in Atlanta, 

Georgia. Cynthia Ferguson, ENRD’s Environmental Justice Coordinator, also attended the 

panel discussion. 

• At a September 2014 meeting with U.S. Attorneys, ENRD Deputy Assistant Attorney General 

Bruce Gelber discussed environmental justice issues. 

• On December 3, 2014, Attorney General Holder spoke about environmental justice during 

remarks presented at the White House Tribal Nations Conference.

Training and Increasing Awareness within ENRD 

During fi scal year 2014, ENRD remained committed to increasing awareness and understanding 

of environmental justice issues among its attorneys and staff. For example, in October 2014, 

ENRD provided an overview of environmental justice at its annual training for new attorneys. 

The Division also held brown-bag sessions for interns during the year to discuss the Department’s environmental justice efforts. 

In addition to Division-wide training, ENRD’s sections provided training regarding environmental justice in the context of each section’s work. For example, at the 2014 Environmental 

Enforcement Section retreat, attorneys from the section gave a presentation on environmental 

justice and enforcement issues in Indian country. The Natural Resources Section continued to 

ensure that its attorneys and staff are aware of and adept at identifying environmental justice 

issues and considering environmental justice principles as they carry out their work. In 2014, 

the Natural Resources Section provided training on environmental justice during a three-day 

“Natural Resources Law for Litigators” course at the National Advocacy Center. The majority 

of the Natural Resources Section’s attorneys attended the course, as well as Assistant U.S. 

Attorneys from across the country. 

The Natural Resources Section also conducted a training session for the Civil Rights Division’s 

Federal Coordination and Compliance Section, focusing on NEPA and potential areas of overlap 

with Title VI. In return, the Federal Coordination and Compliance Section conducted a training 

session for the Natural Resources Section, providing an overview of Title VI and civil rights 

litigation while also discussing opportunities for collaboration on environmental justice issues. 

Integrating Environmental Justice Principles into ENRD 

Litigation and Outcomes 

Civil Enforcement of Federal Pollution Control Statutes and Prosecutions of 

Environmental Crimes

Through enforcement of the nation’s civil and criminal environmental laws, ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement and Environmental Crimes Sections and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offi ces seek to 

ensure that all communities enjoy the benefi t of a fair and even-handed application of the law, 

and have a meaningful opportunity for input in the consideration of appropriate remedies for 

violations of the law. The Department’s commitment to making a difference in overburdened 

environmental justice | 23
City of Columbia South Carolina, Wikipedia photo

communities is demonstrated in part through the results we have secured in civil and criminal 

enforcement actions. 

— On October 16, 2014, the United States lodged a consent decree in United States v. Metal 

Dynamics Detroit LLC (E.D. Mich.), that will resolve violations of the Clean Air Act arising at 

the defendant’s scrap metal recycling facility in Detroit, Michigan. During the negotiations, 

Department attorneys and EPA, with the assistance of the Department’s Community Relations 

Service and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, conducted community 

outreach regarding the alleged violations, potential remedies, and possible supplemental 

environmental projects (SEPs). Under the proposed consent decree, Metal Dynamics will 

implement a Clean Air Act compliance program at its facility to eliminate the harmful release of 

chlorofl uorocarbons (CFCs) and modify its torch cutting of metals to keep particulate emissions 

at or below legal limits. Metal Dynamics will also pay a civil penalty of $110,000 and implement 

two SEPs valued at $400,000. The fi rst SEP is a program that will provide education and 

economic incentives to scrap metal suppliers in an effort to reduce the venting of CFC-containing gases to the atmosphere. The second SEP consists of the purchase and use of a portable 

particulate matter control device. This SEP could advance the development of technology and 

practices to reduce emissions of particulate matter at non-stack sources like the defendant’s. 

— In United States v. Atlantic Richfi eld Company (N.D. Ind.), the court approved a consent 

decree on October 28, 2014, concerning the U.S. Smelter and Lead Refi nery Superfund 

Site. This case arose from the need to address lead and arsenic contamination in the soils of 

residential properties in East Chicago. Under this consent decree, EPA will be addressing 

this contamination, including in an area where housing is provided for low-income residents 

(primarily African-American and Hispanic American). EPA conducted extensive outreach to the 

communities in developing and selecting 

the remedy. 

— On May 21, 2014, the District of South 

Carolina approved a consent decree in 

United States & South Carolina v. City of 

Columbia (D.S.C.), resolving violations 

of the Clean Water Act stemming from 

overfl ows of sanitary sewers. The 

Department, EPA, and the South Carolina 

Department of Health and Environmental Control worked jointly with the City of Columbia 

in implementing extensive outreach. With input from the 

Department and EPA, the City conducted a survey that asked neighborhood, environmental, and 

civil groups about their experiences with sanitary sewer overfl ows, for views on several potential 

SEPs, and for ideas for ways to reduce sanitary sewer overfl ows. 

The City received 51 responses. The majority of the survey respondents supported restoration 

of stream banks to reduce fl ooding. In addition, the Department and EPA contacted community 

organizations and individuals who had been identifi ed as representing minority and/or 

low-income neighborhoods. Two of these contacts identifi ed specifi c stream segments as the 

cause of fl ooding in their neighborhoods. Ultimately, the City agreed to spend $1 million on a 

SEP to restore segments of three streams in areas with environmental justice concerns, two of 

which were areas identifi ed by the citizens. 

24 | environmental justice
environmental justice | 25

The successful community outreach in this case helped direct the parties’ attention to environmental justice considerations that might otherwise have been overlooked. Those considerations 

were easily incorporated into appropriate SEPs and should have a tangible, positive impact on 

several low-income, minority neighborhoods. 

Additionally, the consent decree contains more robust public participation provisions than 

consent decrees addressing sanitary sewer overfl ows have traditionally contained. Typically, a 

defendant like the City makes information about compliance with consent decree requirements 

available to the public at a library and also posts the information on a website, but interested 

parties must proactively check these locations for updates. For the fi rst time in this kind of 

consent decree, the City will provide email notifi cation to all interested parties before submitting 

information about consent decree compliance to EPA and the South Carolina Department of 

Health and Environmental Control. For key deliverables, the City will have a formal 30-day 

comment period. The City will also post submitted and approved copies of deliverables on its 

website so the public can track the City’s progress in complying with the consent decree. 

— As part of the settlement reached 

in United States v. Flint Hills 

Resources Port Arthur, LLC (E.D. 

Tex.), the defendant agreed to reduce 

emissions of harmful air pollutants 

in an overburdened community in 

Port Arthur, Texas. In the consent 

decree lodged on March 20, 2014, 

Flint Hills Resources agreed to 

implement innovative technologies to control harmful emissions 

from industrial fl ares and leaking 

equipment at the company’s 

chemical plant in Port Arthur, 

Texas. This settlement is part of 

EPA’s national effort to advance 

environmental justice by protecting 

communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution. 

Once fully implemented, EPA 

estimates that the settlement will 

reduce emissions of volatile organic 

compounds, including benzene and 

other hazardous air pollutants, by an 

estimated 1,880 tons per year, and will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by approximately 

69,000 tons per year. 

The settlement requires Flint Hills to operate state-of-the-art equipment to recover and recycle 

waste gases and to ensure that gases sent to fl ares are burned with 98 percent effi ciency. 

The company has spent approximately $16 million to implement these required controls on 

industrial fl ares. In addition, the company will spend $28 million to reduce “fugitive” pollutant 

emissions that may leak from valves, pumps, and other equipment. Under the consent decree, 

Port Arthur Refi nery, Wikipedia photo
26 | environmental justice

the company must monitor leaks more frequently, implement more aggressive repair practices, 

adopt innovative new practices designed to prevent leaks, and replace valves with new “low 

emissions” valves or use packing material to reduce leaks. 

To further mitigate pollution impacting the community, the company will spend $2 million on 

a retrofi t or replacement project that is expected to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and 

particulate matter by a combined 85 tons, and emissions of carbon monoxide by 39 tons, over 

the next 15 years. The company will also spend $350,000 to purchase and install technologies 

to reduce energy demand in low-income homes. 

Finally, Flint Hills agreed to make its fence line monitoring data available online to the public. 

For the past several years, Flint Hills has operated a system to monitor the ambient levels of the 

hazardous air pollutants benzene and 1,3-butadiene at the boundaries of the facility, also known 

as the “fence line.” The company has used the information collected to identify, and reduce 

emissions from, sources of pollution for the benefi t of communities living near the facility. 

— On November 6, 2014, the United States lodged a consent decree in United States & 

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality v. PCS Nitrogen Fertilizer, L.P., AA Sulfuric, 

Inc., & White Springs Agricultural Chemicals, Inc. (M.D. La.). The defendants are three 

subsidiaries of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, the world’s largest fertilizer producer. 

Under the settlement, the companies will take steps to reduce harmful air emissions at eight 

production plants. The settlement resolves claims that the subsidiaries violated the Clean Air 

Act when they modifi ed facilities in ways that released excess sulfur dioxide into surrounding 

communities. 

The settlement requires the three companies to install, upgrade, and operate state-of-the-art 

pollution reduction measures. It also requires them to install emissions monitors at eight 

sulfuric acid plants at facilities in Geismar, Louisiana (one plant), White Springs, Florida 

(four plants), and Aurora, North Carolina (three plants). The three companies will spend an 

estimated $50 million on these measures, and will pay a $1.3 million civil penalty. 

The settlement also includes a SEP that is expected to cost between $2.5 and $4 million and 

to provide important public health and environmental benefi ts. The SEP will protect the 

community around a nitric acid plant in Geismar, Louisiana, by requiring one of the subsidiaries to install and operate equipment at the plant to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and 

ammonia. The SEP refl ects EPA’s commitment to advancing environmental justice by reducing 

the disproportionate environmental impacts on communities near industrial facilities. EPA 

identifi ed the area surrounding the Geismar facility as a community with environmental justice 

concerns, in part because of high risk indicators for respiratory hazards and cancer. 

The SEP addresses these concerns in several ways. Since ammonia is a toxic lung irritant, 

reducing emissions of ammonia benefi ts public health. In addition, since nitrogen oxides react 

in the ambient air to form ozone and fi ne particulate matter, implementation of the SEP should 

help reduce ambient air concentrations of these two pollutants. Ozone is a particular concern, 

because the area is not in compliance with an EPA ambient air quality standards for ozone 

In total, EPA expects that the companies will reduce harmful emissions by over 13,000 tons 

per year, which includes approximately 12,600 tons per year of sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide, 

the predominant pollutant emitted from sulfuric acid plants, has numerous adverse effects on 
environmental justice | 27

human health and is a signifi cant contributor 

to acid rain, smog, and haze. For example, like 

nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide reacts in the 

ambient air to form particulate matter, which 

can cause severe respiratory and cardiovascular 

impacts and premature death. 

This settlement is part of EPA’s national 

enforcement initiative to control harmful 

emissions from large sources of pollution under 

the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Signifi cant 

Deterioration program. 

— On May 28, 2014, the court approved a settlement that will benefi t low-income and minority 

populations in United States, Alabama, & Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality v. 

El Dorado Chemical Co., Cherokee Nitrogen Co., & Pryor Chemical Co. (W.D. Okla.). In this 

settlement, LSB Industries Inc., the largest merchant manufacturer of concentrated nitric acid 

in North America, and four of its subsidiaries, agreed to reduce harmful emissions of nitrogen 

oxides at ten nitric acid manufacturing plants in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. 

Under the settlement, the companies must meet emission limits that are among the lowest in 

the nation for the industry. The companies also must continuously monitor emissions and make 

any necessary operational improvements, such as installing new pollution controls or upgrading 

current controls, to ensure they continue to meet the limits. The companies estimate that it will 

cost between $6.3 and $11.7 million to implement all of these measures. 

EPA estimates that implementation of the measures will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides 

by more than 800 tons per year. This will directly benefi t surrounding communities, which 

include low-income and minority populations living near the Arkansas and Texas plants. The 

companies will also pay a total penalty of $725,000 to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air 

Act and Oklahoma state law. 

In addition, the companies will spend $150,000 to remediate and reforest ten acres of land with 

acidifi ed soils located near El Dorado, Arkansas. Nitrogen oxide emissions, such as those from 

nitric acid plants, can contribute to soil acidifi cation. The project will help to minimize erosion, 

reduce stormwater runoff, improve habitat for wildlife, and capture carbon dioxide, one of the 

greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. 

— Residents of a low-income community near a coke plant in Tonawanda, New York, will 

breathe cleaner air because of the results achieved in United States v. Tonawanda Coke Corp.

(W.D.N.Y.). Tonawanda Coke Corporation, one of the defendants, operates a coke facility 

in Tonawanda, New York. For approximately 19 years, the company operated a coke oven 

without the required Clean Air Act permit. The oven emitted gas containing several chemical 

compounds, including benzene, which is a carcinogen. 

The other defendant, Mark Kamholz, was the company’s environmental manager. Prior to an 

EPA inspection in April 2009, Kamholz instructed another employee to conceal the operation of 

this unpermitted source from inspectors. In addition, the company operated its quench towers 

without baffl es in violation of a Clean Air Act permit. The permit required the baffl es to reduce 

Acid Rain, Wikipedia photo
28 | environmental justice

the amount of particulate matter that escaped 

into the atmosphere during coke processing. 

The company also recycled hazardous waste 

without a permit, in violation of the Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act, and also without 

appropriate safeguards to prevent releases into the 

environment. 

After a fi ve-week trial in 2013, a jury found that 

the company committed eleven violations of the 

Clean Air Act over a fi ve-year period and three 

violations of the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act over a 19-year period. The jury also 

found Kamholz guilty of eleven counts of violating 

the Clean Air Act, one count of obstruction of 

justice, and three counts of violating the Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act. 

For years, people living in the low-income 

community near the plant were forced to breathe 

air the company had caused to be contaminated 

with benzene and particulates. Prior to sentencing, community members submitted 128 impact 

statements under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. 

On March 19, 2014, a federal judge sentenced the company to pay a $12.5 million fi ne, to make 

a $12.2 million community service payment, and to serve a fi ve-year term of probation. The 

community service payment will fund an epidemiological study and an air and soil study to help 

determine the extent of health and environmental impacts of the coke facility on the Tonawanda 

community. Kamholz was sentenced to one year of incarceration, followed by one year of 

supervised release. He also will pay a $20,000 fi ne and perform 100 hours of community 

service. 

— In United States v. Coventry Wrecking (D.R.I.), Coventry Wrecking pleaded guilty to one 

count of making false statements to federal offi cials, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, and was 

sentenced to fi ve years of probation and a $10,000 fi ne in October 2013. This prosecution 

arose from the demolition of a site located in a lower-middle income section of Coventry, 

Rhode Island, a former mill town. Coventry Wrecking demolished an old K-Mart and produced 

to regulators fabricated inspection reports that falsely represented that the facility had been 

inspected and found not to contain asbestos. This was not the case, as a later inspection 

detected asbestos-containing material at a nearby related site. The demolition thus posed a 

threat to workers and others exposed to airborne particles, including the community where the 

site was located. 

Litigation and Negotiations on Behalf of Tribes and Tribal Communities

The Division’s commitment to environmental justice also is demonstrated by the results we have 

secured in other contexts, including through litigation and negotiations on behalf of tribes and 

tribal communities by the Division’s Wildlife and Marine Resources Section, Indian Resources 

Section, and Environmental Defense Section. 

Tonawanda Coke Site, NY State Dept. of Environmental 

Conservation
environmental justice | 29

— Land on the Wind River Indian Reservation that was lost due to illegal dike construction will 

be restored as a result of the enforcement action in United States v. John Hubenka & LeClair 

Irrigation District (D. Wyo.). In 2004, John Hubenka was prosecuted under the Clean Water 

Act for the construction of several dikes in the Wind River. At the location where the dikes 

were built, the Wind River separated Hubenka’s land from the Wind River Indian Reservation, 

which is located in a low-income area. The dikes altered the fl ow of the river, causing it to go 

more deeply into the Reservation, carving out an area exceeding 300 acres of tribal property. 

Following his conviction, the court sentenced Hubenka to probation and ordered him, as a 

condition of probation, to remove the dikes and restore the riverbed under the supervision of 

EPA. Hubenka was later released from probation without removing the dikes. 

In 2010, ENRD’s Environmental Defense Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce for the District 

of Wyoming fi led a civil action against Hubenka, seeking a penalty and an order compelling him 

to remove the dikes and restore the site. The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes 

intervened as plaintiffs. Hubenka’s employer, LeClair Irrigation District, was later joined as a 

defendant. After a bench trial, the court found in favor of the United States and the Tribes. On 

October 22, 2014, the court ordered Hubenka and the LeClair Irrigation District to immediately 

remove the dikes, to restore the river’s fl ow pattern, and to restore the surrounding fl oodplain 

ecology. The court ordered that lands lost to the Tribes as a result of dike construction must 

be restored. The court imposed a $350,000 penalty against Hubenka and a $250,000 penalty 

against LeClair. 

— Attorneys in the Wildlife and Marine Resources Section helped the Confederated Tribes of the 

Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (“Warm Springs Tribes”) protect off-reservation hunting 

rights. The Division attorneys met with representatives from the Warm Springs Tribal Council 

and the State of Oregon on the reservation to discuss whether the Warm Springs Tribes had 

relinquished off-reservation hunting rights in a treaty executed in 1865. With input from the 

Division attorneys, the Warm Springs Tribes and the State reached a short-term agreement for 

the 2014 hunting season, under which the Tribes will regulate their own off-reservation hunting 

and tribal members will have more hunting opportunities than they had prior to the execution 

of the agreement. The parties also agreed to continue working on a long-term agreement, and 

Division attorneys continue to participate in mediation sessions. 

— ENRD’s Indian Resources Section successfully defended the reservation boundaries of the 

Omaha Tribe of Nebraska in Smith v. Parker (D. Neb.). The Village of Pender, Nebraska, and 

Pender business owners sued the Tribe in federal district court claiming that an 1882 act of 

congress diminished the western part of the Omaha Reservation, removing over 50,000 acres 

from the Reservation. After extensive expert discovery and litigation in the Omaha Tribal Court, 

that court held that the 1882 legislation did not result in diminishment. Federal district court 

litigation ensued, and the district court ordered the parties to fi le cross-motions for summary 

judgment. The State of Nebraska intervened on behalf of the plaintiffs, and the United States, 

which had fi led an amicus brief supporting the Tribe in the tribal court, intervened on behalf of 

the Tribe. 

On February 13, 2014, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States 

and the Omaha Tribe, holding that the 1882 legislation did not diminish the boundaries of the 

Omaha Reservation. The court analyzed the text of the 1882 legislation, its legislative history 

and the circumstances surrounding passage, and the subsequent treatment and demographic 
30 | environmental justice

history of the disputed area, concluding that none of it demonstrated the requisite clear congressional intent necessary to alter the boundaries of the Reservation. The case was appealed to the 

Eighth Circuit, which affi rmed the district court’s decision on December 19, 2014. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce for the District of Nebraska supported ENRD’s efforts to defend the 

Reservation boundaries. In addition, EPA had long taken the position that the area in dispute 

remained within the boundaries of the Reservation. The favorable district court determination affi rmed EPA’s position that it has authority to issue needed permits and that EPA and the 

Tribe, not the state, are responsible for ensuring protection of the environment on the Omaha 

Reservation lands at issue.

Defensive Litigation 

More than half of ENRD’s work consists of defending the actions of federal agencies. The 

Division has worked to incorporate the principles of environmental justice into our handling of 

these cases as well. ENRD works closely with agencies to identify defensive cases that present 

environmental justice concerns, even where the complaint may not clearly assert a specifi c claim 

that the agency failed to address environmental justice issues adequately. 

More broadly, in the context of litigation, the Division actively evaluates the depth of the 

agency’s analysis and handling of environmental justice issues, as well as the completeness of 

the decision making effort in addressing environmental justice concerns. Indeed, rather than 

merely defending agency analysis of environmental justice issues and decision making, ENRD 

proactively looks for ways to address concerns of environmental justice communities outside of 

the traditional litigation context. 

The cases below were handled by ENRD’s Natural Resources Section. 

— In Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope v. Gottlieb (W.D. Wis.), ENRD 

represented the U.S. Department of Transportation in a challenge to a federally funded infrastructure project focused on upgrading and increasing the capacity of the “Zoo Interchange” in 

western Milwaukee County. The Zoo Interchange is a key link in the local, state, and national 

transportation network. Community-based organizations brought a challenge under NEPA, 

including a claim that the agency violated NEPA by failing to comply with Title VI of the 1964 

Civil Rights Act. The district court found that NEPA does not provide an avenue through which 

the plaintiffs may seek to compel compliance with Title VI or implementing regulations. ENRD 

later participated in mediation sessions with the plaintiffs, two local community groups, and 

the relevant federal and state agencies. Through those efforts, ENRD was able to achieve a 

settlement that provided a number of important improvements in public transportation access 

and mitigation of traffi c congestion in affected communities, while still allowing this important 

infrastructure project to move forward. 

— In a number of related cases, ENRD continued to work collaboratively with the Los Angeles 

County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to defend challenges to three public rail transit 

projects to expand the public transit rail network in Los Angeles County. The projects will 

expand light rail transit into the minority and low-income Crenshaw community in south Los 

Angeles while improving access to the Los Angeles International Airport and decreasing traffi c 

congestion in and around communities throughout the Los Angeles area. In Japanese Village 

LLC v. Federal Transit Administration (C.D. Cal.), private landowners sued, in part, to prevent 
environmental justice | 31

National Park Service Logo, Wikipedia photo

the construction of a tunnel under their property. The FTA had decided to relocate the tunnel 

to that location to reduce the environmental justice impacts of the project on the Little Tokyo 

community. ENRD successfully defended the agency’s decision. 

— In Friends of De Reef Park v. National Park Service (D.S.C.), a case with environmental 

justice implications, ENRD worked with the National Park Service to address an affected 

minority community’s concerns about a decision of the agency. The decision approved a 

proposal to allow the City of Charleston, South Carolina, to transfer the functions of a park 

in a historically signifi cant, Civil Rights era, African-American neighborhood to another site 

over a mile away and to allow residential redevelopment of the original park. The plaintiff, a 

community organization that was formed to preserve the original 

park, brought the action against the Park Service and the South 

Carolina Parks Department, seeking declaratory and injunctive 

relief. The plaintiff alleged violations of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation 

Act, complaining that the Park Service’s decision was made without 

adequate public notice and opportunity for community input. After 

discussions with the plaintiff and the other parties, ENRD fi led a 

motion for a voluntary remand to allow the Park Service to conduct 

additional NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act analyses, 

with opportunity for public notice and comment. 

 

 

 

 
PROTECTING 

OUR NATION’S

AIR, LAND, AND WATER

The Division remains committed to civil and criminal enforcement of the nation’s environmental laws in order to address air pollution from the largest and most harmful sources; 

improve municipal wastewater and stormwater treatment and collection to keep raw sewage, 

contaminated stormwater, and other pollutants out of our nation’s rivers, streams, and lakes; 

compel, or recover the costs of, hazardous waste cleanup; and prosecute criminal violations 

of environmental and other federal laws. The Division continues to enforce applicable laws 

and regulations within existing authorities to ensure that we protect human health and the 

environment. 

Obtaining Company-Wide Relief for Environmental Violations

Company-wide case settlements benefi t everyone. Communities located near the facilities 

covered by these settlements benefi t from lower levels of pollution and, where appropriate, 

environmentally benefi cial projects. The government benefi ts through expedited resolution 

of historic and ongoing violations on an effi cient scale. Industry benefi ts because it gains 

the certainty of knowing that it is bringing its operations into compliance with the nation’s 

laws, avoids the cost and risk of additional litigation, and can obtain a negotiated schedule for 

important technological upgrades that is effi cient and consistent with company operations. 

— Lead-based paint was banned in 1978, but it still remains in many homes, apartments, and 

workplaces across the country. Lead exposure can cause a range of health problems, from 

behavioral disorders and learning disabilities to seizures and death. Young children are at 

the greatest risk because their nervous systems are still developing. It is also an occupational 

hazard. The federal Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule promulgated by EPA is 

designed to protect children and others who are vulnerable to exposure to lead dust. Renovators 

that are certifi ed under EPA’s rule are encouraged to display EPA’s “Lead-Safe” logo on worker’s 

uniforms, signs, and websites. Consumers can protect themselves by looking for the logo before 

hiring a home renovator. 

In United States v. Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc., Lowe’s, one of the nation’s largest home-improvement retailers, agreed to implement a comprehensive corporate-wide compliance program 

at more than 1,700 stores nationwide to ensure its contractors—such as window and carpet 

32 | air, land, and water
Elizabeth Janes photo

Erika Kranz photo

air, land, and water | 33 
installers—minimize the creation of lead dust during home renovation activities. The company 

also paid a $500,000 civil penalty, the largest ever for violations of the EPA rule. 

The government complaint alleged that Lowe’s failed to provide documentation showing that 

its contractors had been certifi ed by EPA, had been properly trained, had used lead-safe work 

practices, and had correctly used EPA-approved lead test kits at renovation sites. EPA’s investigation was prompted by tips and complaints submitted by the public. 

Lowe’s must implement a comprehensive compliance program to ensure that its contractors 

comply with the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule during renovations of any child-occupied facilities, such as day-care centers and schools, and any housing that was built before 

1978. For these projects, Lowe’s must contract only with EPA-certifi ed renovators, ensure 

they maintain certifi cation, and ensure they use lead-safe-work-practice checklists during 

renovations. In addition, Lowe’s must suspend anyone who is not operating in compliance with 

the rule, investigate all reports of potential noncompliance, and ensure that any violations are 

corrected. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois approved the 

settlement. 

— Hydrochlorofl uorocarbons (HCFCs) deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, which allows 

dangerous amounts of cancer-causing ultraviolet rays from the sun to reach the earth, leading 

to adverse health effects that include skin cancers, cataracts, and suppressed immune systems. 

Pursuant to the Montreal Protocol, the United States is implementing strict reductions of 

ozone-depleting refrigerants, including a production and importation ban by 2020 of HCFC-22, 

a common refrigerant used by supermarkets. HCFC-22 is also up to 1,800 times more potent 

than carbon dioxide in terms of global warming emissions. 

In United States v. Safeway Inc., 

Safeway, the nation’s second largest 

grocery store chain, agreed to 

implement a corporate-wide plan to 

signifi cantly reduce the emissions 

of ozone-depleting substances from 

refrigeration equipment at 659 

stores nationwide. The settlement 

involves the largest number of 

facilities ever under the Clean Air 

Act regulations governing refrigeration equipment. Implementation 

of the settlement is estimated to 

cost approximately $4.1 million. 

Safeway also paid a $600,000 civil 

penalty. 

The settlement resolves allegations that Safeway violated the Clean Air Act by failing to keep 

adequate records of the servicing of its refrigeration equipment, and by failing to promptly 

repair leaks of HCFC-22. Safeway will implement a corporate refrigerant-compliance-management system to comply with stratospheric ozone regulations. In addition, Safeway will reduce 

its corporate-wide average leak rate by 2015. The company also will reduce the aggregate 

Safeway, Wikipedia photo

34 | air, land, and water
refrigerant emissions at its highest-emission stores by 10 percent each year for three years. The 

United States District Court for the Northern District of California approved the settlement 

in fi scal year 2014. The measures that Safeway has committed to implement are expected to 

prevent the release of over 100,000 pounds of refrigerants. 

