ENRD FY 2001 SUMMARY OF LITIGATION ACCOMPLISHMENTS

skip to content

Employees Rank ENRD the #1 

Agency Subcomponent in the 2010 

"Best Places to Work in the Federal 

Government" Survey 

 E-mail updates 

On November 16, 2009, ENRD 

celebrated the Division's 100th 

Anniversary! 

Click above to read about ENRD's 100 

years of public service. 

Click the envelope icon above to 

subscribe to our 100th Anniversary 

updates.

Thank you for celebrating with us!

ENRD Home | Current Topics | ENRD FY 2001 

Summary of Litigation Accomplishments

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 

JUSTICE

 ENVIRONMENT 

AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION

FISCAL YEAR 2001

SUMMARY OF LITIGATION 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS 

CONTENTS

DEFENDING VITAL FEDERAL 

PROGRAMS AND INTERESTS

PROSECUTING FRAUD AND THOSE 

WHO EXPOSE US TO HAZARDOUS 

SUBSTANCES

PROTECTING OUR NATION'S AIR AND 

WATER

ENSURING CLEANUP OF 

HAZARDOUS WASTE

PRESERVING OUR NATURAL 

RESOURCES AND PUBLIC LANDS

ENFORCING WILDLIFE PROTECTIONS 

AND DEFENDING WILDLIFE 

MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

PROTECTING INDIAN RIGHTS AND 

RESOLVING INDIAN ISSUES

SUPPORTING THE DIVISION'S 

LITIGATORS

DEFENDING VITAL FEDERAL 

PROGRAMS AND INTERESTS

Promoting Military Preparedness and 

National Security. We prevailed in a 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 1 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
number of challenges last year that 

threatened to disrupt and delay our 

national military training efforts. In 

Malama Makua v. Secretary of Defense, 

following several weeks of intense 

negotiations, we achieved a settlement 

agreement to lift a preliminary injunction 

and dismiss the case, allowing the U.S. 

Army immediately to resume live-fire 

training at Makua Valley, Oahu while it 

prepares an environmental impact 

statement. In Rural Alliance for Military 

Accountability v. U.S. Air Force, the 

plaintiffs dismissed their challenge to the 

Air Force's low-level flight training 

activities after a string of federal victories 

on discovery and procedural issues. 

Finally, we continued an unbroken record 

of wins in supporting live-fire military 

exercises at and around Vieques Island, 

Puerto Rico. For instance, in Waterkeeper 

Alliance v. Department of Defense, one of 

five cases challenging the Navy's training 

activities on Vieques Island, plaintiffs 

sought to enjoin the Navy's use of the 

island based on alleged violations of the 

Endangered Species Act, the Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act, and the 

Equal Protection clause of the 

Constitution. We defeated plaintiffs' 

motion for a preliminary injunction to stop 

military exercises and obtained an order 

dismissing much of the case. 

Continuing Defense of the Army's 

Chemical Weapons Demilitarization 

Program. We continue to defend with 

success the Army's $15 billion Chemical 

Weapons Demilitarization Program. 

Pursuant to the United States' treaty

obligations, Congress has charged the 

Army with responsibility for destroying 

these stockpiles at their current locations. 

We are handling multiple pieces of 

litigation related to the destruction of 

chemical weapons in Alabama, Arkansas, 

Oregon and Utah. The largest stockpile of 

these chemical weapons is located at the 

Army's Tooele Chemical Weapons Depot, 

outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. In May 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 2 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
2000, we obtained a favorable judgment 

in Chemical Weapons Working Group v. 

Department of the Army, where, after a 

lengthy trial, the court rejected arguments 

under the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act to shut down the 

incinerator. The case was subsequently 

appealed to the Tenth Circuit, and we 

successfully defeated motions for a stay 

pending appeal, thereby allowing the safe 

destruction of the Amy's stockpile of 

chemical weapons at Tooele Depot to 

continue. In other litigation, the Alabama 

state court rejected a challenge to a 

permit issued to Anniston Army Depot in 

Anniston, Alabama, for a chemical 

munitions incinerator. In a related suit 

concerning the Anniston Army Depot, we 

appealed an adverse state court decision 

to the Alabama Supreme Court. We also 

successfully defended: 1) a state permit 

for the construction and operation of the 

Army's Umatilla chemical weapons 

incineration facility in Oregon; and 2) a 

challenge to the operation of the Pine 

Bluff Arsenal facility in Arkansas. 

Expediting Construction of the World 

War II Memorial on the National Mall.

With more than 1100 World War II 

veterans dying every day, Congress and 

the Administration have made the speedy 

construction of the World War II Memorial 

on the National Mall a top priority. Shortly 

after Congress enacted legislation to 

expedite construction of the Memorial, we 

successfully defended two suits seeking 

injunctive relief that, if granted, could 

have stalled construction of the Memorial 

for years. Construction of the Memorial is 

now underway. 