Reducing Air Pollution from Power Plants

The Coal-Fired Power Plant Initiative 

The Division has continued to litigate civil claims under the Clean Air Act against operators 

of coal-fi red electric power generating plants. Through fi scal year 2014, these matters have 

settled on terms that will reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by over 2.3 

million tons each year once the more than $15.5 

billion in required pollution controls are fully 

functioning. The violations at issue in these 

cases arose when companies engaged in major 

life-extension projects on aging facilities without 

installing required state-of-the-art pollution 

controls. The result was excess air pollution that 

degraded forests, damaged waterways, contaminated reservoirs, and otherwise adversely affected 

the health of our citizens, especially the elderly, the young, and asthma 

sufferers. 

These power plants emit, among other things, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate 

matter. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain and ground-level ozone, 

or smog. Both also can irritate the lungs and aggravate preexisting heart or lung conditions. 

Nitrogen oxides and particulate matter can cause serious respiratory illnesses and aggravate 

asthma. Particulate matter, for example, contains microscopic particles that can travel deep into 

the lungs and cause diffi culty breathing and decreased lung function. 

— In fi scal year 2014, the Division reached its 27th settlement under this power plant initiative. 

In United States v. Allete, Inc. d/b/a Minnesota Power, Minnesota Power agreed to install 

pollution control technology and meet stringent emission limits to reduce emissions of harmful 

air pollutants from the company’s three coal-fi red power plants located in Cohasset, Hoyt Lakes, 

and Schroeder, Minnesota. EPA expects that the actions required by the settlement will reduce 

harmful emissions by over 13,350 tons per year, including approximately 8,500 tons per year 

of sulfur dioxide. The company estimates that it will spend over $500 million to implement the 

required measures. 

The settlement, approved by the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, 

requires the company to pay a civil penalty of $1.4 million, of which, the State of Minnesota 

as co-plaintiff will receive $200,000. The settlement also requires that the company spend 

$4.2 million on projects that will benefi t the environment and local communities, including $2 

million to build a large-scale solar installation system to benefi t a local tribe, the Fond du Lac 

Band. The company also will provide between $500,000 and $1 million to replace, retrofi t, 

or upgrade wood-burning appliances to reduce pollution, and $200,000 to the National Park 

Service to restore wetlands at Voyageurs National Park. 

Voyageurs National Park, NPS photo

air, land, and water | 35 
Successfully Defending the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule 

The Division also defends EPA from challenges to its rules that it promulgates under the Clean 

Air Act to regulate certain greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change and other 

hazardous air pollutants that affect our health and environment. 

— In an April 2014 decision in EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, the United States Supreme 

Court reversed an adverse decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit 

that had vacated EPA’s 

Cross-State Air Pollution 

Rule (or Transport Rule). 

The Transport Rule is a 

complex Clean Air Act 

regulation designed to curb 

air pollution transported 

across state lines by 

reducing emissions of 

pollutants from power 

plants in upwind states. 

EPA expects that when fully 

implemented, it will provide 

$120 to $280 billion in 

annual health and environmental benefi ts. 

ENRD supported the Offi ce of the Solicitor 

General in connection with briefi ng and argument of the case before the Supreme Court. In 

a 6-2 decision, the Court ruled convincingly that it was appropriate for EPA to consider costs 

when allocating among multiple upwind states the responsibility to address the pollution burden 

imposed on a downwind state. Also, noting that upwind states had an opportunity to develop 

their own plans to address cross-state pollution prior to the promulgation of the Transport 

Rule, the Court held that the statute did not require EPA to provide states with an additional 

opportunity to develop such plans once the rule was promulgated. On remand from the Supreme 

Court, the D.C. Circuit lifted a previously imposed stay of the Transport Rule, and the rule 

became effective on January 1, 2015. The court heard argument on the relatively more discrete 

remaining challenges to the rule in February 2015. 

Preserving EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Permitting Authority for Stationary Sources 

— In its June 2014 decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, the Supreme Court held that 

greenhouse gas emissions, by themselves, cannot trigger Clean Air Act stationary source permit 

requirements, but that EPA can regulate greenhouse gas emissions from sources already subject 

to such permit requirements due to their emissions of other pollutants (so-called “anyway” 

sources). The Court pointed out that the result gave EPA a win on the most important issues, 

since the overwhelming majority of greenhouse gas emissions come from “anyway” sources. 

ENRD supported the Offi ce of the Solicitor General in briefi ng and arguing the case before the

Supreme Court. 

Cooling Towers of the Homer City Generating Station, Wikipedia photo

36 | air, land, and water
Defending EPA’s First-Ever Hazardous Air Pollutant Standards for Power Plants 

— In April 2014, ENRD won a sweeping decision from the D.C. Circuit, which rejected all 

challenges to EPA’s hazardous air pollutant standards for power plants in White Stallion Energy 

Center, LLC v. EPA. Power plants are the largest domestic sources of emissions of mercury, 

acid gases, and many other toxic metals. The standards, often referred to as the “Mercury and 

Air Toxics Standards,” will provide important public health benefi ts, including to minority and 

low-income populations that are disproportionately impacted by asthma and other serious 

health conditions. 

Upholding the standards in their entirety and rejecting numerous arguments advanced by 

industry, states, and environmental groups, the court endorsed EPA’s threshold fi nding that 

such regulation was “appropriate and necessary” to protect the public from identifi ed health 

hazards, and rejected various additional challenges to that threshold fi nding. The court also 

rejected a multitude of separate attacks on EPA’s decisions concerning standard levels and 

subcategories. The Supreme Court subsequently granted certiorari on the “appropriate and 

necessary” issue, and heard argument on March 25, 2015. 

Continuing Defense of EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Rulemaking Process 

— In January 2014, EPA proposed a rule under the Clean Air Act that would set greenhouse gas 

emission standards for new power plants. In State of Nebraska v. EPA, the State of Nebraska 

sought to preempt that rulemaking, arguing that the rulemaking proposal was contrary to the 

Energy Policy Act of 2005. The State argued that the Energy Policy Act prohibits EPA from 

considering technologies receiving funding under the Act, such as carbon capture and storage 

technologies, in determining what technologies are “adequately demonstrated” for purposes of 

setting emission standards under the Clean Air Act. 

ENRD moved to dismiss the case, and in October 2014, the court issued a favorable decision 

granting that motion. The court held that EPA’s rulemaking proposal was not subject to judicial 

review under the Administrative Procedure Act because it was not a fi nal agency action, and 

that the State will have an adequate remedy because it can seek judicial review if and when EPA 

adopts a fi nal rule. The court also noted that the Energy Policy Act “only forbids the EPA from 

considering a given technology or level of emission reduction to be adequately demonstrated 

solely on the basis of federally-funded facilities. . . . In other words, such technology might be 

adequately demonstrated if that determination is based at least in part on non-federally-funded 

facilities.” 

air, land, and water | 37 
Flare, EES photo

38 | air, land, and water

Addressing Air Pollution from Oil Refi neries and Chemical 

Plants

Reduction in Pollution from Flares 

Improperly operated industrial fl ares, which are used to 

burn waste gases, can send hundreds of tons of hazardous 

air pollutants into the air. As a result, the Division is 

making a national effort to reduce air pollution from 

refi nery, petrochemical, and chemical fl ares. The goals are 

to have companies send less waste gas to fl ares, and, when 

gas must be sent, to have companies burn completely the 

harmful chemicals in the gas. As part of this effort, the 

Division concluded one innovative consent decree in fi scal 

year 2014. 

— The settlement in United States v. Shell Oil Co. resolved 

alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at a large refi nery 

and chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas. Our complaint 

alleged that the company improperly operated its 12 

steam-assisted fl aring devices in such a way that excess 

volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including benzene, 

and other hazardous air pollutants were emitted. Consistent with EPA’s focus on 

promoting innovative Next Generation compliance tools, Shell agreed to spend at least $115 

million to control harmful air pollution from industrial fl ares and other processes, and pay 

a $2.6 million civil penalty. Shell agreed to spend $1 million on a state-of-the-art system to 

monitor benzene levels at the facility fence line near a residential neighborhood and school and 

to make the data available to the public through a website. The company also will spend $100 

million on innovative technology to reduce harmful air pollution from industrial fl ares. Shell 

Oil’s agreement to recover and recycle waste gases at its chemical plant is the fi rst of its kind. 

Once fully implemented, the pollution controls required by the settlement will reduce emissions 

of sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds (including benzene), and other hazardous 

air pollutants by an estimated 4,550 tons or more per year. These controls also will reduce 

emissions of greenhouse gases by approximately 260,000 tons per year. 

In addition to reducing pollution from fl ares, Shell Oil will signifi cantly modify its wastewater 

treatment plant, replace and repair tanks as necessary, inspect tanks biweekly with an infrared 

camera to better identify potential integrity problems that may lead to leaks, and implement 

enhanced monitoring and repair practices at the benzene production unit. When fully 

implemented, these specifi c projects are estimated to cost between $15 and $60 million. The 

United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas approved the settlement in fi scal 

year 2014. 
Refi nery Initiative 

Under the permitting requirements 

of the Clean Air Act’s Prevention 

of Signifi cant Deterioration 

program, certain large industrial 

facilities making modifi cations that 

increase air pollutant emissions are 

required to install state-of-the-art 

air pollution controls. EPA investigations in various industries, including petroleum refi ning, reveal that many facilities fail to 

install pollution controls after modifi cations, causing them to emit pollutants that can impact 

air quality and public health. The Clean Air Act’s “new source performance standards” require 

additional control measures at refi neries. Enforcing these requirements reduces air pollution 

and ensures that facilities that are complying with the requirements are not at a competitive 

disadvantage. 

Since March 2000, the EPA has entered into 31 settlements with companies responsible for 90 

percent of the domestic petroleum refi ning capacity. These settlements cover 107 refi neries 

in 32 states and territories. Once the settlements are fully implemented, the companies will 

have reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and other pollutants by more 

than 360,000 tons per year. The settling refi ners have invested, or will invest, more than 

$6.5 billion in new pollution control technologies and have paid more than $93 million in 

penalties. In addition, the settlements reached to date account for more than $80 million in 

supplemental environmental projects. In fi scal year 2014, the Division concluded one new 

initiative settlement, imposed a penalty for violations of a prior settlement, imposed a penalty 

for violations of the benzene regulations that are a focus of the initiative, and obtained a 

commitment for major additional improvements at a refi nery covered by a prior settlement. 

— The latest settlement in the refi nery initiative was reached in United State v. Big West Oil, 

LLC, in which Big West Oil agreed to spend approximately $18 million to install emission 

controls at its refi nery near Salt Lake City, Utah, and to pay a $175,000 penalty, a portion 

of which was paid to the State of Utah, a co-plaintiff. Big West Oil also will invest $253,000 

to improve the monitoring and management of potential releases of hydrofl uoric acid at the 

facility. 

The settlement requires Big West Oil to install a state-of-the-art fl ue gas fi lter system to control 

emissions of particulate matter and to place ultra-low burners on four heaters and boilers to 

reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides. The company will also undertake measures to reduce 

sulfur dioxide emissions from the refi nery by, among other things, restricting hydrogen sulfi de 

in fuel gas and installing and operating a caustic scrubber system at the sulfur recovery plant. 

Big West Oil has agreed to make numerous upgrades to its leak detection and repair program, 

including the installation of low-leaking valves, and to enhance its waste operations to minimize 

or eliminate fugitive benzene emissions. In addition, the company will spend $253,000 on a 

supplemental environmental project to install a laser-detection system to detect leaks of hydrofl uoric acid at an alkylation unit. 

air, land, and water | 39 

Petroleum Refi nery, DOJ photo
When fully implemented, the controls and requirements under the agreement will reduce 

emissions of sulfur dioxide by approximately 158 tons per year, nitrogen oxides by approximately 32 tons per year, and particulate matter by approximately 36 tons per year. Additional 

reductions of emissions of volatile and hazardous pollutants, such as benzene, are expected as a 

result of compliance with leak detection and repair requirements. 

The reduction in pollutants will benefi t communities near the refi nery, which include signifi cant 

minority and low-income populations. The refi nery is also located in an area designated as 

nonattainment for an EPA ambient air quality standard for fi ne particles. The United States 

District Court for the District of Utah approved the settlement in fi scal year 2014. 

— In United States v. Total Petrochemicals USA, Total Petrochemicals agreed to pay an $8.75 

million penalty for failing to comply with the terms of a 2007 settlement regarding its Port 

Arthur, Texas, refi nery. Between 2007 and 2011, the company violated numerous requirements 

of the settlement, including by failing to comply with emissions limits for benzene, a harmful air 

pollutant. The company also failed to analyze the cause of, or to perform corrective actions to 

address, over 70 incidents involving emissions of hazardous gases from fl aring. 

The earlier 2007 settlement required that Total Petrochemicals pay a $2.9 million penalty, make 

upgrades to its facility, upgrade leak detection and repair practices, and implement programs 

to minimize fl aring. The earlier settlement also required the company to comply with a limit on 

benzene emissions that was 30 percent lower than the federal limit. 

The settlement in fi scal year 2014 requires Total Petrochemicals to comply with that lower 

benzene emissions limit for an additional two years. In addition, the company must hire a third 

party to audit its compliance under the settlement and must implement a company task force 

to monitor its compliance. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas 

approved the settlement. 

— In an amendment to the consent decree in United States v. BP Exploration & Oil Co.,

the United States secured two different kinds of relief from two different entities. First, BP 

Exploration agreed to pay a civil penalty of $950,000 for violations of Clean Air Act regulations 

at the Texas City, Texas, petroleum refi nery. The regulations govern benzene emissions 

from refi nery wastewater and stormwater. Second, Blanchard Refi ning Company LLC—a 

wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Petroleum Company LP, the new owner of the Texas 

City refi nery—agreed to assume the consent decree obligations at the refi nery and spend an 

estimated $190 million to improve the refi nery’s compliance with the benzene regulations. 

Blanchard will add storage tanks, increase the size of sewer lines, and seal or enclose an approximately mile-long stretch of concrete channel that carries benzene-contaminated wastewater and 

stormwater. The injunctive relief in the amendment to the consent decree is expected to reduce 

emissions of benzene and other volatile organic compounds by 20 tons per year. The United 

States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana approved the amendment. 

Flare, EES photo

40 | air, land, and water
air, land, and water | 41 

Reducing Air Pollution at Other Facilities and from Motor 

Vehicles

Harmful Air Pollution from Other Large Stationary Sources 

With respect to air 

pollution, EPA is 

pursuing a national 

enforcement initiative 

to control harmful 

pollution from the 

largest sources of 

emissions. As explained, 

high concentrations of 

nitrogen oxides in the 

air can irritate the lungs, 

contribute to childhood 

asthma, lower resistance 

to respiratory infections 

such as infl uenza, and 

cause other respiratory 

problems. Airborne 

nitrogen oxides also can 

signifi cantly contribute 

to acid rain and lead to 

the formation of smog. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can be converted to fi ne particulate 

matter once released in the air. Fine particulates can become lodged deep in the lungs, leading 

to a variety of health problems and even premature death. Harmful health and environmental 

impacts can occur near the facilities emitting the pollutants, as well as in communities far 

downwind from the plants. 

— In United States v. Cabot Corporation, Boston-based Cabot Corporation, the second largest 

carbon black manufacturer in the United States, agreed to pay a $975,000 civil penalty and 

spend an estimated $84 million on state-of-the-art technology to control harmful air pollution. 

The settlement resolved alleged violations of the New Source Review provisions of the Clean 

Air Act at the company’s three facilities in Franklin, Louisiana; Ville Platte, Louisiana; and 

Pampa, Texas. The United States’ complaint alleged that between 2003 and 2009 Cabot made 

major modifi cations at these facilities without obtaining preconstruction permits and without 

installing and operating required pollution technology. 

The agreement is the fi rst to result from a national enforcement initiative aimed at bringing 

carbon black manufacturers into compliance with the New Source Review provisions. Carbon 

black is a fi ne carbonaceous powder used as a structural support medium in tires and as a 

pigment in a variety of products, such as plastic, rubber, inkjet toner, and cosmetics. It is 

produced by burning oil in a low oxygen environment to produce soot (carbon black), which 

Wikipedia photo
42 | air, land, and water

is collected in a baghouse. The manufacturing process creates signifi cant amounts of sulfur 

dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. 

At all three of Cabot Corporation’s facilities, the settlement requires the company to optimize 

existing controls for particulate matter, operate an early-warning detection system that will alert 

facility operators to any particulate matter releases, and comply with a plan to control fugitive 

emissions that result from leaks or other unintended releases of gases. To address emissions of 

nitrogen oxides, the company must signifi cantly reduce emissions by installing selective catalytic 

reduction technology, continuously monitor emissions, and comply with stringent emissions 

limits. At the two largest facilities, both in Louisiana, the company also must install wet gas 

scrubbers to control sulfur dioxide emissions, continuously monitor these emissions, and 

comply with stringent emissions limits. In addition, the Texas facility is required to comply with 

a limit on the amount of sulfur in feedstock that is the lowest for any carbon black plant in the 

United States. 

These measures are expected to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by approximately 1,975 tons 

per year, reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by approximately 12,380 tons per year, and signifi -

cantly improve existing particulate matter controls. At the time of the settlement, none of the 

15 carbon black manufacturing plants located in the United States had controls on emissions of 

sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides or had equipment to continuously monitor emissions. 

The settlement also requires that Cabot Corporation spend $450,000 on energy saving and 

pollution reduction projects that will benefi t the communities surrounding the three facilities, 

such as upgrading air handling units at municipal buildings in the three communities. The State 

of Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, a co-plaintiff, will receive $292,500 of the 

penalty. The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana approved the 

settlement. 

— In United States v. El Dorado Chemical Co., LSB Industries Inc., the largest merchant 

manufacturer of concentrated nitric acid in North America, and four of its subsidiaries agreed 

to reduce harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides at ten plants in Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, 

and Texas. Under the settlement, the companies must meet emissions limits that are among the 

lowest in the nation for the industry. The companies also must continuously monitor emissions 

and make any necessary operational improvements, such as installing new pollution controls or 

upgrading current controls, to ensure they continue to meet the limits in the future. 

The companies estimate that it will cost between $6.3 and $11.7 million to implement all of 

these measures. EPA estimates that the measures will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by 

more than 800 tons per year. This will directly benefi t surrounding communities, which include 

low-income and minority populations living near the Arkansas and Texas plants. LSB Industries 

and its subsidiaries also will pay a total penalty of $725,000. 

Nitrogen oxides emissions, such as those from nitric acid plants, can contribute to soil acidifi -

cation. The companies have also agreed to spend $150,000 to remediate and reforest ten acres 

of land containing acidifi ed soils located near El Dorado, Arkansas. The project will help to 

minimize erosion, reduce stormwater runoff, improve habitat for wildlife, and capture carbon 

dioxide, a greenhouse gas. 
Downtown El Dorado Arkansas, Wikipedia photo

Downtown Ashland, Kentucky, wikipedia photo

air, land, and water | 43 

The settlement applies 

to the 10 nitric acid 

manufacturing plants 

owned or operated 

by the following 

Oklahoma City-based 

LSB subsidiaries: El 

Dorado Chemical 

Co. in El Dorado, 

Arkansas (four plants); 

Cherokee Nitrogen 

Co. in Cherokee, 

Alabama (two plants); 

El Dorado Nitrogen 

Co. in Pryor, Oklahoma 

(three plants); and El 

Dorado Nitrogen Co. 

in Baytown, Texas (one 

plant). The complaint 

fi led by the United 

States and the States of Oklahoma and Alabama alleged that the companies constructed or made 

modifi cations to their plants without fi rst obtaining preconstruction permits and installing 

pollution controls. Of the total penalty, $206,250 was paid to the Oklahoma Department of 

Environmental Quality and $156,250 was paid to the Alabama Department of Environmental 

Management. This United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma approved 

the settlement. 

— In United States v. AK Steel Corporation, the United States and the Commonwealth of 

Kentucky settled allegations that, before AK Steel closed its coke production facility in Ashland, 

Kentucky, in June 2011, the company violated the Clean Air Act, the company’s Clean Air Act 

operating permit, and the Kentucky State Implementation Plan. AK Steel agreed to pay a civil 

penalty of $1.65 million, of which $25,000 was due to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 

Although AK Steel 

closed the coke plant, 

the company continues 

to operate the Ashland 

West Works a few miles 

away from the former 

coke plant. Under the 

settlement, AK Steel agreed to spend at least $2 

million on state projects to reduce particulate matter emissions at the Ashland West Works 

facility. 

Coke is used as a carbon source and as a fuel to heat and melt iron ore at steel making facilities. 

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky approved the consent 

decree. 
Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Wikipedia photo

44 | air, land, and water

— In United States v. Virgin Island Water & Power Authority, the Virgin Islands Water and 

Power Authority agreed to bring its Estate Richmond Generating Facility on St. Croix, U.S. 

Virgin Islands, into compliance with the air pollution control requirements of the Clean Air 

Act and pay a $700,000 penalty. The United States’ complaint alleged that the facility violated 

applicable emissions limits for nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, and the settlement is 

expected to reduce emissions of the pollutants by approximately 115 tons per year and 3 tons per 

year, respectively. 

The EPA has worked with the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority over the past several 

years to address violations at the St. Croix facility. EPA found that the Virgin Islands Water and 

Power Authority had not properly operated and maintained its water-injection pollution control 

systems at various times between October 2005 and December 2012, causing violations of the 

emission limits 

established in 

Clean Air Act 

permits. The 

facility also 

failed to meet 

the particulate 

matter 

emissions limits 

during tests of 

emissions from 

its stacks, and 

failed to conduct 

continuous 

monitoring 

to ensure 

compliance with 

the limits. 

The Authority 

has already 

repaired and 

replaced pollution controls and monitoring equipment at the facility. The settlement focuses on 

improving the operation and maintenance of the facility’s continuous monitoring systems and 

water-injection pollution control systems. To date, the Authority has spent approximately $4 

million to come into compliance with pollution control requirements and will spend at least $2 

million a year to maintain compliance. The United States District Court for the District of the 

Virgin Islands approved the settlement. 

— In United States v. Mountain State Carbon, the Division went to trial in the United States 

District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia to prove that Mountain State Carbon 

violated the Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at its metallurgical 

coke manufacturing plant in Follansbee, West Virginia. Although the court did not fi nd that 

the company violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, it ordered Mountain State 

to pay a penalty of $2,381,000 for 908 stipulated exceedances of hydrogen sulfi de limits in 

the company’s Clean Air Act permit. In addition, the court found that Mountain State violated 

particulate matter and opacity limits, and ordered the company to pay a penalty of $27,000 
air, land, and water | 45 

($1,000 per violation) and to install an automated system to continuously monitor opacity to identify 

ovens that may cause violations of opacity limits in the future. 

Clean Air Act Violations Related to Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines 

EPA also has an ongoing effort to ensure that all motor vehicles and engines sold in the United States 

comply with the Clean Air Act’s requirements. The Clean Air Act prohibits any vehicle or engine from 

being manufactured in, or imported into, the United States unless it is covered by a valid, EPA-issued 

certifi cate of conformity demonstrating that the vehicle or engine meets applicable federal emission 

standards. Importers of foreign-made vehicles and engines must comply with the same Clean Air Act 

requirements that apply to those selling domestic products. Engines operating without proper emissions 

controls can emit excess carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides. 

— In United States v. Hyundai Motor Company, automakers Hyundai and Kia agreed to pay a $100 

million civil penalty, the largest 

in Clean Air Act history, to 

resolve violations concerning 

the testing and certifi cation 

of close to 1.2 million vehicles 

sold in America that will emit 

approximately 4.75 million 

metric tons of greenhouse gases 

in excess of what the automakers 

certifi ed to EPA. Hyundai and 

Kia will spend approximately 

$50 million on measures to 

prevent any future violations and 

forfeit 4.75 million greenhouse 

gas emission credits that the 

companies previously claimed, 

which are estimated to be worth 

over $200 million. Automakers 

earn greenhouse gas emissions 

credits for building vehicles with 

lower emissions than required 

by law. These credits can be used to offset emissions from less fuel effi cient vehicle models or sold or 

traded to other automakers for the same purpose. The greenhouse gas emissions that the forfeited credits 

would have allowed are equal to the emissions from powering more than 433,000 homes for a year. This 

settlement was fi led jointly by the United States and the California Air Resources Board as co-plaintiff in 

the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

— In United States v. Savoia, Inc., a Dallas-based group of companies and their owner agreed to either 

stop importing vehicles or follow a comprehensive compliance plan to settle Clean Air Act violations 

stemming from the alleged illegal importation of over 24,167 highway motorcycles and recreational 

vehicles into the United States without proper documentation. The four defendants allegedly imported 

the vehicles from several foreign manufacturers into the United States through the Port of Long Beach, 

California. The vehicles were then sold through the Internet and from a retail location in Dallas, Texas. 

The settlement requires the four defendants, Savoia, BMX Imports, BMX Trading, and their owner, Terry 

Zimmer, to pay a $120,000 civil penalty. It also requires that the companies either certify that they are 

 Hyundai Plant in Ulsan, South Korea, Wikipedia photo
46 | air, land, and water

no longer engaging in Clean Air Act-regulated activities or follow a comprehensive plan over the 

next 5 years that would include regular vehicle inspections, emissions testing, and other measures to 

ensure compliance at various stages of purchasing, importing, and selling vehicles. In addition, the 

companies are required to export or destroy 115 of their current vehicles that have catalytic converters 

or carburetors that do not conform to the specifi cations they submitted to EPA in applying for a 

certifi cate of conformity. 

— In United States v. MotorScience Enterprises, Inc., two Los Angeles-based consulting fi rms, 

MotorScience Inc., and MotorScience Enterprise Inc., and their owner, Chi Zheng, agreed to settle 

alleged Clean Air Act violations stemming from the illegal importation of 24,478 all-terrain recreational vehicles into the United States from China without testing to ensure emissions would meet 

applicable limits. The consulting fi rms provide consulting services for vehicle manufacturers and 

other clients interested in obtaining certifi cates of conformity from EPA to allow import of their 

vehicles into the United States. In 2010, EPA voided 12 certifi cates held by four of the defendants’ 

clients, which were United States-based importers of recreational vehicles from China. As alleged in 

separate complaints fi led in federal district court by the United States and the State of California, the 

fi rms arranged for emissions testing of a limited number of vehicles, and then reused those results to 

obtain certifi cates of conformity for numerous other, dissimilar vehicles. 

The three defendants agreed to a stipulated judgment under which they will pay a $3.55 million civil 

penalty and an additional $60,000 civil penalty within six months. The United States will receive 80 

percent of collected penalties, and California will receive the remaining 20 percent. The settlement 

also requires that, for the next 15 years, before either the companies or Zheng engage in any further 

work involving nonroad vehicles and engines, they must follow a rigorous compliance plan to 

ensure that any emissions testing and certifi cation applications submitted to EPA or California’s Air 

Resource Board accurately describe those vehicles and engines. 

— In United States v. Volvo Powertrain Corp., the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affi rmed the district 

court’s award of approximately $72 million in civil penalties and interest to the United States and 

the State of California based upon Powertrain’s violations of a consent decree it had entered into 

to resolve earlier Clean Air Act violations. The consent decree resolved allegations that Powertrain 

and other truck engine manufacturers improperly modifi ed their fuel injection systems. Under the 

decree, the manufacturers agreed to meet stricter emissions standards for certain nonroad engines. 

After the consent decree was approved by a district court, Powertrain used its manufacturing facility 

in Sweden to produce nonroad engines for Volvo Penta, an affi liate corporation. Around late 2004, 

Volvo Penta asked EPA to certify that more than 8,000 engines produced at the Powertrain facility 

conformed with emissions standards for nonroad engines for the upcoming model year. EPA issued 

certifi cates of conformity, but later learned that under the terms of the consent decree, the engines 

should have conformed with more stringent standards. The court of appeals agreed with the district 

court that the consent decree applies to the engines manufactured for Volvo Penta at the Powertrain 

plant. 

Ensuring the Integrity of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Systems 

Through enforcement of the Clean Water Act, the Division addresses one of the most pressing infrastructure issues in the nation’s cities—discharges of untreated sewage from aging collection systems. 

Raw sewage contains pathogens that threaten public health, deter recreational use of beaches and 

waterways, and contaminate fi sh in downstream water bodies. Our work helps to protect some of 
air, land, and water | 47 

our most vulnerable communities, including low-income and minority communities who often live in 

older urban areas with the worst infrastructure problems. We also preserve national treasures like the 

Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes. 

The Division has made it a priority to bring cases nationwide to improve municipal wastewater and 

stormwater treatment and collection. From January 2009 through September 2014, courts entered 

60 settlements in these cases, requiring long-term control measures and other relief estimated to cost 

violators more than $27.5 billion. 

Twelve consent decrees with municipalities or regional sewer districts were approved in fi scal year 2014. 

Collectively, they provide for more than $5 billion in improvements, the payment of more than $4.8 

million in civil penalties, and the performance of supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) valued at 

approximately $3 million. 

— In United States v. Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade County in Florida agreed to rehabilitate its 

wastewater treatment plants and its wastewater collection and transmission system within 15 years. 

The county will also develop and implement capacity management, operation, and maintenance 

programs to help ensure the sewer system is properly operated and maintained in the future. By implementing these measures, Miami-Dade is expected to eliminate overfl ows of untreated sewage from 

its wastewater collection and transmission system and achieve compliance with its Clean Water Act 

permits. The State of Florida and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were co-plaintiffs with the United States. 

Between January 2007 and 

May 2013, Miami-Dade 

reported 211 sanitary sewer 

overfl ows totaling more than 

51 million gallons. Such 

overfl ows included a number 

of large-volume overfl ows 

from ruptured pipes. At least 

84 overfl ows, totaling over 29 

million gallons of raw sewage, 

reached navigable waters of the 

United States. Miami-Dade’s 

Central District Wastewater 

Treatment Plant violated the 

effl uent limits contained in its 

Clean Water Act permit. 

Miami-Dade estimates that 

it will spend approximately 

$1.55 billion to complete 

the upgrades required by the consent decree and to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act. 

Miami-Dade also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $978,100 ($511,800 to be paid to the United States 

and $466,300 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection) and to complete a SEP costing 

$2,047,200. The SEP involves the installation of approximately 7,660 linear feet of gravity sewer mains 

through the Green Technology Corridor. As the area is currently using septic tanks, businesses in the 

area have been unable to connect to the sewer system. Disconnecting industrial users from the septic 

Miami-Dade County Northern District Wastewater Treatment Plant, EES map
48 | air, land, and water

tanks will improve water quality in the Biscayne aquifer and nearby surface waters and also prevent 

future contamination. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida approved the 

settlement. 

— In United States v. East Bay Municipal Utility District, the East Bay Municipal Utility District and 

seven local communities agreed to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act by conducting 

extensive system repairs aimed at eliminating millions of gallons of sewage discharges into San Francisco 

Bay. Encompassing approximately 1,600 square miles, the San Francisco Bay—the largest Pacifi c estuary 

in the Americas—is under threat from many sources of pollution, including crumbling wastewater infrastructure that allows sewage to escape. 

Under the settlement, the East Bay Municipal Utility District and the communities will assess and 

upgrade their 1,500 mile-long sewer system. The work is expected to cost the settling parties in excess 

of $1 billion. The several defendants will pay civil penalties of $1.5 million. The utility district also will 

immediately begin work to offset the environmental harm caused by the sewage discharges. This work 

will focus on capturing and treating urban runoff and contaminated water that currently fl ows into the 

San Francisco Bay untreated, and is expected to continue until the sewer upgrades are completed. 

The settlement resulted from a Clean Water Act enforcement action brought by EPA, the Department 

of Justice, the California State Water Resources Control Board, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water 

Board, San Francisco Baykeeper, and Our Children’s Earth Foundation. The United States District Court 

for the Northern District of California approved the settlement. 

— In United States v. City of San Antonio & San Antonio Water System, the San Antonio Water System 

agreed to make signifi cant upgrades to reduce overfl ows from its sewer system and to pay a $2.6 million 

civil penalty. The State of Texas is a co-plaintiff in this case and will receive half of the civil penalty. 

Including both remedial measures taken during the parties’ negotiations and the comprehensive 

measures required by the settlement, the San Antonio Water System is expected to spend $1.1 billion to 

come into compliance with the Clean Water Act. 

The complaint alleged that between 2006 and 2012 the San Antonio Water System had approximately 

2,200 illegal overfl ows from its sanitary sewer system that discharged a total of approximately 23 million 

gallons of raw sewage into local waterways in violation of its Clean Water Act discharge permit. The 

overfl ows resulted primarily from limited capacity: the sewer system was overwhelmed by rainfall, 

causing it to discharge untreated sewage and stormwater into local waterways. 

As part of the settlement, the San Antonio Water System will conduct system-wide assessments, identify 

and implement remedial measures to address problems that cause or contribute to illegal discharges, 

and initiate a capacity management, operation, and maintenance program to proactively reduce sanitary 

sewer overfl ows. The plan must be fully implemented by 2025. In the early years of the settlement, the 

San Antonio Water System will take actions that will result in the reduction of sanitary sewer overfl ows. 

In addition, it will conduct water quality monitoring to identify other potential sources of bacterial 

contamination that could be contributing to impairment of the Upper San Antonio River. The United 

States District Court for the Western District of Texas approved the settlement. 

— In addition to the matters described above, the Division concluded settlements with the following 

entities (estimated costs of compliance shown in parentheses): City of Columbia, South Carolina ($750 

million); the City of Akron, Ohio (in excess of $700 million); the Metropolitan Water Reclamation 
air, land, and water | 49 

District of Greater Chicago ($400 million); the City of Shreveport, Louisiana ($342 million); the City of 

Mishawaka, Indiana ($132 million); the City of Wilmington, New Hanover County, and the Cape Fear 

Public Utility Authority in North Carolina ($17 million); the Town of Timmonsville, North Carolina 

($12 million, with the nearby City of Florence agreeing to assume control of Timmonsville’s sewer and 

drinking water utilities); the City of West Haven, Connecticut ($17 million); and the Virgin Islands Waste 

Management Authority ($5.7 million). 

Otherwise Protecting the Nation’s Waters and Wetlands 

This year, the Division also obtained notable results in enforcing or defending other Clean Water Act 

programs designed to protect the nation’s navigable waters and wetlands. 

Enforcing Clean Water Act Pretreatment Requirements 

— In United States v. STABL f/k/a Nebraska By-Products, the United States District Court for the 

District of Nebraska found that STABL, the former owner and operator of a beef rendering facility in 

Lexington, Nebraska, violated effl uent limitations in its Clean Water Act pretreatment permit and also 

discharged wastewater to the City of Lexington wastewater treatment plant, causing the plant to violate 

the City’s own Clean Water Act discharge permit. After trial, the court ruled that STABL was liable for 

1533 violations of its Clean Water Act pretreatment permit and ordered STABL to pay a civil penalty of 

approximately $2.3 million. The State of Nebraska was a co-plaintiff and shared the penalty with the 

United States. 

Addressing Stormwater-Related Pollution 

Stormwater and other runoff, such as water that runs off of trucks being washed at ready-mix concrete 

plants, often contains oils, greases, and total suspended solids. These pollutants can settle on the 

bottoms of water bodies, adversely affecting plants, animals, and fi sh spawning grounds. Permits issued 

under the Clean Water Act require that industrial facilities, such as ready-mix concrete plants, sand 

and gravel facilities, and 

asphalt batching plants, have 

controls in place to prevent 

pollutants from being carried 

into nearby waterways with 

stormwater. For example, 

industrial sites generally 

must have a stormwater 

pollution prevention plan. 

— In United States v. 

CEMEX Concretos, Inc., 

Cemex Concretos, Inc., 

and Cemex de Puerto Rico, 

Inc., agreed to implement 

measures to bring nine 

active ready-mix concrete 

facilities in Puerto Rico 

 Small Concrete Plant, Wikipedia photo
50 | air, land, and water

into compliance with Clean Water Act requirements relating to stormwater. The companies also agreed to 

ensure that inactive facilities are brought into compliance with these requirements before they are put back 

into operation. In addition, the settlement requires the companies to conduct hydraulic studies, develop 

and implement stormwater compliance plans, improve best management practices, and provide enhanced 

training and new environmental compliance personnel at all active facilities. 

EPA estimates that this injunctive relief will cost approximately $1.8 million. The companies will also pay a 

penalty of $360,000. The settlement also includes a SEP involving the donation of approximately 400 acres 

of ecologically sensitive and diverse land valued at approximately $2.36 million. This land will be preserved 

to ensure it continues to improve local water quality by providing natural water fi ltration and buffer zones. 

The United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico approved the settlement. 

Enforcing the Clean Water Act’s Prohibition Against Unauthorized Filling of Wetlands 

This year, the Division obtained signifi cant favorable settlements under its vigorous program to protect 

wetlands and other waters of the United States from illegal dredge or fi ll activity. 

— In partnership with the State of West Virginia, the Division successfully resolved three Clean Water Act 

enforcement cases in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia involving the 

unauthorized placement of fi ll material in waters of the United States at multiple sites in West Virginia. The 

various defendants planned to conduct hydraulic fracturing operations at these sites to recover natural gas 

from the Marcellus Shale formation. The cases are: United States & State of West Virginia v. Chesapeake 

Appalachia, LLC; United States & State of West Virginia v. XTO Energy, Inc.; and United States & State of 

West Virginia v. Trans Energy, Inc. 

In each case, the Division obtained a consent decree requiring the defendant hydraulic fracturing company 

to pay signifi cant civil penalties. The $3.2 million civil penalty in Chesapeake Appalachia is the largest ever 

levied by a court for violations of the Clean Water Act’s prohibition against unauthorized fi lling of wetlands 

and other waters of the United States. In addition, the companies in each case agreed to restore affected 

sites, provide for compensatory mitigation, and implement a suite of measures designed to ensure that the 

companies’ operations will comply with the Clean Water Act and West Virginia state law in the future. 

Notable cases in which the Division obtained settlements to address unauthorized fi lling of wetlands or other 

waters of the United States include the following: 

• United States v. Roberts (M.D. Tenn.), arose from the unpermitted construction of a large dam in Snake 

Creek in Tennessee. The Division secured a consent decree that requires the defendants: (1) to perform 

restorative work; (2) to conserve in perpetuity the natural condition of riparian corridors; (3) to provide 

more than $200,000 to water quality programs; and (4) to pay a civil penalty of $25,000. 

• In United States v. Nally & Hamilton Enterprises, Inc. (E.D. Ky.), the defendant had fi lled streams and 

wetlands at two surface coal mining sites in Kentucky. The Division obtained a consent decree that 

requires the company to pay a civil penalty of $660,000 and to restore the site. 

• In re Elgin Mining, Inc. (W.D. Ky.), arose from Elgin Mining’s failure to comply with the on-site 

mitigation requirements of Clean Water Act permits that authorized fi ll activity. ENRD obtained a 

settlement agreement requiring the company to pay approximately $3.1 million to a mitigation bank 

approved by the State of Kentucky and to pay $150,000 in civil penalties. 
air, land, and water | 51 

• In United States v. Frasure Creek Mining (E.D. Ky.), ENRD sued the defendant mining company to 

address unpermitted discharges at two mountaintop mining sites in Kentucky. The Division secured a 

consent decree that requires the company to pay $800,000 in fees in lieu of mitigation to the State of 

Kentucky and $700,000 in civil penalties. 

• A consent decree secured by ENRD in United States v. Anchordoguy (E.D. Cal.), requires the defendants 

to fund a $795,000 mitigation project and to pay $300,000 in civil penalties. The settlement resolves 

alleged Clean Water Act violations arising from the defendants’ unpermitted discharges of fi ll material into 

tributaries, vernal pools, and swales in California. 

• In United States v. St. Marys Railway West (S.D. Ga.), the defendants made unpermitted discharges in 

connection with their expansion of a spur line to enable the cleaning and storage of railroad cars. The 

Division negotiated a consent decree that requires the defendants to pay $175,000 for off-site mitigation 

and $25,000 in civil penalties. 

• In Gasco Energy, Inc. v. EPA (D. Colo.), Gasco Energy sought preenforcement judicial review of an 

EPA-issued administrative order addressing Clean Water Act violations arising in connection with natural 

gas drilling activities near the Green River in Uintah County, Utah. After ENRD fi led a counterclaim for 

enforcement of the Clean Water Act, the parties reached a settlement under which Gasco Energy agreed to 

pay a civil penalty of $110,000 and to restore the affected sites. 

Th e Division also prevailed at trial in several civil enforcement cases arising from illegal fi ll activity. 

• In United States v. Hamilton Smith (S.D. Ala.), a jury found that the defendant violated the Clean Water 

Act when he constructed four dams without a Clean Water Act permit authorizing that activity. Following 

a subsequent trial on remedy, the court approved a restoration plan for the four dams and order the 

defendant to pay $78,000 in civil penalties. 

• In United States v. John Hubenka & LeClair Irrigation District (D. Wyo.), discussed supra, ENRD also 

secured a favorable result in a case arising from the unauthorized dredging and fi lling of waters of the 

United States. 

Defending the Clean Water Act Regulatory Program for Protecting Wetlands and Other 

Waters of the United States from Unlawful Fill Activity.

The Division also protected wetlands and other waters of the United States from illegal discharges of dredged 

or fi ll material by defending EPA’s administrative efforts to address such activity and U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers’ decisions to issue permits authorizing dredge or fi ll activity in wetlands or other waters of the 

United States. 

— ENRD successfully defended EPA’s efforts to reduce environmental impacts from mountaintop coal mining 

in Mingo Logan Coal Co. v. EPA (D.D.C.). There, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) had issued a Clean 

Water Act permit authorizing the discharge of fi ll material from a mountaintop mine in West Virginia. The 

plaintiff coal company challenged EPA’s subsequent determination under section 404(c) of the Clean Water 

Act to restrict the areas in which fi ll material could be discharged. 
52 | air, land, and water

In March 2012, the district court granted the company’s motion for summary judgment and set aside 

EPA’s determination. It held that EPA may not exercise its “veto” authority under Clean Water Act 

section 404(c) after the Corps of Engineers has issued a Clean Water Act permit. The court deferred 

addressing the mining 

company’s argument that 

EPA’s determination was 

arbitrary and capricious 

under the Administrative 

Procedure Act, pending 

EPA’s appeal of its ruling on 

the Clean Water Act issue. 

On appeal, the D.C. Circuit 

unanimously reversed the 

district court. Thereafter, 

the case was remanded to the 

district court for consideration of the remaining claims. 

On September 30, 2014, the 

district court resolved the 

remaining claims in EPA’s 

favor, holding that the agency 

decision was reasonable and 

supported by the administrative record. 

— We also successfully defended a challenge to EPA’s regulatory program in Pebble Limited Partnership 

v. EPA (D. Alaska). There, the plaintiff challenged EPA’s initiation of the administrative process under 

Clean Water Act section 404(c) to determine whether the planned Pebble Mine project near Bristol Bay, 

Alaska, would result in unacceptable adverse environmental effects. EPA undertook this process because 

the proposed Pebble Mine has the potential to be one of the largest open pit copper mines ever developed 

and could threaten the world’s largest sockeye salmon fi shery. 

In its complaint, the plaintiff claimed that section 404(c) does not authorize EPA to initiate a veto process 

in the absence of a permit application. In June 2014, the plaintiff and the State of Alaska fi led separate 

preliminary injunction motions, and the United States fi led a motion to dismiss. On September 26, 2014, 

the United States District Court for the District of Alaska granted our motion to dismiss, ruling that EPA’s 

initiation of its review process was not a fi nal agency action and thus not subject to judicial review. 

The Division also successfully handled numerous cases challenging decisions of the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers to issue Clean Water Act permits authorizing the discharge of 

dredged or fi ll materials. 

• In Cook Inletkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (D. Alaska), the plaintiffs challenged the Corps’ 

issuance of a Clean Water Act permit to the Alaska Railroad Corporation. The court upheld the Corps’ 

decision to issue the permit, which allows construction of a railroad line that will link Port Mackenzie, 

in Anchorage, Alaska, with an existing railroad line farther north. 

 acid drainage from surface coal mining, Wikipedia photo
air, land, and water | 53 

• In Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (N.D. Cal.), the court 

upheld the Corps’ decision to issue a permit for the Willits Bypass, a proposed freeway project 

near Willits, California. 

• In Black Warrior Riverkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (M.D. Ala.), the district court 

denied the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction regarding the construction of the 

fi rst segment of the Northern Beltline highway around Birmingham, Alabama. The court 

found it unlikely that the plaintiff would be able to demonstrate that the Corps had failed to 

comply with federal law. 

• In Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers & EPA (C.D. Cal.), the 

Division defended the Corps’ issuance of a Clean Water Act permit needed for the construction 

of a 12,000-acre housing and commercial development outside of Los Angeles, California. The 

Division also defended EPA against allegations that it should have considered a “veto” of the 

permit. The court granted our motion to dismiss the claim against EPA on the ground that the 

plaintiffs lacked standing and that any veto decision was committed to agency discretion by 

law. 

— In National Mining Association v. McCarthy, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld 

procedures developed by EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to coordinate their review 

of certain applications for Clean Water Act permits authorizing the discharge of fi ll material from 

coal mining operations into waters of the United States. While the district court held that the 

agencies could not coordinate their review of the permits without express statutory authority, the 

court of appeals reversed. “Given the backdrop of Executive Branch tradition, sound government 

practice, and constitutional principle,” the panel declined to “read into . . . statutory silence an 

implicit ban on inter-agency consultation and coordination.” The court of appeals also agreed 

with ENRD’s and the agencies’ position that the Administrative Procedure Act did not require the 

agencies to provide the public with notice and an opportunity to comment on the coordination 

procedures. Because the procedures had no substantive impact on the respective Clean Water Act 

responsibilities of the agencies or the criteria under which the agencies assess permit applications, 

the procedures qualifi ed as procedural rules, which are exempt from the Administrative Procedure 

Act’s notice-and-comment requirements. 

The plaintiffs in this litigation also challenged an EPA memorandum that provided guidance 

for EPA regions to consider when reviewing applications for Clean Water Act discharge permits 

for surface coal mining operations in Appalachia (and when reviewing state proposals to issue 

such permits). The district court held that the guidance memo was legally binding and therefore 

subject to judicial review. The D.C. Circuit reversed and directed the district court to dismiss the 

plaintiffs’ claims. The court of appeals explained that the guidance was a general policy statement, 

not a fi nal agency action subject to judicial review. 

— In Belle Company v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Belle Company fi led suit challenging 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ jurisdictional determination that wetlands on the company’s 

property qualifi ed as waters of the United States and thus could not lawfully be fi lled without 

a Clean Water Act permit. Belle Company sold this land to Kent Recycling Company, which 

intended to use it as a landfi ll, and fi led this action instead of applying for a permit authorizing 

fi lling of the wetlands at issue. The district court held that the Corps’ jurisdictional determination 

was not a fi nal agency action and therefore not subject to judicial review. The Fifth Circuit Court 

of Appeals affi rmed, explaining that the jurisdictional determination did not determine rights or 
54 | air, land, and water

obligations, or have legal consequences, because Belle Company could apply for a permit authorizing the 

fi lling of the wetlands. 

Upholding EPA’s Cleanup Plan for the Chesapeake Bay 

— In Food & Water Watch v. EPA (D.D.C.), the Division defeated a second effort to derail EPA’s 2010 

“Total Maximum Daily Load” determination for the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed area, which 

encompasses states from New York to Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay determination establishes pollutant 

loads for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment for the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. When 

EPA established the determination, it stated that it anticipated that the states would implement it in part 

through trading and offset programs. 

The plaintiffs in this case essentially challenged EPA’s statements. They characterized the statements as 

the “trading provisions” of the Total Maximum Daily Load determination, and argued that the use of 

such programs will lead to water quality violations. The court granted our motion to dismiss, fi nding the 

plaintiffs’ claim highly speculative because any state trading programs must ultimately comply with the 

Clean Water Act and the determination. More signifi cantly, the court concluded that the determination 

encourages and supports, but does not require or authorize, state trading and offset programs, and that 

implementation of the determination remains primarily in the hands of the states. 

Defending Challenges to EPA Oversight of Water Quality Planning 

— In City of Dover v. EPA (D.D.C.), the Division successfully defended EPA’s oversight of water quality 

planning efforts by the State of New Hampshire. A group of public water supply systems attempted to 

force EPA to interfere in the State’s efforts to enhance its regulation of nutrient discharges. The Division 

obtained dismissal of the action, persuading the court that the plaintiffs lacked standing to maintain 

the action, and that any purported injury the plaintiffs might someday face in the form of more onerous 

discharge permits could be addressed in subsequent permit proceedings. 

Addressing PCB Contamination 

Protecting human health is always a critical priority. PCBs are human-made organic chemicals that were 

widely used in paints, construction materials, plastics, and electrical equipment prior to 1978. PCBs 

have been banned in the United States for the last 30 years, except for specifi c uses authorized by federal 

regulations. When released into the environment, PCBs can persist for decades because they do not break 

down through natural processes. Exposure to PCBs has been demonstrated to cause cancer and to have 

other adverse health effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, and endocrine 

system. 

— In United States v. Titanium Metals Corp., Titanium Metals Corporation, one of the world’s largest 

producers of titanium parts for jet engines, agreed to pay a record $13.75 million civil penalty and perform 

an extensive investigation and cleanup of potential contamination stemming primarily from the unauthorized manufacture and disposal of PCBs at its manufacturing facility in Henderson, Nevada. That penalty 

is the largest ever imposed for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act at a single facility. The 

company will pay an additional $250,000 in civil penalties for violations related to illegal disposal of 

hazardous process wastewater in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. 
air, land, and water | 55 

Titanium Metals processes 

titanium from rutile ore 

at its 108-acre manufacturing facility. This process 

generates hazardous waste 

and PCBs. In the complaint, 

the United States alleged 

that the company had been 

unlawfully manufacturing 

PCBs as a byproduct of its 

titanium manufacturing 

process. The complaint 

further alleged that the 

company had disposed of 

PCB-contaminated waste at 

a solid waste landfi ll and also 

in a trench at the plant. Since 

2007, the company has been 

working with EPA to bring the facility into compliance. The company has taken steps to reduce signifi -

cantly the amount of PCBs it generates and to manage appropriately the PCBs it does generate. 

EPA expects that the settlement will result in the removal of approximately 84,000 pounds of PCB-contaminated waste from the environment each year, and will prevent the improper disposal of 56 million 

pounds of hazardous waste each year. The company has already spent approximately $6 million on 

investigation, site cleanup, and compliance measures to address the potential contamination. In 

addition, the company estimates that it will spend at least $1 million to complete the work required by the 

settlement. The United States District Court for the District of Nevada approved the settlement. 

 Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Wikipedia photo
Affi rmative Litigation Responding to the Deepwater Horizon 

Explosion, Fire, and Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico and Related 

Activities

In what continues to be one of the 

largest civil enforcement efforts 

ever undertaken by the Department, 

the Environment Division–in 

cooperation with the Civil Division–

presses forward in seeking to hold 

accountable all those responsible for 

the April 2010, multibillion-barrel 

oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This 

disaster stems from the blowout 

of the Macondo Well and the loss 

of the drilling vessel Deepwater 

Horizon. Those events–already 

judged by a federal district court 

to be the result of gross negligence 

and willful misconduct by one party 

and negligence by another–caused 

environmental, economic, and social 

upsets that continue to this day.

Some of the parties accountable under federal law for this disaster have resolved claims with the 

United States for key portions of that responsibility:

• MOEX, a minority owner of Macondo Well, settled its civil penalty exposure under the Clean 

Water Act by agreeing to pay $70 million and by acquiring and preserving environmentally 

sensitive lands in several Gulf States. That work, which cost some $20 million, should preserve and protect in perpetuity habitat and resources important to water quality.

56 | oil & superfund waste

ENSURING CLEANUP OF OIL AND 

HAZARDOUS WASTE

Deepwater Horizon off shore drilling unit on fi re, Wikimedia Photo
oil & superfund waste | 57 

Environmental Protection Agency warning sign on fence surrounding mine property, 

Wikimedia photo

Polluted Martin’s Creek on the Kin-Buc Landfi ll Superfund site, Wikipedia photo
• The Transocean companies, which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon, paid a 

penalty of $1 billion to resolve their civil liability under the Clean Water Act and also agreed 

to implement comprehensive changes in how they operate their drilling vessels in the Gulf 

of Mexico. At the same time, Transocean resolved its criminal liability for the spill through 

a $400 million plea agreement with the Department’s Deepwater Horizon Task Force. that 

agreement included a criminal fi ne and remedial payments that should further both Gulf 

restoration and research on measures to make drilling safer both in the Gulf and around the 

world.

• BP Exploration and Production, the majority owner of and an operator of the Macondo 

Well, pleaded guilty to criminal violations of the Clean Water Act and felony manslaughter 

charges. It resolved those violations through a $4 billion plea agreement comprised of a 

criminal fi ne and remedial payments that, like Transocean companies’ payments, should 

further both Gulf restoration and research measures relating to drilling.

BP Exploration and Production and Anadarko (which owned a signifi cant share of the Macondo 

Well), continue to dispute their civil liability for the spill under the Clean Water Act and the 

extent of any penalty each should pay. As part of the multidistrict litigation through which one 

district court is hearing many lawsuits arising from this spill, the United States has completed all 

three phases of a trial that will culminate with the court assessing a civil penalty against each of 

those defendants. These multibillion dollar companies each face a maximum penalty exposure 

of billions of dollars. The Deepwater trial involved hundreds of depositions, production of 

hundreds of millions of pages of documents, a substantial and robust motions practice, and 

many weeks of trial.

On June 4, 2014, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affi rmed the district court’s 

February 2012 rulings in the fi rst phase of trial that BP Exploration and Production and 

Anadarko were liable for civil penalties. The companies claimed that they were not liable for 

civil penalties under the Clean Water Act because the oil was discharged from the blowout 

preventer and riser (appurtenances of the vessel Deepwater Horizon), and not directly from 

the Macondo Well (which they owned). In affi rming the companies’ liability, the Fifth Circuit 

held that it was immaterial that oil fl owed through parts of the vessel before entering the Gulf of 

Mexico, because the Clean Water Act proscribes any discharge of oil that ultimately fl ows into 

navigable waters, irrespective of the path traversed by the discharged oil.

Penalties recovered in connection with the litigation will be distributed under the framework 

established in the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived 

Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act). The RESTORE Act will direct 

about eighty percent of civil penalties ultimately recovered to environmental and economic 

projects that will benefi t the Gulf of Mexico region. Penalties paid by Transocean have been 

distributed under this framework.

The other major civil claim of the United States is for various damages related to the spill, in 

particular damages to natural resources. The United States already has secured a declaratory 

judgment for such damages against defendants BP Exploration and Production and Anadarko. 

The federal and state agencies that are trustees for the relevant natural resources are presently 

working to identify both the extent of injury to those resources and the work that would be 

appropriate to mitigate those injuries and restore those resources. The immense size of the spill 

58 | oil & superfund waste
and the complex ecosystems affected (signifi cant portions of the Gulf region) make the work of 

the trustees a massive undertaking. 

Recovering Damages and Penalties for Other Oil Spills

— In United States v. BP Exploration (Alaska), the United States District Court for the District 

of Alaska approved a consent decree under which BP Exploration (Alaska) will pay a civil 

penalty of $450,000 for four separate oil spills on the North Slope of Alaska. In total, approximately 412 barrels of oil spilled from pipelines the company operates in the Greater Prudhoe 

Bay. 

— In United States v. Chevron Pipeline Co. (D. Utah), Chevron Pipeline agreed to a settlement 

under which it paid a civil penalty of $875,000 to resolve Clean Water Act violations associated 

with two oil spills at the company’s facilities near Salt Lake City, Utah. On June 11, 2010, oil 

from a discharge of approximately 800 barrels entered Red Butte Creek and fl owed to Liberty 

Lake, part of Liberty Park in downtown Salt Lake City. On March 18, 2013, a discharge of 

approximately 499 barrels of diesel fuel in Box Elder County affected wetlands adjacent to 

Willard Bay, a reservoir connected to the Great Salt Lake. The settlement followed other 

compliance actions associated with the Red Butte Creek spill, including agreements between 

Chevron Pipeline and the State of Utah and between Chevron Pipeline and the U.S. Department 

of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. 

Conserving the Superfund by Compelling Parties to Clean Up 

Hazardous Waste and Recovering Superfund Monies

The Division brings actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 

and Liability Act (CERCLA) to require responsible parties to clean up hazardous waste and to 

recover the costs of 

cleanup conducted 

by EPA. In fi scal 

year 2014, ENRD 

concluded a number 

of settlements 

requiring responsible 

parties to reimburse 

the United States 

for EPA’s clean-up 

costs, to undertake 

the clean-up work 

themselves, or both. 

— In United States 

v. Pacifi c Gas & 

Electric Co. (N.D. 

Cal.), the Pacifi c Gas 

and Electric Company 

agreed to carry out the remedial action selected by the U.S. Department of the Interior to 

address groundwater contamination at the company’s Topock Gas Compressor Site, located 12 

oil & superfund waste | 59 

Remedial Action Program, USACE photo
miles outside of Needles, California. The work is estimated to cost $184 million. The company 

also agreed to pay all of Interior’s future oversight costs at the Site. 

A large plume of groundwater contaminated with hexavalent chromium stretches from the 

compressor site to the groundwater under the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge and lands 

managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and ultimately to the edge of the Colorado River. 

The remedy involves the construction of bedrock extraction wells, the construction of an in-situ 

treatment system, and the injection of fresh water to push the contaminated groundwater 

through the treatment zone. To effect in-situ treatment, organic carbon material will be injected 

into the groundwater to promote the microbial reduction of hexavalent chromium to trivalent 

chromium, which is essentially immobile and therefore contained under most circumstances, 

including those found at the Site. 

— The settlement in United States v. Alcoa Inc. (S.D. Ill.), required Alcoa Inc., the City of East 

Saint Louis, Illinois, and the Alton and Southern Railway Company to clean up the contamination in the “Operable Unit 1” area of the North Alcoa Superfund Site in the City of East Saint 

Louis. From about 1903 to 1957, Alcoa conducted aluminum manufacturing and production 

operations on parts of what is now the North Alcoa Superfund Site, located in the southeastern 

portion of the City. The City owns parts of the Site, and the Railway owns other parts. 

The waste material remaining after alumina is extracted during bauxite refi ning is known as 

“red mud.” Starting in the early 1900s, Alcoa placed the red mud as fi ll in various areas of the 

Site, and the Site is now contaminated with radium, chromium, and vanadium. The remedy 

for the Operable Unit 

1 area addresses the 

soil contamination and 

requires, among other 

things, constructing 

stormwater controls 

and installing over the 

waste a two-foot-thick 

cover. The City has 

expressed interest in 

redeveloping the majority 

of the area into a solar 

energy generating station, 

and the Railway has 

expressed interest in 

building a railway line on 

the eastern edge of the 

Site. 

— After trial in United 

States v. Dico, Inc., the 

United States District 

Court for the Southern District of Iowa ordered defendant Dico to pay over $4.5 million. In 

1994, EPA discovered polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in the insulation attached 

to the beams of certain buildings on Dico’s property (which was already a Superfund site 

60 | oil & superfund waste

Red Mud, Wikipedia photo
because of groundwater contamination). EPA issued Dico an administrative order that required 

Dico to encapsulate the walls and fl oors with epoxy to prevent future releases of PCBs. 

In 2007, Titan Tire, the corporate affi liate of Dico, contracted on Dico’s behalf with Southern 

Iowa Mechanical to demolish some of the contaminated buildings. But the corporate affi liate 

neither notifi ed Southern Iowa Mechanical of the EPA administrative order and PCB contamination nor notifi ed EPA of the demolition. Southern Iowa Mechanical then took the contaminated 

beams back to its property. EPA required Dico and Titan Tire to perform a removal action at 

the Southern Iowa Mechanical site, as a result of which the United States incurred oversight and 

enforcement costs. 

The district court ruled that Dico and Titan Tire were jointly and severally liable for past and 

future clean-up costs because they had “arranged for the disposal” of PCBs within the meaning 

of the CERCLA. The court also concluded that Dico acted in bad faith and placed the public and 

environment at substantial risk, and ordered the company to pay $1.62 million. The Court also 

determined that Dico’s conduct warranted a punitive damages award of at least $1.48 million, 

which was the amount of the United States’ clean-up costs. 

 

Protecting Against Interference with EPA’s Clean-up Decisions

— In Town of Acton, Massachusetts v. EPA (D. 

Mass.), the Town of Acton sued EPA and W.R. 

Grace and Co., which is conducting a remedial 

action at a former manufacturing site within the 

Town. The Town of Acton argued that W.R. Grace 

must comply with remediation requirements set 

forth in the Town’s municipal bylaw, which are 

more stringent than the remediation requirements imposed in a consent decree between 

W.R. Grace and EPA. The court initially denied 

the Town’s motion for a preliminary injunction, 

and in September 2014, it granted our motion 

to dismiss the complaint on federal preemption 

grounds. The court found that the local bylaw 

may pose an obstacle to the accomplishment of 

CERCLA’s objectives, which include generating 

a single remedy that can be carried out without 

interference from local governing bodies or other 

interested parties. 

— In Hobart Corp. v. Waste Management of Ohio,

the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals adopted ENRD’s 

and EPA’s interpretation of two key provisions 

of CERCLA in resolving a lawsuit fi led by Hobart 

Corp. In 2006, Hobart Corp. had entered into an 

administrative settlement with EPA that addressed Hobart’s responsibility for contamination at 

a particular site. More than three years later, Hobart fi led this lawsuit against other potentially 

responsible parties seeking to recover clean-up costs it had incurred at that site. 

oil & superfund waste | 61 

Acton, Massachusetts Town Hall, Wikipedia Photo
Hobart asserted claims under section 107(a) and section 113(f)(3)(B) of CERCLA. Section 107(a) 

states that any person may recover its clean-up costs from another potentially responsible 

party (beyond its equitable share). Section 113(f)(3)(B), in turn, states that any person that 

has resolved its CERCLA liability for clean-up costs in an administrative settlement with EPA 

may seek to recover costs from others by asserting an equitable claim for “contribution.” In the 

Sixth Circuit, ENRD fi led a brief as amicus curiae arguing that a party like Hobart, which could 

have timely asserted a claim for contribution under CERCLA 113(f)(3)(b) with respect to certain 

clean-up costs, cannot seek to recover those costs by fi ling a claim under section 107(a). The 

Sixth Circuit agreed, holding that Hobart was ineligible to bring a section 107(a) claim. 

The court distinguished a prior decision of the Sixth Circuit in ITT Industries v. BorgWarner,

where the court held that an administrative settlement based on an older version of EPA’s model 

settlement did not resolve CERCLA liability to EPA and thus did not give rise to a right to assert 

a contribution claim. In Hobart Corp., the court of appeals held that EPA’s revisions to its 

model settlement effectively clarifi ed the parties’ intent to resolve Hobart’s CERCLA liability to 

EPA, and thus gave rise to contribution rights. 

— In Boeing Company v. Raphael,

the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals 

held that the State of California 

could not impose cleanup standards 

through legislation that were more 

stringent than federal law requires at 

the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in 

Southern California, where a federal 

contractor was addressing nuclear 

contamination. The contamination 

at issue resulted from the operation 

of federal research nuclear reactors 

and other activities at the site in the 

decades after World War II. Boeing 

Company, which was hired by the 

U.S. Department of Energy and the 

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration to clean up the site, 

argued that the state statute violated principles of intergovernmental immunity. The district 

court ruled for Boeing. 

On appeal, the Division fi led an amicus brief supporting Boeing. The Ninth Circuit held that 

the state statute impermissibly regulated the federal government’s cleanup of the site and that 

in imposing more stringent standards than generally applicable state environmental laws, the 

statute discriminated against the federal government and Boeing. The statute therefore violated 

applicable principles of intergovernmental immunity. 

62 | oil & superfund waste

Aerial view of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, Wikipedia Photo
oil & superfund waste | 63 

Protecting the Public Fisc Against Excessive or Unwarranted Claims

The Division settles claims asserted under CERCLA against federal agencies where a fair apportionment of costs can be reached. In fi scal year 2014, the Division reached the following multimillion-dollar settlements:

• State of Maryland v. United States (D. Md.) (Kurt Iron & Metals Site in Baltimore, Maryland); 

• American International Specialty Lines Insurance Company v. United States and Chubb Custom 

Insurance Co. v. United States (C.D. Cal.) (both involving the Whittaker-Bermite site in Santa 

Clarita, California); 

• Shell Oil Co. v. United States and Cadillac Fairview v. United States (C.D. Cal.) (both involving 

the cleanup of the Del Amo Superfund Site in California); 

• City of San Diego v. United States Navy (S.D. Cal.) (regarding the remediation of contaminated 

sediment in San Diego Bay); 

• ABB Inc. v. United States (D. Conn.) (involving the Combustion Engineering site in Windsor, 

Connecticut); and 

• Minerals Technologies Inc. v. United States (D. Conn.) (former Plancor 547 facility in Canaan, 

Connecticut).

— ENRD also defends against CERCLA claims that are not well-founded. In United States 

v. ConAgra Grocery Products Co. (D. Maine), counterclaims were brought against EPA in a 

CERCLA cost recovery case concerning the A.C. Lawrence Leather Company Sludge Lagoons 

Superfund Site in South Paris, Maine. The counterclaims alleged that EPA’s selected plan for 

addressing the contamination would have the effect of spreading the scope of the contamination at the site and that EPA was therefore liable for clean-up costs. In March 2014, the court 

granted our motion to dismiss the counterclaims, holding that the counterclaims failed to state a 

plausible claim for CERCLA liability.

Protecting the Public Fisc from Excessive Reimbursement of 

Contractor Clean-up Costs

Producing a substantial savings for the taxpayers, the Division obtained a signifi cant ruling on 

the interplay of cost recovery actions under CERCLA and contractor cost recovery under the 

Federal Acquisition Regulation. 

— In Lockheed Martin Corp. v. United States (D.D.C.), Lockheed Martin Corp. sought to 

recover from the United States past and future clean-up costs the company incurred or would 

incur at three related sites in Redlands and Beaumont, California, where Lockheed manufactured rocket motors under contracts with the United States. While fi nding the United States 

liable under CERCLA and directing the United States to pay an equitable share ranging from 19 

to 29 percent of future costs at the three sites, the court declined to order the United States to 

pay any portion of the approximately $270 million in past clean-up costs that Lockheed Martin 
64 | oil & superfund waste

had already incurred. The court found that Lockheed had already recovered 75 to 85 percent of 

its response costs from the United States as part of its corporate overhead under government 

contracts, and that to allow it to recover its past costs under CERCLA would allow Lockheed to 

“profi t from CERCLA at the expense of the taxpayer” because Lockheed Martin would receive a 

signifi cant windfall. The Division has appealed the judgment to the extent it requires the United 

States to pay a share of the company’s future costs. 

Securing Natural Resource Damages

Even after an oil spill or a release of hazardous substances has been cleaned up, injury to natural 

resources, such as wildlife, fi sh, air, land, 

water, groundwater, and drinking water 

supplies, will often persist for years. 

As a result, several statues authorize 

federal, state, and tribal trustees of 

natural resources to sue to collect natural 

resource damages. Generally speaking, 

recoveries must be used to help restore, 

replace, or acquire the equivalent of the 

injured natural resources. 

— The settlement in United States v. 

BASF Corporation resolved claims 

against BASF Corporation for natural 

resource damages under CERCLA, the 

Clean Water Act, and similar provisions 

of Alabama state law. The federal 

trustees in this case were the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service. The natural resource damages occurred as a result of releases and 

threatened releases of the pesticide DDT and its degradation products from the Ciba-Geigy 

Superfund Site near McIntosh, Alabama. The site contains a facility that produced DDT 

beginning in 1952 and subsequently produced herbicides, insecticides, and other specialty 

chemicals. Under the settlement, BASF Corporation, the current owner of the facility, will pay 

the federal trustees $4.5 million: $3.2 million for the development and implementation of 

restoration projects and $1.3 million to reimburse the agencies for their damage assessment 

costs. BASF Corporation will pay the state trustees $500,000 for restoration of the Mobile 

Bay watershed. The United States District Court for the District of Alabama approved the 

settlement. 

Enforcing Clean-up Obligations in Bankruptcy Cases

The Division takes actions in bankruptcy cases to protect environmental obligations owed to 

the United States when a responsible party goes into bankruptcy. During fi scal year 2014, the 

Division obtained four agreements in bankruptcy proceedings under which debtors paid over 

$45 million, and also collected over $73 million under bankruptcy agreements concluded in 

prior fi scal years. Of the over $118 million total, debtors reimbursed the Superfund for over 

$91 million, paid over $23 million to clean up hazardous waste sites, and paid more than $4.5 

million in natural resource damages. 

Ciba-Geigy McIntosh Plant, in McIntosh, Alabama, DOI photo
oil & superfund waste | 65 

— In one case, In re APCO Liquidating Trust, the debtor (a successor in interest to APCO Oil 

Corporation) settled after years of litigation concerning the APCO Liquidating Trust’s liability under 

CERCLA for costs incurred by EPA in the ongoing cleanup of the Oklahoma Refi ning Company 

Superfund Site in Cyril, Oklahoma. Under the settlement agreement, the APCO Liquidating 

Trust and the APCO Missing Stockholder Trust paid $14 million to the United States. The money 

will be used to reimburse EPA for clean-up costs incurred and to be incurred at the Site, which 

was the location of an oil refi nery operated by Anderson-Prichard Oil Corporation and APCO Oil 

Corporation from 1920 until about 1978, and then in a limited capacity by the Oklahoma Refi ning 

Company until 1987. 

— In another case, In re Tronox Inc., the United States reached and presented to the Bankruptcy 

Court for the Southern District of New York a settlement agreement with the Kerr-McGee 

Corporation and certain of its affi liates (collectively, New Kerr-McGee), and their parent Anadarko 

Petroleum Corporation, in a fraudulent conveyance case in the bankruptcy of Tronox Inc. and its 

subsidiaries (collectively, Tronox). The bankruptcy court had previously found, in December 2013, 

that the historic Kerr-McGee Corporation (Old Kerr-McGee) fraudulently conveyed assets to New 

Kerr-McGee to evade its debts, including its liability for environmental cleanup at contaminated 

sites around the country. Pursuant to the April 2014 settlement agreement, the defendants agreed 

to pay $5.15 billion plus interest to settle the case, of which approximately $4.4 billion will be paid 

to fund environmental cleanup and for environmental claims. The settlement, approved by the 

court in fi scal year 2015, will result in the largest payment ever for the cleanup of environmental 

contamination.

According to the complaints of the United States and the co-plaintiff, the Anadarko Litigation Trust, 

and the written opinion of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan L. Gropper issued on December 13, 2013:

Old Kerr-McGee operated numerous businesses, which included uranium mining, the 

processing of radioactive thorium, creosote wood treating, and manufacture of perchlorate, a 

component of rocket fuel. These operations left contamination across the nation, including 

radioactive uranium waste across the Navajo Nation; radioactive thorium in Chicago and West 

Chicago, Illinois; creosote waste in the Northeast, the Midwest, and the South; and perchlorate 

waste in Nevada.

In the years prior to 2005, Old Kerr-McGee concluded that the liabilities associated with 

this environmental contamination were a drag on its “crown jewel” business, the exploration 

and production of oil and gas. With the intent of evading these and other liabilities, Old 

Kerr-McGee created a new corporate entity–defendant New Kerr-McGee–and, through a 

scheme executed in 2002 and 2005, transferred its valuable oil and gas exploration assets to 

the new company. The legacy environmental liabilities were left behind in the old company, 

which was re-named Tronox, and spun off as a separate company in 2006. As a result of these 

transactions, Tronox was rendered insolvent and unable to address its environmental and other 

liabilities. In 2009, Tronox went into bankruptcy.

The United States and the bankruptcy estate (now represented by the Anadarko Litigation 

Trust) brought this lawsuit to hold New Kerr-McGee and the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation 

accountable and require them to repay the value of the assets fraudulently conveyed from Old 

Kerr-McGee. Many federal, state, and tribal offi cials worked tirelessly on this matter. The litigation 

of this case was assisted by EPA personnel from around the country; the U.S. Fish & Wildlife 

Service and the Bureau of Land Management; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the U.S. Forest Service; and the U.S. Department of 

Defense, as well as numerous state governments and the Navajo Nation. 
66 | oil & superfund waste

This case was handled by the Environmental Protection Unit and the Tax and Bankruptcy Unit of 

the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce for the Southern District of New York, working closely 

with attorneys from ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement Section. 
wildlife and natural resources | 67

A critical part of the Division’s mission is to protect and promote responsible stewardship of America’s 

wildlife and natural resources. For example, the Division defends decisions by the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior with respect to water use and federal land 

management, actions by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service to protect threatened and endangered species, and regulations and permits that 

provide essential oversight for energy and mineral extraction activities. 

Defending Agency Management of Sensitive Resources 

— Drakes Bay Oyster Co. v. Salazar, is an example of ENRD’s efforts to defend agency decisions that 

protect sensitive marine resources. In this highly contentious litigation, Drakes Bay Oyster Company 

challenged the Secretary of the Interior’s decision to allow a special use permit to expire. The permit 

had allowed the company to operate an oyster farm within Point Reyes National Seashore in San 

Francisco Bay. The expiration of the permit eliminated the last commercial use within a tidal region 

of Point Reyes known as Drakes Estero. After the company’s motions for preliminary relief were 

rejected by the district court and the Ninth Circuit, we engaged in negotiations that led to a settlement 

with the owners of the oyster farm. The consent decree required the company to cease operations 

and leave the sensitive region by the end 2014, which enabled the region to be designated as marine 

wilderness sooner than otherwise could have occurred. The region is now the only marine wilderness 

on the Pacifi c Coast outside of Alaska. 

— In United States v. Copar Pumice Company, 

ENRD reached a favorable settlement of a 

lawsuit fi led against a mining company engaged 

in the unauthorized mining of pumice from El 

Cajete Mine in the Jemez National Recreation 

Area in the Santa Fe National Forest. The 

consent decree resolves the U.S. Department of 

the Interior’s claims against the company and 

four individual mining claimants, including the 

company’s president, for trespass, conversion, 

PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE 

STEWARDSHIP OF AMERICA’S 

WILDLIFE AND NATURAL 

RESOURCES

Drakes Estero Schooner Creek Sunset, Photo by Sara Anzalone/NPS 
68 | wildlife and natural resources

Yosemite National Park, Wikipedia photo

Double-O-Arch Arches National Park, Wikipedia photo 
wildlife and natural resources | 69

and unjust enrichment. The settlement requires the defendants to pay $2,225,000 in damages and to 

forego any rights to mine pumice in the vicinity in the future. 

— ENRD secured an impressive victory in a challenge to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision 

to set aside one million acres of public land near the Grand Canyon, protecting the land from private 

mining for the next 20 years. Various plaintiffs, including trade organizations, a mining company, 

and a coalition of local municipalities, challenged the decision in four consolidated cases. The Division 

obtained favorable rulings on a wide array of claims under the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the National Forest Management Act, and the 

Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. 

— Litigation continues in United States v. South Florida Water Management District (S.D. Fla.), a 

case ENRD fi led in 1988 to compel the restoration of the Florida Everglades. The Division and EPA 

resolved the case through a 1992 consent decree with the Florida Department of Environmental 

Protection and the South Florida Water Management District. The 1992 consent decree set a schedule 

for abatement of phosphorus pollution from agricultural runoff in the Everglades, but litigation 

continued over the meaning of the decree’s provisions and whether it had been complied with. In 

December 2013, the district court entered an order adopting a favorable report of the Special Master 

on additional remedies intended to ensure the state parties comply with the water quality requirements of the consent decree. The court also confi rmed that “[i]n adopting this Report, the Court is not 

relinquishing its remedial oversight over the Consent Decree.” 

— In San Francisco Herring Association v. U.S. Department of the Interior (N.D. Cal.), a trade 

association representing commercial herring fi shermen and buyers challenged the National Park 

Service’s regulation prohibiting commercial herring fi shing within the boundaries of the Golden Gate 

National Recreation Area in California. ENRD persuaded the district court to deny the plaintiff’s 

motion for a preliminary injunction in January 2014, and the court ultimately granted summary 

judgment in ENRD’s favor. The court confi rmed that, under a 1976 amendment to the National Park 

Service Organic Act, the National Park Service has authority to prohibit fi shing by boats on waters 

within National Park boundaries, regardless of whether the federal government has a property interest 

in those waters or the lands underlying them. The 1976 amendment specifi cally authorizes the Park 

Service to “[p]romulgate and enforce regulations concerning boating and other activities on or relating 

to waters located within areas of the National Park System, including waters subject to the jurisdiction 

of the United States.” 

— In Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance v. Jewell (E.D.N.C.), the Cape Hatteras Access 

Preservation Alliance challenged the National Park Service’s regulations governing off-road vehicle 

use in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreation Area in North Carolina. The organization 

alleged violations of NEPA, the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Park Service Organic Act, 

and the National Seashore’s enabling legislation. The regulation was required to be issued under a 

consent decree that resolved an earlier lawsuit, in which the organization intervened as a defendant. 

In June 2014, the district court entered judgment in favor of the National Park Service, rejecting all 

of the organization’s claims on the merits. Among other things, the court concluded that an environmental impact statement prepared for the regulation fully complied with NEPA. 

— The Bureau of Reclamation operates a system of dams and reservoirs in California known as the 

Central Valley Project. Located in the Central Valley Basin in California, the Central Valley Project 

constitutes the largest federal water management project in the United States. Reclamation must 
Cape Hatteras, NPS photo

70 | wildlife and natural resources

coordinate the project’s operations 

with the California Department of 

Water Resources, which operates 

a state water project in the same 

watershed, to export water from 

Northern California through the 

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for 

delivery to southern parts of the 

State of California. In 2008, the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued 

a biological opinion pursuant to 

Section 7 of the Endangered Species 

Act concluding that the operations 

of the federal and state water 

projects were likely to jeopardize 

the continued existence of the delta 

smelt, a threatened species, and that 

the operations are major contributors 

to (although not the exclusive causes of) the delta smelt’s decline. 

In San Luis & Delta Mendota Water Authority v. Jewell, water users challenged the biological 

opinion and management decisions that Reclamation had undertaken to comply with the opinion. 

In issuing a preliminary injunction and then in its fi nal judgment, the district court concluded that 

the biological opinion was arbitrary and capricious. In so ruling, the district court relied extensively 

on four expert witnesses the court had appointed for its own benefi t and on expert witnesses it had 

allowed the parties to present during court hearings. 

On March 13, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed in an exhaustive, partially divided 

opinion. The Ninth Circuit severely criticized the district court for allowing expert witness testimony 

in an Administrative Procedure Act case and for not giving appropriate deference to the Fish and 

Wildlife Service’s scientifi c judgments. The Ninth Circuit also found that the agency had adequately 

analyzed and explained the rationale for its jeopardy conclusion and other analyses. Several of the 

plaintiffs then fi led a petition asking the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision, which 

the Supreme Court denied on January 12, 2015. 

Facilitating Land Management Decisions Designed to Protect Federal 

Lands From and Respond to Catastrophic Fire and Insects 

In the summer of 2013, three large fi res burned hundreds of thousands of acres of National Forest 

System lands in California. ENRD successfully defended initial challenges to the implementation of 

three timber salvage projects designed to remove hazardous trees from roads and trails, to restore 

burned forests, and to recover the value of fi re-killed trees. 

• First, in Center for Biological Diversity v. Skalski, we successfully defended multiple challenges 

to the immediate implementation of the Rim Fire Restoration Project, the largest of the three 

projects. The Rim Fire burned over 250,000 acres, mostly on the Stanislaus National Forest 

near Yosemite National Park. The Rim Project received unprecedented support from local 
Stanislaus National Forest, NPS photo

wildlife and natural resources | 71

governments, local environmental and conservation groups, industry groups, and the Me-Wuk 

Indian Tribe. 

• Second, ENRD prevailed in opposing a motion for preliminary injunction in Earth Island 

Institute v. Gould, allowing the Aspen Recovery and Reforestation Project to proceed on schedule. 

This project is designed in response to the Aspen Fire, which burned over 22,000 acres within the 

Sierra National Forest. 

• Third, the Division successfully opposed a motion for preliminary injunction fi led in Earth 

Island Institute v. Quinn, a challenge to the Big Hope Fire Salvage and Restoration Project. The 

project was designed in response to the American Fire, which burned over 22,000 acres on the 

Tahoe National Forest. Litigation is ongoing, but the Division’s work allowed operations to begin 

promptly, thereby ensuring 

public safety, allowing 

treatment to begin while the 

timber was still commercially valuable, and boosting 

the local economies. 

— In Alliance for the Wild 

Rockies v. Savage (D. Mont.), 

the Division successfully defended a challenge to the Kootenai 

National Forest’s Pilgrim Creek Timber Sale Project, which allows for timber harvest and vegetative 

treatments in forest areas susceptible to fi re and infestation by mountain pine beetles. The plaintiff 

primarily argued the Forest Service could not construct roads that would be closed with barriers after 

project completion. But the court upheld the Forest Service’s conclusion that the construction of such 

roads was not barred by forest plan provisions that limit road mileage for the purpose of protecting 

grizzly bears. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, which worked collaboratively with the Forest Service 

to ensure that the provisions in question also protect ancestral hunting and fi shing rights, fi led an 

amicus brief in support of the project. 

— In Sequoia ForestKeeper v. Elliott (E.D. Cal.), the plaintiffs challenged the Rancheria Forest 

Restoration Project, which was developed by the Forest Service to mitigate the risk of catastrophic 

fi re in the Sierra Nevada National Forest. Even though the Forest Service developed the project in 

collaboration with the public, the plaintiffs argued that the Forest Service violated NEPA by failing to 

circulate adequate information to the public during the preparation of the environmental assessment 

for the project. The court denied the plaintiffs’ arguments, concluding that the plaintiffs were 

adequately informed about the relevant issues, as their extensive comments on the project demonstrated. 

— In Conservation Congress v. U.S. Forest Service (E.D. Cal.), the Division successfully defended a 

challenge to the Algoma Vegetation Management Project in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, which 

was designed to improve forest health, enhance old-growth forest conditions, and protect late-successional and old-growth forest, home to the threatened northern spotted owl, from catastrophic wildfi re. 

In May 2014, the district court issued a favorable decision on all counts, allowing this important 

project to proceed. 

— The Division also successfully defended the Millie Hazard Tree Removal Project, which involves 

the removal of hazard trees along fi fteen miles of road, in Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Krueger (D. 
Payette National Forest, USFS photo

72 | wildlife and natural resources

Mont.). A fi re had killed and weakened the trees, which created a risk that they could fall and impair 

the Gallatin National Forest transportation network. 

Defending the Bureau of Land Management’s and the Forest Service’s 

Land Management Discretion 

In addition to defending agency land management decisions that address the risk of wildfi re and 

insect infestation and the effects of wildfi re, the Division successfully defended land management 

decisions in a variety of other contexts. 

— On March 25, 2014, the district court in Idaho Wool Growers Association v. Vilsack rejected 

a challenge by industry groups to the U.S. Forest Service’s plan for protecting wild populations of 

bighorn sheep in the Payette National Forest. The plan focused on protecting the bighorn sheep from 

catastrophic disease outbreaks caused by contact with infected domestic sheep in the Hells Canyon 

and Salmon River areas of Idaho. After extensive scientifi c analysis, the Forest Service developed a 

balanced plan that protected bighorn sheep populations while at the same time allowing domestic 

sheep grazing to continue, to the extent that it did not pose an unacceptable risk to bighorn sheep. 

The Forest Service’s efforts have received support from the Nez Perce Tribe, environmental groups, 

and hunters. 

— The Division has continued to successfully defend the Forest Service’s efforts to use active forest 

management to help improve forest health and wildlife habitat. For example, the Forest Service’s Jazz 

Project in Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest is designed 

to restore the historical diversity of habitats and trees 

species and to expedite the development of old growth 

habitat. The project seeks to accomplish these goals by 

thinning and selectively removing trees in an area that 

was clearcut 30 to 60 years ago and replanted with a 

single type of tree. At the same time, the project serves 

the Forest Service’s statutory obligation to provide a 

supply of commercial timber, and will create or maintain 

125 jobs for the local economy. ENRD successfully 

defended the project in BARK v. Northrup (D. Ore.), and 

the Forest Service has been able to move forward with 

this important work while the matter is addressed on 

appeal. 

— In Partners in Forestry Cooperative v. U.S. Forest 

Service (W.D. Mich.), the Division successfully defended the Delich 

land exchange in the Ottawa National Forest. The land exchange 

conveyed a single parcel of private land to the Forest Service in exchange for fi ve scattered parcels 

of federal land in Ontonagon County. The plaintiffs argued that the Forest Service did not consider 

the unique characteristics of the area, public concerns about the project, or the environmental effects 

of the land exchange. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge in its entirety. The land exchange 

will facilitate the restoration, protection, and management of forest resources, and provide enhanced 

recreation opportunities in the Ottawa National Forest. The land exchange also reduces management 

costs and improves land management effi ciencies for the Forest Service. 
White River National Forest, USDA photo

— In Ark Initiative v. Tidwell (D.D.C.), the Division successfully defended a challenge brought by 

an environmental advocacy group against a Forest Service project designed to enhance an existing 

ski egress trail in the White River National Forest in Colorado. This case is the latest in a series of 

challenges to the management of the ski area. The project creates a safe and clearly marked trail 

for advanced skiers to exit terrain on Burnt Mountain and return to other trails in the Snowmass 

Ski Area. The plaintiffs argued that the project was located in a protected roadless area and that 

the Forest Service did not adequately consider the characteristics of the area or the environmental 

effects of the project. The court upheld the agency in all respects, concluding that the Forest Service 

evaluated all aspects of the project and 

“ultimately arrived at a well-considered and 

lawful decision.” 

— Sequoia ForestKeeper v. Benson (E.D. Cal.), 

concerns a challenge to the Hume Roadside 

and Recreation Site Hazard Tree Project in 

the Giant Sequoia National Monument, which 

proposed to fell and remove hazard trees along 

forest roads and in several campgrounds and 

recreation sites to allow for safe public access 

and use. Alleging that the removal of felled 

trees violated the Presidential Proclamation 

establishing the Monument, Sequoia ForestKeeper fi led a motion to enjoin the Project, 

threatening closure of the campgrounds and 

recreational sites for the 2014 summer season 

due to safety concerns. The Division successfully negotiated a solution that allowed the Forest Service to fell the hazard trees and allow the public 

to safely recreate in this extraordinary landscape. 

— In New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance v. U.S. Forest Service (D.N.M.), the district court 

denied the plaintiff’s challenge to the Motorized Travel Management Plan for the Santa Fe National 

Forest. The plaintiff argued that the travel management plan did not comply with NEPA, and its 

principal argument was that the Forest Service failed to analyze the environmental impacts of a 

properly-defi ned “no-action” alternative. The court, however, held that the agency did not act 

arbitrarily or capriciously in defi ning the “no action” alternative. The court’s decision permits the 

Forest Service to proceed with the implementation of its travel management plan governing public 

motorized access to the Santa Fe National Forest. 

— In Cascadia Wildlands v. Bureau of Indian Affairs (D. Or.), a coalition of environmental groups 

challenged the Bureau of Indian Affair’s decision to authorize a timber sale on the Coquille National 

Forest in southwestern Oregon. The forest lands at issue are held in trust by the United States for the 

Coquille Indian Tribe, and the project will provide vital funding to the Tribe. The plaintiffs brought 

two claims under the Coquille Restoration Act and NEPA, both of which the district court denied. 

First, the court held that the Coquille Restoration Act did not require the sale to comply with the 

revised recovery plan for the Northern Spotted Owl. Second, the court held that the environmental 

assessment prepared for the project adequately disclosed and analyzed the cumulative environmental 

impacts of ongoing projects. 

wildlife and natural resources | 73
— In Maughan v. Vilsack (D. Idaho), a coalition of environmental groups challenged the Idaho 

Department of Fish and Game’s deployment of a hunter to exterminate two wolf packs in the Frank 

Church Wilderness Area in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. The State believed the packs were 

harming the local elk population. The plaintiffs claimed that the Forest Service violated NEPA, the 

National Forest Management Act, and the Wilderness Act when it allowed the state agency to use a 

public airstrip and a Forest Service administrative cabin. After ENRD successfully defended against 

the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the parties engaged in negotiations that led to the 

voluntary dismissal of the case. The Division was able to work cooperatively with the State of Idaho to 

reach a favorable resolution to the litigation. 

Defending Federal Water Rights and Reclamation Projects 

During the 2014 water year, the State of California suffered one of the worst droughts on record, 

resulting in a wave of emergency litigation in the summer of 2014. ENRD attorneys defeated several 

efforts by various plaintiffs to obtain temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions. 

Our litigation efforts made it possible for the Department of the Interior to implement emergency 

measures to protect the ecosystems of sensitive species and the holders of senior water rights. 

• In Friant Water Authority v. Jewell, several water districts sued the Bureau of Reclamation, 

challenging its release of water from the Friant Dam to landowners (holding senior water rights) 

along the San Joaquin River. The plaintiffs alleged that Reclamation’s Drought Plan—developed 

in consultation with the State Department of Water Resources—violates contract rights, relevant 

statutory authority, and provisions of California state law. We successfully opposed the plaintiffs’ 

motion for a temporary restraining order. 

• In Aqualliance v. Bureau of Reclamation, environmental plaintiffs sought to prevent water 

deliveries based on allegations that the Bureau of Reclamation failed to properly consider the 

potential impacts on the threatened Delta Smelt. The court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for 

a preliminary injunction, fi nding that, “with respect to the challenge to the content of the [the 

agency’s environmental assessment], plaintiffs do not [even] present a ‘fair chance of success on 

the merits.’” 

• Finally, in San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. Jewell, agricultural water users sought 

a temporary restraining order to prevent the Bureau of Reclamation from releasing up to 62,000 

acre-feet of water from the Trinity and Lewiston Reservoirs near Klamath, California. The agency 

was seeking to reduce the likelihood of a disease outbreak among Chinook salmon that could 

result in a large scale die-off. The court denied the temporary restraining order. 

— In Navajo Nation v. U.S. Department of the Interior (D. Ariz.), the United States District Court for 

the District of Arizona dismissed a lawsuit fi led by the Navajo Nation challenging the Department of 

the Interior’s management of the Lower Basin of the Colorado River. The Navajo Nation asserted a 

breach-of-trust claim based on the Department of the Interior’s alleged failure to quantify and account 

for the Nation’s unmet water needs. The Navajo Nation further claimed that Interior violated NEPA 

in its management of the Lower Basin. 

After eight years of settlement negotiations failed to resolve the dispute, the district court granted our 

motion to dismiss the case in its entirety for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court dismissed 

the Navajo Nation’s breach-of-trust claim, holding that the Nation failed to identify any specifi c 

duty owed to it by the United States beyond a general trust obligation. The court further held that 

74 | wildlife and natural resources
Lewiston Dam, USBR photo

wildlife and natural resources | 75

the breach-of-trust claim was barred by the federal government’s sovereign immunity. The court 

also ruled that the Navajo Nation lacks standing to raise NEPA challenges to Interior’s management 

programs for the Lower Basin. The court explained that the 

Nation could not demonstrate that it had suffered an injury-infact, one of the requisite elements of standing, because to the 

extent the Navajo Nation has reserved water rights, Interior’s 

management programs do not interfere with those rights. 

— In fi scal year 2014, the district court in United States v. 

Orr Water Ditch Co. (D. Nev.), granted our request to modify 

a consent decree approved in the early 1940s, removing a 

signifi cant obstacle to carrying out an important agreement that 

will allocate the waters of Lake Tahoe and the Truckee and 

Carson Rivers among states, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, 

and other stakeholders. In the early twentieth century, the 

United States brought three cases to secure water and water rights for the 

Newlands Project and for Pyramid Lake, including Orr Water Ditch Co. The fi nal decrees in these 

cases confi rmed certain rights to the United States and are still actively administered and enforced 

today. 

In 2008, the United States, the State of Nevada, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, the Pyramid 

Lake Paiute Tribe, and the Washoe County Water Conservation District executed the Truckee River 

Operating Agreement, which primarily allocates the waters of Lake Tahoe and the Truckee and 

Carson Rivers among states, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, and stakeholders. This agreement was 

conditionally codifi ed by Congress in the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act 

of 1990. It was also promulgated as a federal regulation in 2009. 

Subsequently, the parties to the Truckee River Operating Agreement fi led a joint motion in Orr 

Water Ditch Co. to amend the decree to incorporate the agreement. In granting the joint motion, the 

court found that changes of fact and law justifi ed the modifi cations, and rejected various arguments 

asserted by entities challenging the modifi cation. This decision removes the most signifi cant obstacle 

to meeting the federal statutory requirements for the Truckee River Operating Agreement to become 

fully effective. 

— The Division had several major accomplishments last year in our ongoing litigation in the State of 

Montana’s general stream adjudication for all 90 basins in the State, the Montana General Adjudication (Montana Water Court). 

• In Korman & South Philips Water Group v. Bureau of Land Management, certain objectors 

contested the Bureau of Land Management’s claims for water rights for stock water use. They 

argued that, as owners of the stock that drink the water, they should be substituted for the United 

States as the claim owners. The objectors also opposed the agency’s claims for water rights for 

wildlife use. Last year, the Water Master entered favorable decisions granting summary judgment 

to the United States, confi rming the United States’ water rights. 

• In National Bison Range Wildlife Refuge Water Right Claims, a pro se objector opposed entry 

of a judicial decree approving a compact between the United States and the State of Montana 

that quantifi es the federal government’s water rights for the 18,000-acre National Bison Range 

Wildlife Refuge. The National Bison Range is in Lake and Sanders Counties, Montana, and is 
Bison Range NWR, FWS photo

administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the Confederated Salish 

and Kootenai Tribes. The compact had been approved by the United States and the Montana 

state legislature years ago, but was submitted to the Montana water court to address the objection. 

Last year, the water court granted our motion for summary judgment and approved the compact. 

The compact provides the National Bison Range with a federal reserved water right for wildlife 

and administrative uses, and recognizes an unqualifi ed right to use water for fi re suppression. 

Successful Implementation of the Endangered Species Act 

Congress enacted the Endangered Species Act (ESA) “to provide a means whereby the ecosystems 

upon which endangered and threatened species depend may be conserved, [and] to provide a 

program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species.” Congress 

authorized the Departments of the Interior and Commerce, acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, respectively, to achieve this objective by listing 

imperiled species and designating critical habitat for such species. 

These two agencies play an important role in ensuring that other federal agencies comply with the 

ESA, such as by analyzing whether an action proposed 

by another federal agency is likely to jeopardize 

the existence of a listed species. In addition, the 

two agencies enforce the Endangered Species Act’s 

prohibition against the unauthorized taking of listed 

species. When a plaintiff claims that a federal agency 

has violated the Endangered Species Act in making a 

decision, ENRD defends the agency in federal district 

courts and courts of appeals. 

— In fi scal year 2014, we achieved favorable results in 

several ESA cases, thereby allowing full and effective 

implementation of the Act and its protections. For 

example, in Markle Interests v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife 

Service (E.D. La.), landowners challenged the designation of unoccupied 

critical habitat for the highly endangered dusky gopher frog. Currently, there are at most 100 frogs 

in the wild and only one viable breeding population located in Mississippi. The plaintiffs raised 

various claims, including a claim that the designation of unoccupied critical habitat on private land 

exceeds Congress’ authority under the Commerce Clause. After summary judgment briefi ng and oral 

argument, the court upheld the designation in its entirety and rejected the constitutional challenges to 

the Endangered Species Act. In so doing, the court allowed protections for this highly imperiled frog 

to remain in effect. 

— Likewise, in Aina Nui Corp. v. Jewell (D. Haw.), we successfully defended a challenge to the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service’s fi nal rule listing 23 species and revising the critical habitat designations for 

99 other species. Many of these species are native Hawaiian plants, found only on the islands, or even 

only on the island of Oahu. In this action, a corporation that owns land included in the critical habitat 

designation brought a number of procedural and substantive challenges to the rule. After summary 

judgment briefi ng and oral argument, the court upheld the critical habitat designation in its entirety. 

76 | wildlife and natural resources
wildlife and natural resources | 77

Defending National Marine Fisheries Service’s Management of Ocean 

Fisheries 

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other related statutes charge 

the National Marine Fisheries Service with the diffi cult 

task of managing ocean commercial fi shing to provide for 

conservation and sustainable fi shing while, at the same 

time, optimizing fi shing yield. In fi scal year 2014, ENRD 

again successfully defended various fi shery management 

actions that were necessary to meet these objectives. 

— For example, in Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

v. Pritzker (D. Mass.), the States of Massachusetts and 

New Hampshire challenged Frameworks 48 and 50, 

which regulate New England’s groundfi sh fi shery. The 

frameworks reduced certain catch limits to prevent overfi shing 

and to rebuild overfi shed stocks. Massachusetts argued that the limits would effectively close down 

the entire fi shery. After briefi ng and oral argument, the court upheld the rule in its entirety. At 

the same time, in Oceana, Inc. v. Pritzker (D.D.C.), ENRD successfully defended against claims by 

environmental groups that Framework 48 was too lenient. In so doing, the Division ensured that the 

National Marine Fisheries Service can implement balanced policies for protecting the fi shery without 

causing undue economic hardship. 

— The Division had similar success in Pacifi c Dawn, LLC v. Pritzker (N.D. Cal.), where it successfully 

defended against a challenge by commercial fi shing interests to a fi shing quota program for the west 

coast groundfi sh fi shery. The fi shing quota program seeks to ensure that the harvest of Pacifi c whiting 

can continue at sustainable levels. The Division obtained a similar result in United Cook Inlet Drift 

Association v. National Marine Fisheries Service (D. Alaska), in which the court upheld regulations 

implementing Amendment 12 to the Fishery Management Plan for salmon fi sheries off the coast of 

Alaska. Industry participants were dissatisfi ed with the fact that the rule gives the State of Alaska 

management authority in certain areas. While this case raised several novel issues, Division attorneys 

obtained summary judgment on all claims. 

— Fair enforcement of fi shery regulations is also critical to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s 

fi shery program. Consistent with that objective, in H&L Axelsson, Inc. v. Pritzker (D.N.J.), Division 

attorneys successfully defended the agency’s assessment of a $54,000 penalty against H&L Axelsson 

and its owners for failing on 27 occasions to submit required reports concerning their harvest of 

3.25 million pounds of Atlantic herring. These reporting requirements are essential to ensuring that 

fi sheries are harvested in a sustainable manner. In successfully defending the agency’s enforcement 

decision, ENRD ensured a level playing fi eld for all participants in the Atlantic herring fi shery. 

Successful Implementation of the Convention on International Trade 

in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (“CITES”) 

The United States is a signatory to CITES, a multilateral treaty that aims to protect vulnerable wildlife 

by regulating trade in species that are threatened with extinction, as well as species that are not 

necessarily threatened with extinction at present, but may become so unless trade in such species is 

Dusky Gopher Frog, FWS photo
78 | wildlife and natural resources

subject to strict regulation. CITES ensures that trade in these species is regulated and sustainable by 

way of standardized import and export permits and other mechanisms. 

— Of note this past year was Safari Club International v. Jewell (D.D.C.), involving a challenge 

by hunting organizations under the Endangered 

Species Act and CITES to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service’s decision to suspend pending further 

review the importation of sport-hunted elephant 

trophies from Zimbabwe and Tanzania in 2014. The 

agency imposed the suspension due to deteriorating 

conditions for elephants in those two countries. 

Hunting interests swiftly moved for an emergency 

injunction seeking to enjoin the moratorium. 

After briefi ng by ENRD on an expedited basis, the 

court denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary 

injunction, thereby allowing the prohibition to remain in effect and 

provide needed protection to the elephants. 

In fi scal year 2014, ENRD also successfully concluded its fi rst CITES civil forfeiture action in more 

than a decade in In re 1,016 Yacare Caiman Skins (E.D.N.Y.). ENRD obtained forfeiture of 1,016 

Yacare caiman skins from Bolivia (pictured below) that a leather manufacturing company sought to 

import through JFK Airport in New York in violation of CITES requirements. 

Co-Chairing the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Traffi cking 

Illegal traffi cking in wildlife, plants and timber, and marine creatures has reached epidemic 

proportions. It is both a critical conservation concern and a threat to regional stability and global 

security. Because of this, on July 1, 2013, President Obama signed Executive Order 13648, establishing a new Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Traffi cking. Since that time, the Division has 

represented the Department of Justice on this task force, which is co-chaired by the Attorney General 

and the Secretaries of State and the Interior, or their designees. The Task Force also includes seniorlevel representatives from 14 additional federal departments and agencies, including the Departments 

of Commerce, Treasury, Defense, Agriculture, and Homeland Security. 

The Executive Order recognizes that because wildlife traffi cking is an escalating international crisis, 

it is in the national interest of the United States to increase efforts to combat wildlife traffi cking. The 

Executive Order calls for a “whole-of-government” approach that will both strengthen anti-traffi cking 

efforts already underway in ENRD and other federal agencies and elevate illegal wildlife traffi cking as 

a priority for additional agencies whose missions include law enforcement, trade regulation, national 

security, international relations, or global development. 

In fi scal year 2014, ENRD worked in close coordination with the other Task Force agencies to draft the 

fi rst-ever National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Traffi cking, which was issued by the President on 

February 12, 2014. ENRD subsequently worked in close coordination with other Task Force agencies 

to draft a national implementation plan for the strategy, which the President issued in February 2015. 

African Elephant, FWS photo
ENFORCING THE NATION’S 

CRIMINAL POLLUTION AND 

WILDLIFE LAWS

Key Deer , Wikipedia photo

 

ENRD’s Environmental Crimes 

Section, in partnership with 

U.S. Attorneys’ Offi ces and 

investigative agents at a host of 

federal agencies, is responsible 

for prosecuting criminal 

violations that arise under a 

wide variety of statutes. These 

statutes can be broken into two 

broad categories: (1) those that 

protect the environment and 

public health and safety from 

unlawful pollution, such as the 

Clean Air Act, the Clean Water 

Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the 

Act to Prevent Pollution from 

Ships; and (2) those that protect wild animals and plants from unlawful 

poaching, harvesting, and profi teering, such as the Endangered Species 

Act, the Lacey Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 

Protecting the Environment, Public Health, and Worker Safety

— P&W Waste Oil Services, Inc., of North Carolina collected used oil from automotive service 

stations, transformer repair companies, and marinas to blend for industrial use. The company’s 

facility was located near the Cape Fear River and a federally recognized wetland. The operation 

included a tank farm consisting of tanks ranging from 20,000 to 500,000 gallons in capacity. 

In July 2009, a company employee collected and transported waste oil containing fl uid from fi ve 

transformers that was contaminated with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in concentrations 

in excess of 500 parts per million. Despite knowledge of an investigation into the company’s 

enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws | 79
Black Rhinoceros, Wikipedia photo

Potomac River at Goose Creek, Wikipedia photo

80 | enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws
enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws | 81

illegal handling of PCB-contaminated used oil, company owner Benjamin Franklin Pass and 

a company employee continued to unlawfully dilute and sell the contaminated used oil. The 

mishandling of the PCB-contaminated used oil led to wide-spread contamination at the tank 

farm and at the sites of other companies that accepted the contaminated oil. 

Benjamin Franklin Pass and P&W Waste Oil Services pleaded guilty to a variety of charges, 

including two Toxic Substances Control Act violations, a false statement charge, and tax-related 

charges. On July 16, 2014, the court sentenced Pass to serve 42 months’ incarceration, to pay 

$538,857 to the Internal Revenue Service for taxes he failed to pay between 2002 and 2011, and 

to pay $21,373,143 in restitution for clean-up costs associated with the environmental contamination at his business and other affected victim-businesses. The court sentenced the company 

to a fi ve-year term of probation and joint and several liability for the restitution. The court also 

ordered the company to take remedial action to address the environmental contamination at its 

facility and other leased property in eastern North Carolina.

— From October 2005 through June 2009, Steven Murray directed employees of his pest control 

services company, Bio-Tech Management Inc., to use outdoor pesticides indoors, contrary to 

instructions provided by the manufacturer and in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, 

and Rodenticide Act. Employees of Murray’s company repeatedly misapplied the registered 

pesticide Termidor SC in nursing homes in the State of Georgia. After the Georgia Department 

of Agriculture made inquiries regarding Bio-Tech Management’s misuse of Termidor and other 

pesticides, Murray directed several of his employees to alter the service reports in order to cover 

up the misuse and obstruct the investigation. 

Murray and Bio-Tech Management pleaded guilty to conspiracy, violations of the Federal 

Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, false statements, and mail fraud. On August 

27, 2014, the court sentenced Murray to 24 months’ incarceration, followed by one year of 

supervised release, and also ordered him to pay a $7,500 fi ne. The court sentenced Bio-Tech 

Management to pay a $50,000 fi ne and to complete a three-year term of probation. 

— Between November 2011 and February 2012, John Mills, the owner of a New York real estate 

holding company, and chief supervisor Terrence Allen directed the unlawful removal of thermal 

system insulation or “pipe wrap” that contained asbestos from several buildings owned by Mills 

and occupied by various tenants. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and a hazardous pollutant 

subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. Mills and Allen directed a maintenance employee 

to remove the pipe wrap without warning him that the material contained asbestos or providing 

him with adequate personal protective equipment. This material was then transported in open 

bags in the uncovered bed of a truck and stored in a U-Haul-style box truck owned by Mills and 

a shed maintained by the City of Malone’s Department of Public Works in an effort to conceal 

the material from authorities. 

Mills and Allen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Comprehensive Environmental 

Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and substantive violations of that statute for the 

illegal removal, handling, and disposal of asbestos. On September 8, 2014, the court sentenced 

both men to serve 21 months’ incarceration, followed by two years’ supervised release. The 

court also ordered Mills to pay a $25,000 fi ne. 

— Tonawanda Coke Corporation operated a merchant by-product coke facility in Tonawanda, 

New York. Coke is used in the steel-mill and foundry industries as an additive in the steel-
Chemical Waste Drum , Wikipedia photo

82 | enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws

making process. An investigation of the facility uncovered a number of intentional environmental criminal violations. First, the company had operated an unpermitted coke oven gas 

emission source at its facility. Gas emissions from this illegal source contained several chemical 

compounds, including benzene, a known carcinogen that is subject to regulation as a hazardous 

air pollutant under the Clean Air Act. 

Second, Tonawanda Coke Corporation was subject to a Clean Air Act Act permit that required it 

to install and maintain baffl es in its quench towers to reduce the amount of particulate matter 

that escapes into the atmosphere during coke processing. The company had operated its towers 

for years without baffl es. Finally, the company illegally stored and disposed of waste coal tar 

sludge without safeguards to prevent release into the environment, in violation of the Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act, for approximately 19 years. Prior to an EPA inspection in April 

2009, Mark Kamholz, the environmental manager at the facility, instructed another employee to 

conceal violations from inspectors. Kamholz also was responsible for conduct giving rise to the 

Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations. 

After a fi ve-week trial, Tonawanda Coke Corporation was convicted of eleven Clean Air Act 

violations that took place over a fi ve-year period, and three Resource Conservation and Recovery 

Act violations that took place over a 19-year period. Kamholz was found guilty of eleven Clean 

Air Act violations, three Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations, and obstruction 

of justice. In March 2014, the court sentenced the company to pay a $12.5 million fi ne and 

$12.2 million in community service. The court also placed the company on a fi ve-year term 

of probation, during which it is to pay its community service and fi ne. This money will fund 

an epidemiological study and an air and soil study to help determine the extent of health and 

environmental impacts of the coke facility on the Tonawanda community. The court sentenced 

Kamholz to one year and a day in jail, one year supervised release, a $20,000 fi ne, and 100 

hours of community service. 

— Harcros Chemicals Inc., a Kansas chemical manufacturing facility, manufactured and sold surfactants, 

emulsifi ers, custom organics, and other chemical-based 

products. It also operated approximately eight laboratories 

for the development and testing of new chemicals. In May 

2006, Harcros employees created an inventory of more than 

200 chemicals in containers that were no longer in use with 

the intent to dispose of about half of those materials. A 

December 2008 inspection by local regulators revealed that 

most of the substances listed were still on site. A number 

of these chemicals were considered extremely hazardous in 

nature and their production dated back to the 1960s. 

On September 25, 2014, Harcros Chemicals pleaded guilty 

to a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violation 

for the unlawful storage of hazardous wastes. The court 

sentenced the company to pay a $1.5 million fi ne and 

complete a two-year term of probation. 
enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws | 83

Fighting Pollution from Ocean-Going Vessels

In the late 1990’s, the Division began its Vessel Pollution Initiative to address intentional acts of 

pollution from ocean-going vessels. At the end of fi scal year 2014, criminal penalties imposed 

in these vessel pollution cases totaled more than $344 million in fi nes and more than 27 years of 

confi nement. 

— During a November 2012 inspection of the M/T Bow Lind, a petroleum/chemical tanker 

ship, U.S. Coast Guard investigators discovered that the vessel had discharged oily bilge water 

directly into the sea on multiple occasions while in international waters. Chief Engineer Ramil 

Leuterio had directed crew members to bypass pollution 

prevention equipment and then concealed the illegal 

discharges by making misleading entries, and omissions, 

in the vessel’s oil record book. Ship owner Odfjell Asia 

II Pte Ltd. and Leuterio pleaded guilty to violations of 

the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. On May 14, 

2014, the court sentenced Leuterio to serve three months’ 

incarceration, and ordered it to pay a $900,000 fi ne and 

$300,000 community service payment and to implement 

an environmental compliance plan. 

In December 2013, Matthaios Fafalios, Chief Engineer aboard the M/V Trident Navigator, 

ordered a crew member to construct a bypass in order to illegally discharge oily bilge waste 

overboard. Several metric tons of waste were discharged, circumventing the ship’s oil-water 

separator and oil content monitor. The 

discharges were not recorded in the oil record 

book, as required under applicable regulations. 

Fafalios confi scated a crew member’s cell phone 

that contained a photograph of the bypass and 

deleted the picture. 

On January 18, 2014, U.S. Coast Guard 

personnel boarded the ship while it was 

anchored in the Mississippi River near New 

Orleans, Louisiana. A tip from a crewmember 

resulted in the discovery of the bypass. Fafalios 

was uncooperative and further obstructed 

the Coast Guard investigation by instructing 

crewmembers to falsely deny knowledge of 

the bypass. Fafalios was charged with failing to maintain an accurate oil 

record book, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. In December 

2014, a jury convicted Fafalios on all three counts. Ship operator Marine Managers Ltd. pleaded 

guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and to obstruction of justice. On 

October 2, 2014, the court ordered the company to pay an $800,000 fi ne, to make a $100,000 

community service payment, and to implement an environmental compliance plan. 

— From October 2011 through September 2012, Ioannis Prokakis, and Antonios Boumpoutelos, 

Chief Engineer and Second Engineer aboard the vessel M/V Thetis, routinely ordered unlawful 

overboard discharges of sludge and bilge wastes, then concealed the conduct by directing others 

Oil Tanker , DOJ photo

Oil Tanker , DOJ photo
to falsify the ship’s oil record book and hide bypass piping that was used to make the discharges. 

The defendants, which included the two crew members and Diana Shipping Services S.A., the 

ship operator, were charged with and convicted at trial of conspiracy, a violation of the Act to 

Prevent Pollution from Ships, obstruction of justice, and falsifi cation of records. On December 

5, 2013, Prokakis and Boumpoutelos were sentenced to serve one-year terms of probation. The 

company was ordered to pay a $1.1 million fi ne, to implement an environmental compliance 

plan, and to complete a 3.5-year term of probation. 

Protecting Wildlife Through Enforcement

Federal criminal enforcement of wildlife protection statutes is a critical factor in deterring the 

illegal killing and commercialization of wildlife, fi sh, and plants, and augments the wildlife 

protection efforts of states, tribes, and foreign governments. Criminal prosecutions for these 

violations focus on both individual and corporate perpetrators, and result in fi nes, imprisonment, community service, and restitution to help mitigate the harm caused by the violations, as 

well as forfeiture of the illicit profi ts and instrumentalities used to commit the crimes.

Operation Crash

— “Operation Crash” is an ongoing nationwide effort led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

and ENRD in conjunction with U.S. Attorneys’ Offi ces to investigate and prosecute those 

involved in the black market trade of rhinoceros horns and other protected species. (A “crash” 

is a herd of rhinoceroses.) All rhinoceros species are protected under United States and international law, and the black rhinoceros is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. 

Several major dealers in the illegal rhino horn trade were successfully prosecuted in 2014. 

— Zhifei Li, the owner of Overseas Treasure Finding in Shandong, China, was in the business 

of selling rhino horns to factories where they would 

be carved into fake antiques and then resold. Horns 

that Li acquired were smuggled across international 

borders. The horns were hidden by a variety of means, 

including by wrapping them in duct tape, hiding 

them in porcelain vases that were falsely described on 

customs and shipping documents, and labeling them as 

porcelain vases or handicrafts. The pieces leftover from 

the carving process were sold for alleged “medicinal” 

purposes. 

Li admitted that he was the “boss” of three antique 

dealers in the United States whom he paid to help 

obtain wildlife items and smuggle to him through Hong 

Kong. Rhino carvings valued as much as $242,500 

were sold to Li’s customers in China. Shortly after 

arriving in the United States in January 2013, Li was 

arrested on federal charges in New Jersey. Prior to 

his arrest, he had purchased two endangered black 

rhinoceros horns from an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent 

in a Miami Beach hotel room for $59,000. 

84 | enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws

Rhino Horns , DOJ photo
Li pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle and to violate the Lacey 

Act, six smuggling violations, one Lacey Act traffi cking violation, 

and two counts of making false wildlife documents. Li admitted to 

being the organizer of an illegal wildlife smuggling conspiracy in 

which 30 raw rhinoceros horns (worth approximately $3 million) 

were smuggled from the United States to China. On May 27, 2014, 

the court sentenced Li to serve 70 months’ incarceration. He also 

will forfeit $3.5 million in proceeds from his criminal activity, as 

well as several Asian artifacts.

— In 2010, Michael Slattery traveled from England to Texas to 

acquire black rhinoceros horns. Slattery and others used a day 

laborer with a Texas driver’s license as a straw buyer to purchase 

two horns from an auction house in Austin. Slattery and his 

co-conspirators then traveled to New York where they presented 

a fraudulent Endangered Species Act bill of sale and sold those 

two horns, and two others, for $50,000. Slattery pleaded guilty to 

conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act. On January 10, 2014, the court 

sentenced him to serve 14 months’ incarceration, pay a $10,000 fi ne, 

and forfeit $50,000 of proceeds from his illegal trade in rhinoceros horns. 

Protecting Fisheries

— Charles Wertz was a Long Island, New York, fi sherman who fi shed for fl uke from a federally 

licensed fi shing vessel, the F/V Norseman, which he operated with his father. Wertz’s father, a 

fi sh dealer and the holder of a federal fi sheries dealer permit, owned and operated C&C Ocean 

Fishery Ltd. Charles Wertz also worked as a company employee. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s regulations require federally licensed 

vessels like the Norseman to fi le Fishing Vessel Trip Reports with the federal government. 

The fi rst person or entity to purchase fi sh from a federally licensed fi shing vessel, such as 

C&C Ocean Fishery, is called a fi sh dealer. Regulations require that fi sh dealers submit 

Fishing Vessel Trip Reports setting forth the type and amount of fi sh that they purchase. This 

information is used by the agency in its ongoing effort to manage annual harvests to ensure that 

America’s fi sheries remain healthy and sustainable. Incorrect or missing data skews statistical 

catch models and can have a detrimental effect on the livelihood of the fi shing community by 

disrupting the fi gures used in allocating fi shing quotas. 

Between May 2009 and December 2011, Wertz and C&C Ocean Fishery overharvested approximately 86,000 pounds of fl uke with an estimated value of almost $200,000. In an effort to 

conceal their activities, they submitted falsifi ed documentation to the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration. Wertz and C&C Ocean Fishery pleaded guilty to wire fraud and 

falsifi cation of records. On November 22, 2013, the court sentenced Wertz to serve one year 

and a day of incarceration, to pay a $5,000 fi ne and $99,800 in restitution, and to perform 

100 hours of community service. The court sentenced the company to pay a $275,000 fi ne and 

held it jointly and severally liable for the restitution. The court also ordered the defendants 

to relinquish their federal fi shing permits, to divest themselves of any interest in the F/V 

Norseman, and to dissolve the company. 

enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws | 85

Rhino Horns , DOJ photo
86 | enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws

— On June 26, 2014, David Braley and John Whitworth were sentenced for their involvement 

in the illegal harvesting of Gulf reef fi sh along the Alabama and northern Florida Gulf Coasts 

in 2012 and 2013. The court sentenced Braley to serve a total of 63 months’ incarceration: 30 

months for a violation of the Lacey Act and a 63-month concurrent sentence for retaliation 

against a witness who had provided information in connection with the case (Braley had 

threatened physical violence against the witness through Facebook postings). The court further 

ordered Braley to pay $3,700 in restitution to the owner of the vessel he used to illegally catch 

and sell the fi sh and $319 to the National Marine Fisheries Service (which is three percent of 

the $10,660 market value of his documented illegal catch). The court sentenced Whitworth to 

complete a three-year term of probation and pay $14,050 in restitution. In addition, a total of 

eight defendants pleaded guilty to Lacey Act violations in connection with this illegal fi shing 

scheme. James Martin, who participated in the criminal activities with Braley and Whitworth, 

had earlier been sentenced to serve fi ve months’ incarceration, followed by fi ve months’ home 

confi nement, as a special condition of three years’ supervised release. 

Safeguarding Protected Species

— Robroy MacInnes and Robert Keszey 

co-owned a well-known reptile dealership, 

Glades Herp Farm Inc., based in Florida. 

Keszey formerly hosted the Discovery 

Channel show “Swamp Brothers.” From 

2006 through 2008, the men collected 

protected snakes from the wild in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, purchased protected 

eastern timber rattlesnakes (which had 

been unlawfully collected from the wild in 

violation of New York law), and transported 

threatened eastern indigo snakes and 

eastern timber rattlesnakes between Florida 

and Pennsylvania. 

The two men were charged with Lacey Act violations and 

conspiracy. In November 2013, MacInnes and Keszey were 

tried and found guilty of conspiracy to traffi c in protected reptiles. MacInnes also was convicted 

of traffi cking in protected timber rattlesnakes in violation of the Lacey Act. The evidence at 

trial showed that the snakes were destined for sale at reptile shows in Europe, where a single 

timber rattlesnake can sell for $800. Snakes that were not sold in Europe were sold through the 

defendants’ business in the United States. The eastern indigos were intended for domestic sale, 

where a single snake may fetch $1,000. In addition to traffi cking in illegal animals, the two men 

attempted to persuade a witness not to provide the government with information regarding their 

illegal dealings. On December 5, 2014, the court sentenced MacInnes to serve 18 months’ incarceration and to pay a $4,000 fi ne. It sentenced Keszey to serve 12 months’ incarceration and to 

pay a $2,000 fi ne. 

— Christopher Loncarich outfi tted and guided hunts for mountain lions and bobcats in the Book 

Cliffs Mountains, which span the Colorado-Utah border. The hunting season for these cats runs 

from November to March, when snow is likely to be on the ground. Typically, dogs are used to 

Eastern Timber Rattlesnake , Wikipedia photo
enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws | 87

discover a cat’s tracks in the snow. They 

follow the cat until they corner it, enabling 

the hunter to kill it. Between 2007 and 

2010, Loncarich and his assistant guides 

trapped the cats in cages prior to hunts 

and released them when the client was 

nearby. They resorted to shooting the 

cats in the paws or legs or placing leghold 

traps on them to keep the cats from 

moving. Despite knowing that many of 

these hunters did not have proper tags or 

licenses to take the animals in Utah, the 

defendants helped them bring the cats 

back to Colorado and provided false seals 

for the hides. Loncarich sold mountain 

lion hunts for between $3,500 and $7,500 

and bobcat hunts for between $700 and $1,500. 

Loncarich pleaded guilty to a Lacey Act conspiracy charge for illegally capturing and maiming 

mountain lions and bobcats. On November 20, 2014, the court sentenced him to serve 27 

months’ incarceration. It also banned him from hunting or trapping any wildlife for three years 

following his release. 

— Andrew Zarauskas purchased approximately 33 narwhal tusks over nearly six years from 

two Canadian co-defendants. The co-defendants purchased the narwhal tusks in Canada and 

brought them into the United States illegally by concealing them under their truck or under 

a utility trailer. Narwhals are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act and 

are covered by the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of 

Wild Flora and Fauna. It is illegal to import parts of a narwhal into the United States without a 

permit and without declaring the parts at the time of importation to U.S. Customs and Border 

Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

On February 14, 2014, a federal jury in Bangor, Maine, convicted Andrew Zarauskas for 

conspiracy, smuggling violations for buying and illegally importing narwhal tusks into the 

United States, and money laundering violations associated with the illegal importations. The 

market value of the teeth and tusks illegally imported by Zarauskas was between $120,000 

and $200,000. The court sentenced Zarauskas to serve 33 months in prison and ordered him 

to forfeit $85,089, six narwhal tusks, and one narwhal skull. In addition, the court ordered 

Zarauskas to pay a fi ne of $7,500. 

Protecting Migratory Birds

— On November 22, 2013, Duke Energy Renewables, Inc., was sentenced after pleading guilty 

to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in connection with the deaths of protected birds, 

including golden eagles, at two of the company’s wind projects in Wyoming. The company 

will pay fi nes, restitution, and community service payments totaling $1 million, complete a 

fi ve-year term of probation, and spend an additional $600,000 each year during probation to 

implement and support an environmental compliance plan aimed at preventing bird deaths 

at the company’s four commercial wind projects. The company also will be required to apply 

Mountain Lion , Wikipedia photo
88 | enforcing criminal pollution and wildlife laws

for an eagle take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which, if granted, will provide 

a framework for minimizing and 

mitigating the deaths of golden eagles 

at the wind projects. 

The charges stem from the deaths of 14 

golden eagles and 149 other protected 

birds, including hawks, blackbirds, 

larks, wrens, and sparrows, at two of 

the company’s Wyoming wind project 

locations between 2009 and 2013. 

These two projects are comprised 

of 176 large wind turbines that sit 

on private agricultural land. Duke 

Energy failed to take all reasonable 

efforts to build the projects in a 

manner that would avoid the risk of 

avian deaths by collision with turbine blades, despite repeated 

warnings from offi cials. A $400,000 fi ne will be directed to 

the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund. The company also will pay $100,000 in 

restitution to the State of Wyoming, and make a $160,000 community service payment to the 

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The community service payments will fund projects 

aimed at preserving golden eagles and increasing the understanding of ways to minimize and 

monitor interactions between eagles and commercial wind power facilities, as well as enhancing 

eagle rehabilitation and conservation efforts in Wyoming. The company also will contribute 

$340,000 to a conservation fund for the purchase of land, or conservation easements on land, 

in Wyoming containing high-use golden eagle habitat, which will be preserved and managed for 

the benefi t of that species.

Golden Eagle , Wikipedia photo
PROTECTING 

VITAL FEDERAL PROGRAMS 

AND INTERESTS

The Division defends client agencies’ regulations, rules, and decisions to allow these agencies 

to fulfi ll their missions under the nation’s environmental and natural resources laws, thereby 

preserving vital federal programs and interests and protecting the public fi sc. The Division also 

responds to congressional and public inquiries, reviews federal agency rulemakings, supports 

capacity building and engagement with law enforcement partners domestically and internationally to protect our interests, and participates in litigation as amicus curiae where the government 

has a stake in the outcome.

Protecting and Promoting the Development of Transportation 

Infrastructure

— In Honolulu Traffi c.com v. Federal Transit Administration (D. Haw.), ENRD successfully 

defended the efforts of the City of Honolulu, its transit agency, and the U.S. Department of 

Transportation against a challenge intended to halt the City of Honolulu’s proposed rapid rail 

project. The project was designed to link the western part of O`ahu with downtown Honolulu. 

The district court had earlier identifi ed limited areas in which the agencies’ environmental 

analysis needed improvement. ENRD defeated the plaintiffs’ arguments that the agencies had 

not properly complied with the district court’s earlier decision. The district court therefore lifted 

its limited injunction against some of the project activities and allowed the project to go forward 

unimpeded. The plaintiffs have abandoned further legal challenges. The project will provide 

substantial transportation benefi ts to disadvantaged minority communities seeking easier access 

to downtown Honolulu. 

— In Detroit International Bridge Co. v. U. S. Coast Guard (D.D.C.), the Division successfully 

defeated a motion for preliminary injunction and obtained dismissal of one of the plaintiffs’ 

central claims in this long-running dispute. The plaintiffs own the existing international bridge 

between Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, a key border crossing carrying nearly 25 

percent of all commerce between Canada and the United States. The plaintiffs are seeking to 

add a new span to their existing bridge, and sought a navigation permit from the U.S. Coast 

Guard. Canada and the State of Michigan are seeking to build the New International Trade 

Crossing, a second international bridge, to increase border security and improve trade in the 

defending federal programs | 89
Skyline Drive, Virginia, Wikipedia photo

Flight 93 Memorial PA, NPS photo

90 | defending federal programs
defending federal programs | 91

region. The Coast Guard determined that the plaintiffs had failed to satisfy the regulatory 

requirements for a navigation permit for their new span. 

The plaintiffs brought this suit to challenge the Coast Guard’s interpretation of its regulations 

with respect to the plaintiffs’ navigation permit and to challenge the State Department’s and 

U.S. Department of Transportation’s approvals of the New International Trade Crossing. The 

plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the Coast Guard from issuing a navigation 

permit for the New International Trade Crossing as well. The Division defeated the preliminary 

injunction motion, allowing the Coast Guard to issue the navigation permit for the new international bridge. In addition, the court upheld the Coast Guard’s interpretation of its regulation 

as applied to the plaintiffs’ application for a navigation permit, and dismissed that claim. The 

Division is continuing to vigorously defend the remaining claims in the litigation.

— In Citizens for 

Appropriate Rural Roads 

v. Foxx (S.D. Ind.), the 

Division and the United 

States Attorney’s Offi ce 

for the Southern District 

of Indiana worked closely 

with counsel for the Indiana 

Department of Transportation to defend the construction of Interstate-69 (I-69) 

between Indianapolis 

and Evansville, Indiana. 

The plaintiffs challenged 

construction of this part 

of I-69 under the National 

Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), the Endangered 

Species Act, the Clean Air Act, Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, which 

requires highways to avoid historic sites if feasible, and transportation planning regulations. 

Congress proposed I-69 as a North American Free Trade Agreement road between Canada and 

Mexico. The 142-mile stretch of the highway approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation is the longest new-terrain, federal interstate since Congress passed NEPA in 1969. 

In March 2014, the court granted summary judgment in favor of the agencies. The project 

will shorten travel time by twenty-seven minutes between Indianapolis and Evansville; save 

over $1.1 billion in driver time and vehicle operating costs; save truckers 4,500 hours per day; 

prevent 40,000 crash-related injuries over 20 years; create 4,600 permanent jobs; and provide 

37,000 people thirty-minute access to major urban areas, medical facilities, educational institutions, and job opportunities. Among other efforts to decrease impacts from the highway project 

on the endangered Indiana bat, the Indiana Department of Transportation bought the third- and 

fourth-largest hibernacula from private owners to ensure their protection in the future. 

— In 515/555 Flower Associates, LLC v. Federal Transit Administration; Today’s IV, Inc. v. 

Federal Transit Administration; Japanese Village LLC v. Federal Transit Administration 

(C.D. Cal.), the Division worked closely with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan TransporI-69 just outside Indianapolis , wikipedia photo
92 | defending federal programs

tation Authority to defend the Regional Connector project. That 1.9-mile, underground light 

rail will connect the spokes of the current Metro Gold Line, Blue Line, and Exposition Line 

in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles. It will allow one-seat rides twenty-fi ve miles 

east-to-west and fi fty miles north-to-south across Los Angeles. In May 2014, the Division 

largely prevailed on cross-motions for summary judgment and obtained a remedy that allowed 

construction to proceed. 

Defending Public Works Projects

— In Florida Wildlife Federation v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (N.D. Fla.), the Division 

defeated a challenge to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operation of water control structures 

affecting the fl ow of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee River. The district 

court found that the Corps’ actions were “to maintain navigation” and thus that the federal 

government’s sovereign immunity barred the suit.

— In City of Rock Island & Village of Milan, Illinois v. United States (C.D. Ill.), municipalities 

fi led a lawsuit under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act challenging the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers’ alleged failure to maintain the Mill Creek, South Slough Flood Control 

Project in Rock Island County, Illinois. In September 2014, the court issued a decision granting 

our motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing under Article III of the United States 

Constitution. Specifi cally, the court found that the municipalities’ allegations of injury-in-fact 

were not suffi ciently concrete or imminent, nor caused by the Corps, because an attenuated 

chain of several contingencies beyond the Corps’ control would need to take place before the 

alleged harms occur. 

Acquiring Property for Public Purposes

To ensure justice under the Fifth Amendment, ENRD works to see that all landowners receive 

just compensation and that taxpayers pay no more than market value when federal agencies 

acquire private property for public use. Whenever possible, ENRD works with federal agencies 

to resolve matters without having to resort to condemnation. 

— ENRD exercised the power of eminent domain to acquire land outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on September 11, 2011. The land was acquired 

to construct the Flight 93 National Memorial to honor the victims of this national tragedy. The 

case, United States v. 275.81 Acres of Land in Stonycreek Township (W.D. Pa.), was fi led on 

behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service after the owner of the site 

refused purchase offers from the federal government and the nonprofi t organization Families 

of Flight 93. The landowner initially demanded $30,895,000, then sought $25,000,000 in the 

week-long trial during the government sequester and shutdown at the beginning of the fi scal 

year. With stellar motions practice, discovery, and trial work, the trial team won a fi nal award of 

$1,535,000, which was adopted by the district court on March 26, 2014. Judgment was entered 

on June 10, 2014. 

With this success, ENRD enabled the U.S. Department of the Interior to preserve property 

needed for a memorial in tribute to victims of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and 

ensured the amount paid for the land was just, not only to the former landowner, but also 

to the taxpayers who must bear the cost. The trial team attended the thirteenth anniversary 
defending federal programs | 93

observance of September 11, 2001, as the invited guests of the Friends of the Flight 93 National 

Memorial, in partnership with the Families of Flight 93 and the National Park Service. A§s a 

result of their tremendous effort and success, the trial team was awarded one of the Department’s highest honors, the John Marshall Award for Trial of Litigation.

— The Division also resolved multiple condemnations in the United States District Court for the 

Eastern District of Washington fi led on behalf of the Department of Energy’s Bonneville Power 

Administration for construction of the Big Eddy-Knight Transmission Line in rural Klickitat 

County, Washington. Originally fi led in late 2012, these dozen cases acquired narrow strip 

easements of 5 to 35 acres across non-irrigated farmland. Some parent tracts also included 

ranching and residential uses. This year, ENRD persuaded the district court to appoint a land 

commission to determine just compensation in all cases and ensure fair and transparent due 

process, uniform treatment of all affected landowners, and effi cient and consistent resolution of 

all claims. The appointment of a commission and its assurance of consistent awards contributed 

to the resolution of several cases, as ENRD and the landowners developed a settlement 

framework that awarded similar compensation for similarly situated properties. ENRD successfully settled 8 cases this fi scal year (three more cases were settled at the beginning of fi scal year 

2015, leaving just one case for trial in 2015). These settlements provided closure to the affected 

landowners while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars for the public fi sc.

— Jointly with the U.S. Attorney’s Offi ce in Miami, ENRD successfully settled United States 

v. 137,779 Rentable Square Feet with 636 Parking Spaces in Miami, Florida, and G.K.K., a 

Florida General Partnership, et al. (S.D. Fla.), a condemnation stemming from a multimillion-dollar dispute over the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) lease of its Miami fi eld offi ce. 

The General Services Administration had leased a custom-built building for FBI use since 1986, 

but was unable to extend the lease after June 2010. The building owner sought a new long-term 

lease, while the General Services Administration required a short-term lease as it planned to 

move the FBI to a new, federally owned complex in late 2014. 

Settling the lawsuit allowed the FBI to stay in the old building until the new federal facility was 

ready for use, while saving $3.1 million. The settlement also provided the General Services 

Administration with fl exibility to holdover for up to 9 months, if needed. After the close of this 

fi scal year, the FBI moved to its new fi eld offi ce in December 2014 as planned.

— In fi scal year 2014, ENRD’s valuation and litigation advice assisted the General Services 

Administration in resolving at least 4 other potential complex, expensive leasehold cases with 

valuations in dispute that were conservatively measured at approximately $80 million. These 

efforts saved resources and better served the interests of both client agencies and landowners.

Protecting United States’ Property Interests

Last year, we continued our ongoing litigation efforts to defend the United States against claims 

seeking to quiet title to alleged rights-of-way for public highways on federal lands in the State of 

Utah. These cases present a signifi cant threat of interference with federal land managers’ efforts 

to manage lands for wilderness and other purposes. 

— In past litigation, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. National Park Service (D. Utah), the 

Division successfully defended the National Park Service’s decision to prohibit four-wheel-drive 

vehicles on 8.5 miles of Salt Creek Road in the backcountry of Canyonlands National Park in 
94 | defending federal programs

Utah. Subsequently, in San Juan County v. United States (D. Utah), San Juan County and the 

State of Utah fi led suit seeking to quiet title to a putative right-of-way for a “public highway” on 

Salt Creek Road under Revised Statute 2477 (R.S. 2477). 

Last year, the Tenth Circuit issued an opinion affi rming 

a favorable decision by the district court. The court rejected the County’s and State’s argument 

that they can carry their burden to show “continuous use as a public thoroughfare” by merely 

showing use uninterrupted by any overt act, rather than establishing any particular frequency of 

use during the required ten-year period. Instead, the court reaffi rmed a line of earlier decisions 

that found that intermittent or occasional use, or use for “proprietary interests,” by hunters, 

fi shermen, shepherds, farmers, or miners, or even regular use for cattle grazing primarily by 

a single user, is insuffi cient to establish a right-of-way. The Tenth Circuit also found that the 

district court appropriately considered the lack of evidence of any discernible road during the 

10-year period as probative of whether a public thoroughfare existed. 

— In Kane County & the State of Utah v. United States (D. Utah), Kane County sought quiet 

title to 15 alleged R.S. 2477 rights-of-way on public land managed by the Bureau of Land 

Management. The State of Utah intervened. The district court found that Kane County had 

proved that it owned rights-of-way on 12 of the 15 roads at issue. Last year, the Tenth Circuit 

Court of Appeals issued a largely favorable published decision, affi rming in part, reversing in 

part, and remanding the district court decision.

The Tenth Circuit, for example, agreed with our contention that for several of the roads, the 

plaintiffs had failed to establish jurisdiction under the Quiet Title Act by demonstrating the 

existence of a “disputed title to real property in which the United States claims an interest.” The 

court rejected the plaintiffs’ contention that they need only show a “cloud on title.” Rather, “a 

plaintiff must show that the United States has either expressly disputed title or taken action that 

implicitly disputes it.” Reversing the district court, the court of appeals found, among other 

things, that jurisdiction was not established by certain management plan maps that were merely 

ambiguous as to the status of the roads. 

The court of appeals also agreed with our argument that the district court erred in adjudicating the scope of several rights-of-way by setting widths. The district court determined that 

particular widths were “reasonable and necessary” to accommodate activities not established as 

pre-1976 uses or potential future road improvements or realignments. These scope determinations were remanded to the district court. 

Canyonlands National Park Utah,, NPS photo
defending federal programs | 95

The Tenth Circuit’s decision was not completely favorable. For example, on a jurisdictional 

issue raised by amici over the United States’ objection, the court of appeals ruled that the 

issuance of a Wilderness Study Area designation for an area encompassing several of the roads 

did not suffi ce to trigger the statute of limitations under the Quiet Title Act. The court reasoned 

that the designation did not assert exclusive federal control over the area and that R.S. 2477 

rights-of-way can “peaceably coexist” with the rights of the Bureau of Land Management in a 

Wilderness Study Area. However, on balance, this Tenth Circuit decision is expected to be very 

helpful in our ongoing litigation of over 12,000 right-of-way claims on federal land in Utah fi led 

by Utah counties and the State in 2011 and 2012. 

Protecting the Public Fisc

— In Stueve Brothers Farms v. United States, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals held that 

plaintiff Stueve Brothers failed state to a proper claim for relief in alleging a physical taking of 

its property. The court ruled that a complaint that alleged no present physical invasion, but only 

sought just compensation for a future burden that might be imposed by an almost-completed 

federal fl oodway expansion was insuffi cient to state a claim. The court relied on two Supreme 

Court cases from 1939 (United States v. Sponenbarger and Danforth v. United States), which 

held that apprehension of fl ooding from a federal project does not constitute a Fifth Amendment 

taking. The Federal Circuit confi rmed that fl ooding “actually experienced” is a prerequisite to 

the type of physical takings claim the plaintiff proposed. The court also ruled that neither the 

United States’ alleged delay in acquiring fl owage easements over the portion of the plaintiff’s 

property that may be burdened by future fl ooding, nor the United States’ alleged cooperation 

with California municipalities to rezone that same portion of the plaintiffs’ property, stated 

viable claims for “de facto,” “constructive” or “hybrid” takings. 

— New York City’s High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above 

the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. In West Chelsea Buildings v. United States, the Federal 

Circuit rejected claims by landowners who owned property adjacent to and underneath the High 

Line that the United States had unconstitutionally deprived them of their development rights 

when it authorized the conversion of the freight line from rail to public trail use under the Railsto-Trails Act. Prior to the conversion, however, the City of New York, as part of an agreement 

with the railroad and property owners, passed a rezoning amendment for the area surrounding 

the High Line and designated it a “Special District.” This enabled the plaintiffs to transfer 

development rights from the High Line corridor to other areas within the Special District. The 

City required owners who transferred their development rights, including the plaintiffs, to sign 

covenant not to sue agreements with the City, in which the plaintiffs “agree[d] not to sue . . . the 

City or the United States.” 

Six years after receiving valuable development rights in exchange for a promise not to seek 

compensation from the United States, the plaintiffs fi led a suit seeking compensation from the 

United States. The Court of Federal Claims found that the claims were barred by the agreement 

and that under New York law, the United States was an intended third-party benefi ciary entitled 

to invoke the covenant not to sue as a defense to plaintiffs’ suit. The Supreme Court later denied 

the plaintiffs’ petition asking the Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit decision affi rming 

the Court of Federal Claims.
96 | defending federal programs

Responding to 

Congressional Proposals 

for Environmental 

and Natural Resources 

Legislation and Related 

Matters

The Division responds to a variety 

of legislative proposals and 

congressional requests, prepares 

Division witnesses to prepare 

before congressional committees, 

and drafts legislative proposals, 

including proposals implementing 

settlements of litigation handled by 

the Division. In fi scal year 2014, we 

continued our important work in these areas, including by providing assistance in connection 

with the Department’s preparations for Assistant Attorney General John Cruden’s nomination 

hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in February 2014. 

Responding to Freedom of Information Act Requests

ENRD continues to be one of the Department’s highest-performing components in its Freedom 

of Information Act (FOIA) work. In fi scal year 2014, the Division completed the processing 

of almost a hundred responses to 

outstanding requests, and ended 

the year with only two backlogged 

requests and zero backlogged 

consultations. We closed 9 of the 

10 oldest pending requests from 

fi scal year 2013, as well as the sole 

outstanding request for consultation from another federal agency as to how it should 

respond to a FOIA request. 

The Division continues to explore the use of new technology to expedite FOIA processing, 

increase proactive disclosures, and reach out to requesters to ensure effi cient processing of their 

requests. ENRD also has worked to increase FOIA training opportunities for ENRD. In late 

October, we engaged the Department’s Offi ce of Information Policy to provide ENRD’s FOIA 

staff with additional guidance. In January, we led a general training and discussion for FOIA 

contacts across the Division.

Reviewing Administrative Rulemakings

The Division also serves as part of the Department’s interagency review team for federal 

rulemakings. The Division reviewed a substantial number of rules in fi scal year 2014. 

COTJ photo

NYC High Line Park, Wikipedia photo
defending federal programs | 97

Enforcing Environmental Law through International Capacity Building 

and Other Activities

The Division actively implements a wide-ranging program of international activities, frequently 

in collaboration with partners from other federal agencies. The Division’s international 

activities advance the goal of protecting and promoting effective environmental enforcement 

and support important Administration and Department objectives:

• We successfully prosecute transnational environmental and natural resources crimes that 

involve foreign evidence or foreign assistance, or that rely on the violation of underlying 

foreign statutes. 

• We provide critical training for law enforcement partners in other countries to ensure that 

they may work effectively with us in investigating and prosecuting transnational environmental crimes. 

• We participate in the development and implementation of trade and investment agreements, 

treaties, international environmental agreements, and domestic implementing legislation in 

order to ensure that they protect and promote effective environmental enforcement. 

• We also help to develop and facilitate international partnerships and networks that promote 

effective prosecution of transnational environmental crimes. 

In carrying out these objectives in fi scal year 2014, ENRD attorneys implemented capacity 

building workshops and spoke at conferences and meetings in Belgium, Brazil, China, Costa 

Rica, Ecuador, Germany, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Oman, Panama, Peru, Philippines, 

Russia, Senegal, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. ENRD also participated in trade negotiations, conferences, and meetings in Washington, D.C., with offi cials representing governments 

and non-governmental organizations from several other countries. 

Division attorneys spoke at and participated in a number of conferences and meetings to 

promote the Administration’s effort to combat wildlife traffi cking. The Chief of the Law and 

Policy Section was a member of the United States delegation to the Strategic and Economic 

Dialogue with China and participated in a meeting with Chinese offi cials to discuss responses 

to illegal trade in wildlife products. A Division attorney participated in a meeting in London 

sponsored by the Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit to discuss money laundering 

in connection with wildlife traffi cking. Another attorney spoke about the Lacey Act at an 

environmental adjudication workshop for Central American judges in Panama and at a meeting 

of the Central America Wildlife Enforcement Network in Costa Rica. And ENRD hosted a 

delegation of offi cials from 13 sub-Saharan African countries and discussed the Division’s work 

prosecuting wildlife traffi cking cases. 

ENRD also continued speaking to domestic and international audiences about the Lacey Act’s 

provisions prohibiting trade in illegally harvested timber and providing training on prosecuting 

illegal logging cases. ENRD attorneys spoke to law enforcement offi cials in Russia, Peru, Brazil, 

and Senegal about the Lacey Act and prosecution of cases involving traffi cking in illegal wood 

products. The Division also implemented two training workshops for Brazilian prosecutors on 

investigating and prosecuting illegal logging cases and spoke about the Lacey Act at meetings 
98 | defending federal programs

in Mexico and 

Ecuador for trade, 

government, and 

nongovernmental 

organization representatives. The 

Division also participated in meetings 

with authorities 

from European Union countries implementing their own legislation prohibiting trade in illegal 

wood products to discuss enforcement strategies. And a Division attorney participated in the 

United States delegation to two meetings of the Asia Pacifi c Economic Cooperation Experts 

Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade in Qingdao and Beijing, China.

ENRD participates in negotiations, led by the Offi ce of the U.S. Trade Representative, of the 

environment chapter of the Trans-Pacifi c Partnership Trade Agreement with 11 countries in Asia 

and the Americas, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement with 

the European Union. The United States is seeking to incorporate conservation provisions into 

these trade agreements to deter traffi cking in illegally taken fl ora and fauna. The Division also 

took part in the fi rst meetings of the U.S.-Colombia Environmental Affairs Council and Environmental Cooperation Commission under the free trade agreement with Colombia. And a Division 

attorney participated in the United States delegation to a bilateral forum in Muscat, Oman, 

under the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement. 

An ENRD attorney provided training at an environmental crimes seminar at the European 

Academy of Law in Trier, Germany. Division attorneys also continued to be actively involved in 

the INTERPOL Wildlife Crime, Fisheries Crime, Timber Crime, and Pollution Crime Working 

Groups, participating in meetings of those groups in Nairobi, Kenya. And then-Acting Assistant 

Attorney General Bob Dreher delivered videotaped remarks to the Second Asian Judges 

Symposium on the Environment hosted by the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Philippines.

Protecting the Interests of the United States in Litigation Involving 

Third Parties

Filing Amicus Briefs

The Division participates as amicus curiae in cases in which the United States is not a party. 

Our amicus briefs primarily serve to provide information and viewpoints that may be helpful to 

the judges tasked with resolving cases, including by explaining how the resolution of particular 

legal questions could impact important federal programs. By providing such information and 

viewpoints, the amicus briefs also serve to protect the interests of the United States.

— For example, ENRD fi led amicus briefs in two cases concerning the application of the Clean 

Water Act section 402(k) “permit shield” defense. In the fi rst case, Alaska Community Action 

on Toxics v. Aurora Energy Services, LLC, the Ninth Circuit considered a district court’s fi nding 

that the owners and operators of a coal loading facility in Seward, Alaska, were not liable for 

non-stormwater discharges of coal into Resurrection Bay. The district court found that the 

owners and operators qualifi ed for the permit shield defense by virtue of their coverage under an 

FWS photo
defending federal programs | 99

EPA general permit for stormwater discharges from industrial facilities. Applying the leading 

case of Piney Run Preservation Association v. County Commissioners of Carroll County (4th 

Cir.), the district court found that the discharges in question (although non-stormwater) were 

not expressly prohibited by the general permit, had been adequately disclosed to EPA, and were 

also reasonably anticipated by EPA to occur. 

ENRD fi led a brief in the Ninth Circuit as amicus curiae arguing that the discharges were 

prohibited by the terms of the general permit and that, even if they were not, the district court 

misapplied the permit shield test from Piney Run. In September 2014, the panel unanimously 

held that “[t]he plain terms of the General Permit prohibit defendants’ non-stormwater 

discharge of coal.” The panel did not reach the Piney Run permit shield issue.

— In the second case, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. A & G Coal Corp., the 

Fourth Circuit requested an amicus brief from the United States in an appeal of a district court 

order fi nding that the defendant could not invoke the permit shield defense. The district court 

reached this conclusion because the defendant’s discharges of selenium were not within the 

scope of its individual Clean Water Act permit (issued by Virginia) and had not been disclosed 

to the permitting authority. ENRD fi led a brief arguing that the permit shield defense did 

not apply. In July 2014, the Fourth Circuit agreed that the applicable permitting procedures 

required the applicant to test for selenium in its discharges and provide data on selenium 

discharges to Virginia, and that A&G Coal had not done so. Applying its previous Piney Run 

decision, the Fourth Circuit concluded that, as the permit shield defense only encompassed 

those pollutants disclosed to the regulator and A&G Coal disclosed no selenium-related 

information, the defense was inapplicable.

Reviewing Citizen Suit Complaints and Settlements

The Division also conducts the Department’s review of citizen suit complaints and consent 

judgments under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act. These statutes authorize citizens to fi le suits to enforce many of the statutes’ key 

provisions, and require that citizen suit complaints and consent judgments be served on the 

Department and EPA. When served with complaints, ENRD offers assistance to counsel for 

the parties. The Division also reviews consent judgments to ensure that they comply with the 

requirements of the relevant statute and are consistent with the statute’s purposes. 

— An example of the citizen suit settlements that we reviewed is the consent decree entered in 

Waste Action Project v. Draper Valley Holdings, LLC in July 2014. A nonprofi t organization 

fi led this citizen suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington 

against the owner of a poultry processing facility to address alleged violations of the Clean 

Water Act. The settlement, among other things, required the company to pay an outside professional to conduct a training program for the operators of the company’s wastewater treatment 

devices. The settlement also required the company to pay $400,000 for supplemental environmental projects designed to improve water quality in the Lower Skagit River watershed. Per our 

request, the recipient of funds for these projects agreed to report to us, the court, and the parties 

regarding how funds are spent.
100 | promoting national security and military preparedness

PROMOTING 

NATIONAL SECURITY AND 

MILITARY PREPAREDNESS

The Division makes a signifi cant contribution to national security while ensuring robust 

compliance with the country’s environmental and natural resources laws. Increasingly, ENRD 

is responsible for defending a variety of agency actions that support the security of the United 

States. The Division promotes safe disposal of nuclear waste and obsolete chemical weapons. It 

also defends against challenges to critical training programs that ensure military preparedness. 

In addition, the Division exercises the federal government’s power of eminent domain to acquire 

the lands needed to fulfi ll critical military and homeland security functions. We also defend 

challenges to important renewable energy programs.

Supporting the Protection of U.S. Food and Animal Agriculture

ENRD exercises the Attorney General’s responsibility to oversee review of title for every 

voluntary acquisition of property by the federal 

government before public money is spent. The 

Division resolved 43 title matters this year, 

ensuring the federal government acquired good 

and marketable title from the rightful owners. 

— In a complex matter for the Department 

of Homeland Security, the Division issued 

a fi nal title opinion this year confi rming the 

acquisition of land and easements for construction of the new National Bio and Agro-Defense 

Facility in Manhattan, Kansas. This high-security, state-of-the-art biocontainment facility 

will be used for the study of foreign animal, 

emerging, and zoonotic diseases (contagious diseases spread by animals to humans, such as 

foot-and-mouth disease, Hendra virus, and Nipah virus). The Bio-Safety Level-4 facility will 

replace the aging Level-3 Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York and expand the 

United States’ capability to research and develop vaccines and treatments for disease outbreaks.

NBAF construction site, Wikipedia photo
promoting national security and military preparedness | 101

Combat Raiding Craft from the well deck of the USS Bonhomme Richard, USMC photo

C-5M Super Galaxy arrives at Dover Air Force Base, Del, Wikipedia photo
102 | promoting national security and military preparedness

— Also this year, ENRD received 13 new title matters related to direct acquisitions worth more 

than $6 million and donated lands worth tens of millions of dollars.

Supporting the Strategic Border Initiative and Securing the Nation’s 

Borders

ENRD continues to litigate land acquisition cases to secure the nation’s borders on behalf of U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection, as part of the expansive southwest border fence project. 

— Major cases this year included condemnation of three parcels owned by the State of 

California. Discovery and expert efforts focused on one lead case for which the United States’ 

appraiser valued the land at $2.44 million, while California’s expert real estate appraiser valued 

the property interest taken at over $15 million. The second and third cases had amounts in 

dispute approaching $2 million. The Division successfully settled all claims in these three 

actions for $5.95 million. This settlement is extremely favorable to the United States for several 

reasons, including because it provides the client agency with budgetary fi nality and fl exibility to 

acquire additional infrastructure to secure the border.

Promoting National Security and Military Readiness 

— Since 2007, we have defended three lawsuits challenging the Navy’s efforts to modernize 

its facilities at the “Broadway Complex” on the waterfront in downtown San Diego, California. 

Last year, we successfully defended the latest in this series of lawsuits, California Coastal 

Commission v. Department of the Navy (S.D. Cal.), in which a California state agency alleged 

that the Navy’s failure to complete a “supplemental consistency determination” for the 

Broadway Complex violated the Coastal Zone Management Act. The district court granted 

our motion for summary judgment. 

Ruling that “[n]ew circumstances 

are not signifi cant for [Coastal Zone 

Management Act] purposes unless they 

cause adverse environmental consequences to coastal uses or resources,” 

the court found that none of the alleged 

changes to the project or changes in 

the downtown area were suffi ciently 

substantial to require a supplemental 

consistency determination.

— In Natural Resources Defense 

Council v. Blank (N.D. Cal.), the 

plaintiffs fi led suit alleging that the 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

and the Navy violated the National 

Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection 

Act by authorizing the deployment of an antisubmarine surveillance system known as the 

Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active. The plaintiffs alleged that 

deployment of the antisubmarine surveillance system, particularly during concentrated training 

exercises, harms thousands of marine mammals, including endangered and threatened species. 

SURTASS, Wikipedia photo
promoting national security and military preparedness | 103

Location of Cape Wind in Massachusetts, Wikipedia photo

The surveillance system is critical to the Navy’s long-range submarine detection capabilities, 

as it provides United States forces with time to react to and defend against potential undersea 

threats. At the conclusion of this litigation, ENRD prevented the entry of any injunction and 

was successful in disposing of the overwhelming majority of the case. The one small area in 

which we were unsuccessful was easily rectifi ed by the Navy without interrupting their training 

exercises.

Defending the United States’ Energy Agenda 

The Division obtained favorable decisions in challenges to several energy projects this year, 

including renewables like wind and solar facilities, and oil and coal leases. 

— Importantly, in Western Lands Project v. Bureau of Land Management (S.D. Cal.), ENRD 

defeated a challenge to the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to establish a comprehensive solar energy program in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. 

The Departments of the Interior and Energy prepared an environmental impact statement to 

evaluate on a programmatic scale the potential environmental impacts of utility-scale solar 

energy development on public lands in the six southwestern states. In a decision issued in June 

2014, the district court held that the environmental impact statement fully complied with the 

requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. Solar energy remains a key element of 

the nation’s renewable energy strategy. 

— ENRD delivered similar success in a case involving an alternative energy project in Defenders 

of Wildlife v. Jewell (C.D. Cal.). In this case, the plaintiff challenged the Bureau of Land 

Management’s decision to grant a right-of-way to First Solar for the construction of two utility-scale solar projects on public lands located 40 miles south of Las Vegas along the California-Nevada border. The plaintiff moved for a temporary restraining order and preliminary 

injunction. Following briefi ng and a hearing, the court denied the plaintiff’s motion, allowing 

the solar project to move forward.

— This year, ENRD successfully 

defended against challenges to 

federal approval of the offshore Cape 

Wind Energy Facility in Nantucket 

Sound—the nation’s fi rst offshore 

wind facility. In four separately fi led 

cases in the United States District 

Court for the District of Columbia, 

the plaintiffs alleged substantive and 

procedural violations of multiple 

statutes. The district court issued an 

opinion granting summary judgment 

in favor of the United States on all 

but two claims. With respect to the 

two claims for which our defense was 

unsuccessful, we convinced the court to 

remand the agency decision for further consideration without issuing an injunction. The cases 

are Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility v. Beaudreau; Town of Barnstable v. 
104 | promoting national security and military preparedness

Salazar; Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound v. Salazar; and Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head 

v. Beaudreau. 

— In Protect Our Communities v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (S.D. Cal.), and Protect Our 

Communities v. Salazar (S.D. Cal.), the plaintiffs challenged federal decisions and environmental analyses concerning the construction and operation of the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility 

located in southern California. The plaintiffs alleged violations of the Endangered Species 

Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. After briefi ng and 

argument, the court upheld the relevant federal decisions and analyses in all respects. The 

project has now been constructed and is online. The facility consists of 112 wind turbines and 

generates up to 315 megawatts of electricity. 

— This year, in Oceana v. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (D.D.C), ENRD defeated a 

challenge to the fi rst lease sale for oil and gas resources located in the Outer Continental Shelf 

in the Central Gulf of Mexico since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In rejecting the 

plaintiffs’ challenges to Lease Sale 216/222, the district court found that the U.S. Department of 

the Interior’s environmental analysis properly incorporated new data from the 2010 Deepwater 

Horizon oil spill, considered the potential environmental effects of deepwater drilling, and 

considered the potential impacts of a hypothetical future catastrophic spill. The court also 

found that, in dealing with unavailable information, the Department of the Interior had satisfi ed 

the requirements of applicable federal regulations by explaining the extent to which waiting to 

obtain the missing information would delay implementation of the proposed lease sale. 

— ENRD successfully defended against emergency relief aimed at stopping or slowing the 

construction of two important oil pipelines, the Flanagan South Pipeline and the Gulf Coast 

Pipeline. In Sierra Club v. Bostick (D.D.C.), and Sierra Club v. Bostick (10th Cir.), the plaintiffs 

argued, among other things, that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had violated the Clean Water 

Act and National Environmental Policy Act when it approved numerous, but geographically 

limited, water crossings for the pipelines. Ultimately, ENRD obtained favorable rulings on the 

merits in both cases. The Gulf Coast Pipeline is now complete and operational. In the litigation 

concerning the Flanagan South Pipeline, the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument on April 9, 2015. 

— The Powder River Basin—a large geologic feature located in northeastern Wyoming and 

southeastern Montana—contains the largest deposits of low-sulfur subbituminous coal in the 

world. This year, in WildEarth Guardians v. Salazar (D.D.C.), the Division defended a challenge 

to the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to offer for leasing two tracts of public land in 

the Powder River Basin, the 1,579-acre “Belle Ayr North” tract and the 777-acre “Caballo West” 

tract. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia held that the environmental impact statement prepared by the agency adequately considered the potential effects of 

the agency’s decision on climate change and ambient air quality. On appeal, the D.C. Circuit 

affi rmed, and highlighted the fact that the Bureau of Land Management had quantifi ed the 

greenhouse gas emissions that would occur as a result of coal mining on the land and from the 

future combustion of the mined coal. It also held that the Bureau of Land Management appropriately relied on an analysis of emissions of nitrogen oxides (which form ozone in the ambient 

air) from coal mining operations in evaluating the potential impacts of its decision on ambient 

air levels of ozone.
PROTECTING TRIBAL RIGHTS 

AND RESOURCES AND 

ADDRESSING TRIBAL CLAIMS

In fi scal year 2014, the Division continued to handle a range of matters affecting Indian tribes 

and their members. This includes litigation to protect and defend tribal rights and resources; 

policy and litigation work to help ensure that communities in Indian Country enjoy the 

protections of the natural resources and environmental laws; and the respectful and responsible 

defense of lawsuits brought by tribes against the federal government. The United States has a 

government-to-government relationship with tribes, and we seek to work collaboratively with 

tribes in carrying out this work wherever possible.

Supporting Tribal Authority Over Tribal Lands and Resources

ENRD continued to address various issues 

concerning reservation boundaries, the status of 

tribal land under federal law, and tribal governmental authority over that land. 

— The Division successfully argued in Smith v. 

Parker (D. Neb.), discussed supra, that the Omaha 

Reservation remained intact and had not been 

diminished by legislation authorizing the sale of 

land on the western edge of the reservation to 

non-Indian settlers. 

— In Desert Water Agency v. Department of 

the Interior (C.D. Cal.), the Division successfully defended a challenge by a California water 

authority to the new Bureau of Indian Affairs 

regulations governing leases of Indian lands. The 

water authority asserted that it has levied charges 

on the holders of leases of Indian lands and 

challenged a provision of the new regulations that 

discusses the applicability of certain state taxes 

and fees. 

protecting tribal resources | 105

Tribal territory of tribes in Nebraska, Wikipedia photo
A tribal dancer from the Omaha Tribe, Wikipedia photo

Flag of the United States Bureau of Indian Aff airs, Wikimedia photo

106 | protecting tribal resources
protecting tribal resources | 107

— In Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision 

rejecting an impassioned plea by the State of Michigan 

to severely circumscribe the scope of tribal sovereign 

immunity. In 1993, Michigan entered into a gaming 

compact with the Bay Mills Indian Community 

pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The 

compact authorized Bay Mills to conduct casino-style 

gaming activities on “Indian lands” located within 

the State’s borders. Bay Mills later opened a casino 

on land it had purchased through a congressionally 

established land trust, claiming this property qualifi ed 

as Indian lands under the statute. Disagreeing with 

that proposition, Michigan sued the tribe, asserting 

that a provision of the statute waived the tribe’s 

sovereign immunity and authorized injunctive suits of 

the sort Michigan had fi led. 

The district court issued an injunction, but the Sixth 

Circuit reversed. The court of appeals held that 

while the provision of the Indian Gaming Regulatory 

Act upon which Michigan relied authorized suits to 

enjoin gaming activity on Indian lands, Michigan had 

asserted that the lands in question were not Indian 

lands. A majority of the Supreme Court affi rmed, 

holding that the waiver of sovereign immunity in the 

statute, as with all sovereign immunity waivers, must 

be narrowly construed. It also declined to create new law by judicially removing the tribe’s 

immunity for off-reservation commercial activity. The majority reiterated that the decision of 

whether to remove such immunity was for Congress, not the courts, to make. The United States 

fi led amicus briefs in the Supreme Court supporting the Bay Mills Indian Community’s position.

— In Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin v. Village of Hobart (7th Cir.), the Tribe sued 

the Village of Hobart seeking a declaration that it was not liable for stormwater assessments 

imposed by the Village of Hobart on land held in trust by the United States for the Oneida 

Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin. The Village of Hobart fi led an answer denying that the Oneida 

Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin was entitled to such relief. It also fi led a third-party complaint 

arguing that the United States was liable for the assessments because the Clean Water Act 

requires federal agencies with jurisdiction over “any property” to comply with local requirements respecting the abatement and control of pollution, including by paying reasonable service 

charges. 

The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of 

Wisconsin, concluding that the assessments were impermissible taxes on trust land. It also 

granted the United States’ motion to dismiss the amended third-party complaint, agreeing 

with ENRD’s argument that the Clean Water Act did not require the United States to pay the 

assessments. In fi scal year 2014, the Seventh Circuit affi rmed, concluding that the Clean Water 

Act did not authorize the Village of Hobart to impose stormwater assessments on property held 

in trust for an Indian tribe and that the United States likewise was not liable for the assessments. 

Bay Mills Indian Community, Wikipedia photo
108 | protecting tribal resources

The Supreme Court subsequently denied the Village of Hobart’s request that it review the 

Seventh Circuit’s decision.

— In Cayuga Indian Nation v. Seneca County, New York (2d Cir.), the Cayuga Indian Nation 

asked the district court to enjoin a forfeiture proceeding initiated by Seneca County after the 

Cayuga Indian Tribe refused to pay property taxes for land it purchased that was located within 

its former reservation and also Seneca County. Seneca County asserted that as a result of the 

Supreme Court’s decision in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation, the Cayuga Indian Nation 

could not assert sovereign authority over the land in question, and the land should be subject 

to forfeiture. The district court disagreed and issued a preliminary injunction. Seneca County 

appealed. 

The United States fi led an amicus brief in the Second Circuit supporting the Cayuga Indian 

Nation. The Second Circuit found City of Sherrill distinguishable and, relying on the Supreme 

Court’s recent decision in Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community, found no waiver of tribal 

sovereign immunity that authorized Seneca County’s forfeiture proceeding against the Cayuga 

Indian Nation. The court therefore affi rmed the district court’s decision to impose a preliminary 

injunction. 

Defending Tribal and Federal Interests in Water Adjudications

In fi scal year 2014, the Division successfully concluded a major, longstanding water rights case, 

achieved favorable results in other water rights adjudications, intervened in litigation to secure 

important water rights for tribes, and fi led numerous briefs in state and federal courts. Water 

rights adjudications are determinations of the water rights of all water users and are held in 

state courts. 

A substantial part of ENRD’s work in this area focuses on protecting federal reserved water 

rights, which are created when the United States sets aside an Indian reservation or otherwise 

reserves public land for a particular purpose. For example, when the United States sets aside an 

Indian reservation, it impliedly reserves suffi cient water to fulfi ll the purposes of the reservation. 

— In 2014, ENRD successfully resolved federal reserved water rights claims for the Navajo 

Nation in the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico. These water rights had been contested in 

litigation for decades. In New Mexico ex rel. State Engineer v. United States, the state adjudication court approved, over the objection of numerous non-settling parties, a historic settlement 

reached by the United States, the Navajo Nation, and New Mexico. Congress had ratifi ed the 

settlement in 2009 through the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, and the 

Secretary of the Interior had signed the settlement in 2010. The settlement ensures that potable 

water will be available to the Navajo Nation and its members in northwestern New Mexico. 

— In addition, the Division has worked closely with the U.S. Department of the Interior and 

other federal agencies to draft and negotiate global settlements regarding the fi sh, water, and 

hydropower resources of the Klamath River Basin in Oregon and California. These efforts 

initially led to two far-reaching agreements that were signed on February 18, 2010. The 

Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement seeks to reduce the potential for future confl icts over 

water use and rights in various ways, including by addressing the relative proportions of water 

available to various stakeholders, improving fi sh habitat, and purchasing and retiring farmland 

in the basin, thereby reducing irrigation demands. The Klamath Hydropower Settlement 
protecting tribal resources | 109

Agreement, in turn, provides a framework for the stakeholders to collaborate on environmental 

and economic studies assessing the potential for the removal of four Pacifi Corp dams on the 

Klamath River. The United States decided in 2012 to remove the dams, targeting them for 

complete removal by 2020. The two agreements contemplate that removal would be funded by 

Pacifi Corp ratepayers and the State of California. 

However, a key group of irrigators in southern Oregon did not join the two agreements. ENRD 

prevailed against these irrigators 

in a series of cases in 2010-2013. 

Following these victories, the 

State, the Klamath Tribes, and 

the irrigators entered into the 

Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement. This agreement 

establishes the water rights of the 

Klamath Tribes and includes collaborative programs to address water 

use and protect riparian conditions, 

as well as an economic development 

program for the Klamath Tribes. 

The overall effect of the three 

agreements will be to reduce water 

use in the Klamath River Basin 

and to increase populations of 

threatened and endangered fi sh 

species. 

— In State of Washington v. 

Acquavella, ENRD secured a signifi cant victory in connection with a dispute over how to 

determine the amount of practically irrigable acreage (a measure for quantifying surface water 

rights) for land of the Yakima Tribe in the Ahtanum Creek Subbasin of the Yakima River Basin. 

The State of Washington and the non-Indian claimants in the adjudication sought to have the 

United States recalculate the amount of practically irrigable acreage based on more recent 

farming practices, dam technologies, and economics, all of which could have put the water rights 

of the Yakima Tribe at risk. The adjudication court ordered that the existing practically irrigable 

acreage analysis be accepted and considered in full, limiting the evidence upon which the 

opposition can rely in the adjudication. As a result, the State of Washington dropped its claim.

— ENRD intervened on behalf of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Agua Caliente 

Band of Cahuilla Indians v. Coachella Valley Water District, an important case in which the 

most signifi cant legal issue is whether federal reserved water rights extend to groundwater. In 

addition to seeking to confi rm a federal reserved right to groundwater on behalf of the Agua 

Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Division seeks to quantify the tribe’s water rights and to 

enjoin local water authorities from continuing to overdraft the relevant aquifer or interfere in 

any other way with those rights. During the fi scal year, ENRD focused on the following issues 

and matters: historical Congressional Acts and Executive Orders; the establishment of the 

reservation; the tribe’s historical use of groundwater; federal and state case law supporting the 

tribe’s right to groundwater; state groundwater legislation; and a water agency’s argument that 

the reservation was disestablished (i.e., abolished) through a subsequent congressional act.

The Upper Klamath Basin today, Wikipedia photo
110 | protecting tribal resources

— In Montana, which has undertaken a statewide adjudication of all water rights, ENRD accomplished a comprehensive settlement addressing all non-Indian waters rights claims on the 1855 

Blackfeet Reservation. In support of the settlement, the Division produced extensive historical 

evidence that a reservation existed in 1855, that the non-Indians knew of it and of the potential 

consequences of settling on land within its boundaries, and that they therefore could not claim 

water rights based on their unlawful use of the land.

— An Idaho state water adjudication court issued a fi nal decree in the Snake River Basin Adjudication, bringing to a close three decades of litigation in which ENRD secured water rights for 

tribes on the Nez Perce, Duck Valley, and Fort Hall Indian Reservations. The State of Idaho 

subsequently initiated an adjudication of water rights for northern Idaho. The Division fi led 

extensive water right claims on behalf of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in this adjudication. 

Upholding Agency Authority to Acquire Land in Trust for Tribes

The Division continued to actively defend the U.S. Department of the Interior’s authority to take 

land into trust for tribes pursuant to Section 5 of the Indian Reorganization Act. 

— In State of New York v. Jewell, the United States District Court for the Northern District 

of New York granted the parties’ stipulation to dismiss a challenge to the Department of the 

Interior’s decision to acquire 13,000 acres of land in New York in trust for the Oneida Nation 

of New York. The court also approved a historic settlement between the Oneida Nation of New 

York, two counties, and the State over strenuous objections. In a companion case, Town of 

Verona v. Jewell, the court denied a motion for a preliminary injunction that sought to enjoin 

Interior from taking the land in trust. As a result, this past August, after over seven years of 

litigation, Interior took the land in trust for the Oneida Nation of New York. In approving the 

comprehensive settlement between the Oneida Nation of New York, the State of New York, 

and the two counties, the court brought to a close disputes dating back to the fi rst days of this 

country.

In 2009, in Carcieri v. Salazar, the Supreme Court held the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 

authority under the Indian Reorganization Act to take land in trust for tribes “under federal 

jurisdiction” is limited to those tribes that were “under federal jurisdiction” when the Act was 

enacted in 1934. Because the Court did not defi ne the term “under federal jurisdiction,” the 

decision created uncertainty regarding Interior’s trust acquisition authority, resulting in a 

backlog of applications. The Division has worked closely with Interior to develop and defend 

a framework for interpreting what “under federal jurisdiction” means in trust land acquisition 

cases. This year, the Division fi led briefs in several cases supporting Interior’s interpretation of 

“under federal jurisdiction.” 

— In County of Amador v. Jewell (E.D. Cal.), ENRD fi led two detailed briefs in defending 

Interior’s decision to acquire land in trust for the landless Ione Band of Miwok Indians. Because 

the Ione Band intends to pursue gaming on the land, in addition to addressing Carcieri-based 

claims under the Indian Reorganization Act, our briefi ng also addressed Indian Gaming 

Regulatory Act claims. 

— In No Casino in Plymouth v. Jewell (E.D. Cal.), the Division defeated an unusual effort by 

citizen group plaintiffs challenging the same Interior decision to acquire land in trust for the 
protecting tribal resources | 111

Ione Band of Miwok Indians. The plaintiffs sought to obtain judicial rejection of Interior’s justifi cation for taking land into trust by way of a motion for judgment on the pleadings. The court 

agreed with our arguments that the plaintiffs’ motion was procedurally improper in the context 

of an administrative record-review case.

Continued Progress in Resolving Tribal Trust Litigation

In these highly contentious and resource-intensive matters, tribes claim that the Departments of 

the Interior and Treasury have mismanaged tribal monetary and natural resources for decades 

and seek relief in the form of accountings and monetary damages. Over the last three years, 

ENRD has settled the claims of 80 tribes, resulting in the settlement of 56 lawsuits. Settlement 

of valid tribal trust claims is as important to our Division as our responsibility to protect the 

United States from meritless claims that the United States has breached its trust responsibilities 

to individual Indians or tribes. 

— This year, ENRD resolved the largest breach of trust case ever fi led by a tribe—Navajo Nation 

v. United States. The Navajo Nation litigation in the Court of Federal Claims involved claims 

dating back more than 50 years. Under the settlement agreement, the United States paid $554 

million to resolve all of the Navajo Nation’s claims regarding the management of their monetary 

and non-monetary trust resources. The agreement also paves the way for more cooperation 

between the United States and the Navajo Nation in the future. 

Navajo Nation EPA Map
112 | protecting tribal resources

— In another important tribal trust matter, ENRD reached a settlement with the Eastern 

Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation. To resolve the Wind 

River Tribes’ historic accounting and resource mismanagement claims, the United States agreed 

to pay them $157 million, and the U.S. Department of the Interior entered into a memorandum 

of understanding addressing future management of the Wind River Indian Reservation’s 

mineral estate. 

— In Flute v. United States (D. Colo.), ENRD successfully moved to dismiss claims asserted 

against the United States by alleged descendants of victims of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. 

The plaintiffs sought to bring a class action on 

behalf of all similarly situated descendants, 

alleging that the United States never made 

reparations (or made inadequate reparations) 

under treaties executed in the 1860s. 

Invoking the Administrative Procedure Act 

and other legislation, the plaintiffs sought 

an accounting of the reparations. The court 

dismissed the suit, holding that none of the 

statutes identifi ed by the plaintiffs waived the 

United States’ sovereign immunity from the 

plaintiffs’ suit. 

Sand Creek memorial plate, Wikipedia photo 
supporting the division’s staff | 113

SUPPORTING THE 

DIVISION’S STAFF

Promoting Diversity at Work

ENRD’s Diversity Committee participated in the Department’s Diversity and Inclusion Dialogue 

Program (DIDP). The purpose of the DIDP is to facilitate a deeper understanding of diversity 

and inclusion issues among DOJ employees. The program focuses on enhancing personal 

growth and effectiveness through communicating, listening, introspection, and building 

acceptance for differing perspectives. DIDP provides a safe, open, structured, and confi dential 

environment where employees can freely discuss and explore the full spectrum of diversity and 

inclusion topics and how these aspects of diversity affect our ability to work together.

The Division continued its law clerk recruitment program and process for interviewing and 

evaluating candidates that will create opportunities for broadening the applicant pool and 

promoting diversity. Many of these law clerks go on to apply to the Attorney General Honors 

Program. 

Recognition of Division Staff

This year, client agencies continued to recognize the efforts of Division staff. 

— Rocky Piaggione in the Environmental Crimes Section was awarded the Gold Medal for 

Exceptional Service by EPA for his work on United States v. Tonawanda Coke Corporation. 

Rocky also received the Director’s Award from four regional state environmental associations 

for outstanding contributions in support of state environmental enforcement programs. This 

award, which is rarely given, is analogous to a lifetime achievement award. Rocky has done 

work with these associations over a period of many years, fi rst as a state prosecutor, then as a 

Senior Counsel in the Environmental Crimes Section. 

— Judy Harvey in the Law and Policy Section and Aaron Avila in the Appellate Section received 

Silver Medals for Superior Service from EPA’s Offi ce of Water for their part in an interagency 

team advising on clarifi cations to EPA’s Industrial Stormwater Rule in light of the Ninth 

Circuit’s decision in Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Brown.
114 | supporting the division’s staff

ENRD Award Ceremony, DOJ photo

2014 Lands Open, Jeff Bank photo
supporting the division’s staff | 115

— Cara Mroczek in the Environmental Enforcement Section received a Silver Medal from EPA 

for her work in connection with United States v. XTO Energy, Inc.

— Cara Mroczek, John Sither, and Michael Zoeller in the Environmental Enforcement Section 

received a Bronze Medal from EPA for their work in connection with United States v. RG Steel 

Wheeling, LLC.

— Todd Gleason and Gary Donner in the Environmental Crimes Section each received a Bronze 

Medal from EPA for their efforts with respect to United States v. DeSimone. 

— Cathy Rojko received a Bronze Medal from EPA Region 5 and an “Assistant Administrator 

Award for Regional Excellence in Enforcement,” both for her work on United States v. H. 

Kramer and Co. The case involved state and federal Clean Air Act claims relating to lead 

emissions at a copper smelting foundry in the Pilsen neighborhood in southwest Chicago. The 

defendant agreed to spend $3 million on new state-of-the-art pollution controls for the foundry 

that will reduce lead emissions, pay a $35,000 penalty, and provide $40,000 to retrofi t diesel 

school buses operating in the neighborhood and surrounding areas with controls to reduce 

pollutant emissions.

— Shennie Patel received a Bronze Medal from EPA for her work on United States v. Pass.

— Howard Stewart in the Environmental Crimes Section received an Achievement Award from 

EPA for his work on United States v. CITGO Petroleum.

— Leslie Allen received the Russell Train Sustainability Award from EPA for her work in 

connection with United States v. Hamilton County, Ohio.

— Christopher Hale in the Environmental Crimes Section received a plaque from the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for his work on prosecutions involving the harassment 

of Pacifi c Coast whales.

— Patrick Duggan in the Environmental Crimes Section received a Certifi cate of Appreciation 

from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for his work on United States v. Robroy MacInnes. 

— James Nelson received an Award of Excellence from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 

Commission for his work on Operation Lookout, investigations related to Virginia Beach striped 

bass.

— The Land Acquisition Section trial team attended the thirteenth anniversary observance of 

the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as the invited guests of the Friends of Flight 93 

National Memorial, in partnership with the Families of Flight 93 and the U.S. Department of the 

Interior’s National Park Service. 

— The Land Acquisition Section trial team attended the thirteenth anniversary observance of 

the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as the invited guests of the Friends of Flight 93 

National Memorial, in partnership with the Families of Flight 93 and the U.S. Department of the 

Interior’s National Park Service. 
116 | supporting the division’s staff

Adhering to Government Ethics and Professional Responsibility 

Standards

The Law and Policy Section serves as the Division’s government ethics and professional responsibility offi cer and counselor. In addition to its regular day-to-day counseling on those issues, 

the section provided in-depth advice on several signifi cant matters in fi scal year 2014.

Strengthening Public Access to Information on ENRD’s Litigation 

Priorities

ENRD’s Offi ce of Information Management (OIM) worked with the Environmental Crimes 

Section, the Department’s Justice Management Division, and the Department’s Offi ce of Public 

Affairs to develop a new public website for the President’s National Strategy for Combating 

Wildlife Traffi cking (announced on February 11, 2014). The site provides background on 

the initiative, including press releases and summaries of recent wildlife traffi cking prosecutions addressing the following: the black market trade in rhinoceros horns; illegally imported 

protected black coral and South African leopard hides and skulls; African elephant ivory 

smuggling; and illegal importation of endangered species, whale teeth, and narwhal tusks. See 

http://www.justice.gov/enrd/6329.htm. 

OIM worked with the Law and Policy Section to create a Freedom of Information (FOIA) 

Electronic Reading Room (also known as Frequently Requested Records and Other Publications) on ENRD’s public website to lessen the burden of requests for information from the 

public. The site includes redacted versions of the Environmental Crimes Monthly Bulletins, 

which summarize recent developments in criminal environmental enforcement matters and 

help keep federal, state, and local environmental prosecutors and investigators informed about 

relevant pollution and wildlife cases. 

OIM created a process and assigned resources for captioning videos for compliance with section 

508 of the Rehabilitation Act on Justice.gov/ENRD, as well as ENRD’s intranet. The Offi ce of 

Information Management created an internal section 508 website containing core background 

information and a form to trigger the section 508 captioning process. Through training, 

technical support, and this new section 508 website, ENRD’s (OIM) is working to provide 

accessible information to the public via our Internet site and to our employees via our Intranet 

site.

Enhancing the Division’s In-House Training Capacity

The Offi ce of Human Resources provided Division-wide training based on the needs of each 

of the sections. A variety of training was provided, including preretirement training and 

writing. To complement the Division’s updated orientation program, the Offi ce of Information 

Management and Offi ce of Human Resources collaborated on a “New Employee Orientation” 

website with content mirroring most of the handouts provided to new employees on their 

fi rst day of work. The website contains a critical overview of information on ENRD and the 

Department, and core policies on employee conduct, benefi ts, work life balance, information 

technology, and training. See http://enrdnet.enrd.doj.gov/Human-Resources_23755.htm. All 

ENRD employees are required to complete some type of mandatory training throughout the 
supporting the division’s staff | 117

year. ENRD’s training website, http://enrdnet.enrd.doj.gov/Training_16988.htm, allows an 

individual to access a master list of required training requirements based on the type of position 

held, such as attorney, paralegal/support staff, or supervisor/manager. 

Continuing to Meet Fiduciary Responsibilities under the Superfund 

Agreement  

ENRD’s internal time reporting system was enhanced to allow attorneys and their managers to 

view data concerning the amount of employee time billed to Superfund during a given week and 

during the year to date. These enhancements greatly facilitate ENRD’s monitoring of resource 

allocations, which is required under an interagency agreement with EPA.

Being a Good Steward of Taxpayer Dollars

In fi scal year 2014, the Division effectively managed approximately $230 million in budgetary 

resources from a variety of sources. In light of continued fi scal challenges, the Division had to 

manage its funding prudently in order to cover infl ationary cost increases (such as higher rent 

costs, employee grade/step increases) and an increasingly challenging workload. Approximately 

74 percent of ENRD’s operating budget in fi scal year 2014 was dedicated to personnel expenses. 

ENRD achieved in fi scal year 2014, and continues to pursue in fi scal year 2015, cost-saving 

opportunities and effi ciencies to ensure long-term fi scal solvency in the face of future anticipated 

government-wide fi scal uncertainty and likely constraints.

Supporting the Division’s Litigation Needs with Expert Services

The Division litigates highly technical and complex issues, including those related to environmental enforcement of statutes, land acquisition, handling of complicated and long-standing 

tribal community issues, and managing and defending the nation’s natural resources. In 2014, 

the Division executed a record number of contract actions with a value of more than $71.5 

million. The 514 procurement actions carried out by Offi ce of the Comptroller staff engaged a 

wide variety of experts, including many used during the Deepwater Horizon case and in other 

high profi le litigation. This was made possible through a welcomed increase in funding made 

available by the Department through the Fees and Expenses of Witnesses appropriation.

Providing Essential Litigation Support to the Division’s Largest and 

Highest Profi le Cases and Matters 

ENRD, through its Offi ce of Litigation Support (OLS), continued to fund and provide the 

staffi ng, coordination, tools, and technical infrastructure needed to enable complex litigation 

support activities for the Deepwater Horizon litigation. Through the fi rst two phases of 

litigation, including two separate trials, contractor staff utilized their own review software in 

providing litigation support for ENRD attorneys, including with respect to the processing, 

storage, and management of documents collected during discovery. However, in an effort to 

respond to attorney concerns with vendor document processing, and issues with the functionality of the vendor document management system, the decision was made to transfer relevant 

data necessary to support the next phase of the litigation (the third phase) to ENRD’s own 

document management software, Relativity. 
118 | supporting the division’s staff

Over the course of several months, OLS successfully coordinated the seamless transfer from 

multiple third-party proprietary repositories, normalized disparities, and provided a unifi ed 

hosted review environment for approximately 19 million documents comprising approximately 

161 million images and totaling almost 34 terabytes of data, with all necessary steps completed 

by the close of fi scal year 2014. As a result of this transfer, OLS has saved and continues to save 

a substantial amount of money (previously paid in data storage fees to the vendor) and is in a 

better position to serve the case needs of the ENRD Deepwater team. 

In another signifi cant fi scal year 2014 cost-saving measure, OLS took over from the outside 

vendor the task of processing documents collected for the third phase of the Deepwater trial. 

Throughout the discovery and pretrial period, the OLS lab, with only limited assistance from 

outside vendors for non-standard fi le types, processed an additional 3.1 million documents 

comprising approximately 16.2 million images and 9 terabytes of data, all of which currently 

reside on ENRD’s servers and in Relativity. 

OLS Project User System (OPUS)

OLS, in coordination with the ENRD eDiscovery Workgroup, introduced its OLS Project User 

System (OPUS) to the entire Division. OLS management and senior technical staff oversaw 

and guided the development and implementation of this custom and scalable software solution. 

OPUS has enabled streamlining processes, accelerated delivery schedules, standardized communication protocols, and augmented existing quality assurance mechanisms. Multiple dashboard 

views enable OLS management to track, manage, audit, and effectively balance workload, 

maximizing infrastructure and staff utilization across the full range of requested services. These 

services include all processing options for electronically stored information (including culling, 

fi ltering, “de-NISTing,” deduplication on custodial or global level, troubleshooting and special 

handling of problem fi les), hosting and providing ongoing assistance to attorney project teams 

to facilitate positive and time effective document review experience, scanning, and support for 

all industry standard electronic data and document production formats. 

Nearly 5,000 requests, comprising a wide range of data volume and complexity, were submitted 

and completed during the year (or over 20 requests per work day). OPUS gives ENRD attorneys 

a more consistent way to track incoming and outgoing electronic documents and confi rm 

that decisions made and documented through discovery orders and stipulations are followed 

consistently. The application includes a number of features, such as forcing required fi elds on 

electronic forms, emailing different end users when specifi c conditions have been met in the 

workfl ow of an OLS request, and tracking tasks from submission to completion. 

Working with Client Agencies

OLS expanded its Electronically Stored Information Preservation and Collection program and 

actively engaged, and provided assistance to, ENRD case teams. Staff consulted on initial 

project scoping, evaluating possible custodian lists, case specifi c key data types, data sources, 

scope and defi nition of preservation mechanisms, and options and approaches to collection 

processes. OLS established liaisons with multiple agency points of contact from which ENRD 

case teams can request information for formulation of preservation and collection requests. 
supporting the division’s staff | 119

Staff also coordinated with client agency information technology personnel to ensure identifi cation, preservation, and collection are performed in the manner requested. Client agencies 

were advised on the proper use of ENRD’s Harvester collection software and other software, 

providing guidance and remote troubleshooting of technical issues. Following data collection, 

staff also evaluated log fi les and collected data to identify any issues prior to OLS lab processing. 

These efforts enabled OLS to assist ENRD trial teams in negotiating favorable outcomes in 

numerous meet and confer conferences. In addition, at the request of EPA, OLS participated 

in a thorough eDiscovery market research project to identify electronically stored information 

collection software that would address defi ciencies in EPA’s process for collecting email from 

its cloud storage environment. The result was a recommendation to upgrade EPA’s platform to 

include native eDiscovery functionality.

Automating Work Processes

ENRD’s Service Center supported Division attorneys and support staff in fi scal year 2014 by 

processing more than 60,000 electronic court fi lings (twice the volume of 2013). ENRD’s 

Service Center downloaded the electronic documents from court websites, saved a copy to the 

lead attorney’s document management directory, coded each fi ling, and printed a paper copy 

for the offi cial fi les. The Service Center also processed 300 scanning requests from section 

personnel, and reproduced almost 2 million pages of electronic documents to paper format. 

Employing Innovative Technology Solutions for ENRD’s Workforce

In fi scal year 2014, ENRD achieved success in implementing several signifi cant information 

technology upgrades that will benefi t all employees and enhance the Division’s ability to 

effectively carry out its work.

Upgraded ENRD Desktop Computers with New Hardware and Software 

The Division’s Offi ce of Information Technology (OIT) upgraded all ENRD desktop computers 

with new hardware including solid state hard drives and additional memory. In addition to the 

hardware upgrades, OIT refreshed the operating system and all applications on Division desktop 

computers. Employees experienced very little disruption because the upgrades were performed 

after hours. Productivity, security, and morale are all dependent upon ENRD keeping such 

information technology assets up to date and providing employees with updated applications. 

Replaced All BlackBerry Devices with Apple iPhone Smartphones 

After much consideration and product evaluation, OIT replaced over 600 BlackBerry devices 

in ENRD with new Apple iPhones. Principal among the many reasons for this migration was 

to provide ENRD employees with a much more advanced smartphone platform with enhanced 

capabilities to improve users’ productivity. Other considerations included questions about the 

long-term viability of the BlackBerry platform. 
120 | supporting the division’s staff

Upgraded Bandwidth in the Patrick Henry Building, Denver and San Francisco Locations

OIT upgraded the JUTNet data circuits in the Patrick Henry Building, and the Denver and San 

Francisco locations, to provide signifi cantly more bandwidth at these sites. As more of ENRD’s 

work is processed electronically, increased network bandwidth has become a necessity. This 

upgrade provided signifi cant improvements for many information technology services such as 

Internet access, email delivery, electronic court fi lings, video teleconferencing performance, and 

access to ENRD’s Relativity data. OIT performed considerable market research for the upgrade, 

which resulted in reductions in the overall costs for both Denver and San Francisco, even after 

bandwidth was signifi cantly increased.

Purchased Replacement Printers for All ENRD Sites 

OIT purchased new color laser printers to replace the existing printer inventory throughout all 

of ENRD’s buildings. The existing printers had been in place for over 8 years and were starting 

to fail on a regular basis. Also, the legacy printers consisted of a mixture of black-and-white 

and color printers and different models, which complicated acquisition of supplies (different 

cartridges and other consumables) and maintenance (parts availability). To help improve 

ENRD’s overall printing solution, and simplify maintenance and support, a single printer model 

was selected to replace all legacy printers. 

Improved ENRD’s Information Technology Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) Capabilities

OIT installed additional storage and a new virtual server platform in ENRD’s COOP location, 

the Rockville Data Center. The new hardware will allow ENRD to further replicate data, applications, and virtual servers from Washington, D.C.-based buildings out to our COOP location. 

This upgrade included the backup to the COOP location of huge amounts of litigation support 

data. The replication not only provides the Division with protection from disaster events that 

may occur in Washington, D.C., but also provides the Division with a secondary backup location 

for all data that is stored on this large OLS storage resource. 

Employed Innovative Collaborative Information-Sharing Technology for ENRD’s Workforce

ENRD now has fi ve active intranet web-based forums for online discussion and information 

exchange among Division staff. ENRD’s latest forum, the Climate Change Workgroup 

Commons, was created to serve as an online discussion for staff to converse about meetings, 

active litigation, climate adaptation, and other miscellaneous topics. Collectively, ENRD forums 

have over 3,000 postings and 1,300 topics where staff may access best practices. 

Improving Travel for ENRD—Employing the Division’s New Web-Based Travel Management 

System

On July 9, 2014, the Offi ce of the Comptroller completed the deployment of the Division’s 

fi rst ever travel management system designed to make travel arrangements and processing 

easier and more effi cient. The rollout of “E2,” a web-based, end-to-end travel management 

application, ended the resource intensive practice of handling paper forms for employees 

seeking approval to travel and for securing reimbursement for travel expenses. Since implementation of E2, we have processed 1,860 travel authorizing actions, 1,217 travel vouchers, trained 

229 employees. We currently have 583 E2 users in the Division. Because E2 is integrated 
supporting the division’s staff | 121

with CWTSato’s online booking engine and is a web-based system, travelers, travel arrangers, 

approving offi cials, and fi nance offi cials have greater fl exibility and access to handle the travel 

needs of the Division. In addition, E2 provides important audit and compliance related checksand-balances and introduces a much higher level of data integrity for the Division’s travel-related transactions that could not have been achieved using the previous outdated and resource 

intensive travel system.

Supporting Records and Systems Management

In support of recent Presidential and Departmental directives, ENRD’s Offi ce of Administrative Services created the Division’s Records Management Training Plan. The plan provides the 

foundation to ensure Division personnel and contractors are provided the knowledge required 

to effectively and effi ciently manage the Division’s records. In addition, training material was 

created based on the learning objectives outlined in the training plan and implemented for the 

Division’s new employee orientation, which for the fi rst time includes records management 

training. The purpose of the orientation is to increase awareness of the Division’s records 

management program and to provide new employees with an understanding of federal records. 

Promoting Security

To ensure the safety of Division personnel and facilities, in fi scal year 2014, ENRD held 

emergency evacuation drills and coordinated a number of COOP training and testing events. 

In April 2014, 78 employees from Washington, D.C., and fi ve fi eld offi ces participated in a 

telework exercise that tested the ability of the Division’s computer systems to handle a large 

volume of remote users simultaneously. The Division also completed annual safety inspections 

of all ENRD offi ces (Washington, D.C., and fi eld offi ces) in compliance with DOJ Safety Order 

1779.2B.

Greening the Division

The Division held its 11th annual Earth Day service celebration at Marvin Gaye Park in April 

2014. This year’s projects, which focused on the park’s greening center, resulted in the park 

being able to provide more than 6,000 pounds of fresh produce to the local community. Staff 

from all sections of ENRD, as well as staff from the Justice Management Division, its Facilities 

and Administrative Services Staff, Tax Division, and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 

Offi ce of the Solicitor participated in this year’s event. Participants extended a gravel driveway 

through the greening center, assembled new picnic tables, distributed mulch and woodchips, 

weeded existing vegetable gardens, planted new horticultural beds, and cut the grass at the 

Greening Center. ENRD also continued to lead the Department in green building initiatives. 

The Division maintained its trend of lowering energy usage, with 2014 marking the seventh 

consecutive year that energy consumption has decreased. The Patrick Henry Building, where 

ENRD is the primary tenant, received an Energy Star certifi cation in 2014 and continues to meet 

the environmental standards necessary to continue the LEED certifi cation received in 2012. 

This year, the building management replaced the hot water heater with a more energy effi cient 

unit and completed 75 percent of an upgrade to the energy management system controllers.

Finally, the Division saved staff time and money by having contractors in the records 

management warehouse in Landover, Maryland, shred and recycle over 700 boxes of paper in 

fi scal year 2014 using existing high volume shredding equipment.