Successfully Defending Construction 

of the Legacy Highway. We vindicated 

federal interests in proceeding with 

construction of the Legacy Parkway 

Highway Project near Salt Lake City in 

Utahns for Better Transportation and 

Sierra Club v. USDOT. 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 3 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Emergency Eminent Domain Actions 

in Manhattan. In the wake of the 

September 11 attack, the Division has 

worked closely with the General Services 

Administration ("GSA") in its quest to 

provide substitute office space for 

agencies housed in the Twin Towers. In 

the week following the attack, we 

prepared pleadings on an emergency 

basis and coordinated the filing of an 

eminent domain action to acquire a 

leasehold interest in approximately 

55,200 square feet of office space for use 

by the Customs Service. We continue to 

work closely with GSA, both as trial 

counsel and in an advisory capacity, in its 

effort to expeditiously acquire needed 

office space. 

Appraisal Unit Accomplishments. In 

support of the Division's litigation, the 

Appraisal Unit completed 374 appraisal 

reviews concerning 419 tracts with a total 

estimated value of $454,952,908. In 

addition to the appraisal reviews which 

are a primary responsibility, the unit 

provided significant valuation assistance 

to a number of client agencies over the 

course of the year. Among the most 

notable efforts was the assistance 

provided to the United States Navy 

concerning the Naval Air Station - 

Oceana and the Bureau of Land 

Management concerning the Gold Fields 

Case. Members of the unit also 

participated in presentations at a number 

of national and regional meetings and 

seminars held by federal agencies such 

as the Bureau of Land Management, the 

Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest 

Service. The Unit's most significant single 

accomplishment of the past year was the 

completion and final approval of a 

revision of The Uniform Appraisal 

Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions. 

The revisions include updating the case 

law, major additions to the text and 

improved organization of the material. 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 4 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Defending the Public's "Right-toKnow." We continue to successfully 

defend EPA's expansion of the coverage 

of the Toxic Release Inventory reporting 

program, a public information mechanism 

established by the Emergency Planning 

and Community Right-to-Know Act to 

metal and coal mining facilities. 

PROSECUTING FRAUD AND THOSE 

WHO EXPOSE US TO HAZARDOUS 

SUBSTANCES

Vessel Pollution Enforcement Effort.

The Vessel Pollution Enforcement 

Initiative is an ongoing, concentrated 

effort to prevent pollution from ships into 

the oceans, the coastal waters and the 

inland waterways. Since 1990, there have 

been over 50 environmental prosecutions 

involving pollution from ships, and in the 

past year, the work of the Vessel Pollution 

Initiative has contributed to a number of 

important prosecutions. One of these was 

United States v. Kiriakos Daioglou, in 

which the captain of the T/V Neptune 

Dorado pled guilty to a knowing violation 

of the Ports and Waterway Safety Act 

growing out of his misrepresentations to 

the Coast Guard and orders to the crew 

to falsify the ship's logs in an effort to 

conceal an explosive condition onboard 

the ship. Another such prosecution was a 

multi-district case, United States v. 

Matson Navigation Company, in which 

Matson Navigation Company entered 

guilty pleas in the federal judicial districts 

in California and Washington to multiple 

felonies based on an effort to conceal the 

deficiencies in the ship's pollution 

prevention equipment. The company was 

fined a total of $3 million dollars, a portion 

of which was suspended conditioned 

upon the company financing 

environmental projects. 

Laboratory Fraud Initiative.

Laboratories are used to analyze soil, 

water and other media to determine their 

chemical composition, to assess whether 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 5 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
such chemicals pose human health risks, 

and to determine whether such media is 

contaminated and in need of remediation. 

In light of this role, maintenance of the 

integrity of laboratory sample tests, 

results, and reports is critical. As a result, 

the Lab Fraud Task Force was 

established to survey the problem of 

fraudulent laboratory testing and to 

determine how best to tackle it. During 

the last year, Division attorneys 

prosecuted several nationally significant 

investigations associated with the task 

force. These include United States v. 

Kaminski, et al., in which three 

executives, two corporations, and six 

managers have pled guilty to various 

charges in connection with fraudulent 

testing of petroleum products, including 

reformulated gasoline, by Caleb Brett, 

Inc., a testing laboratory in Linden, New 

Jersey. This falsification scheme allowed 

approximately 224 million gallons of 

substandard gasoline to be sold in the 

New York metropolitan area. Also, in July 

2001, in case involving similar activities at 

Saybolt, Inc., a rival laboratory, three 

individuals pleaded guilty in federal 

district court New Jersey based on their 

roles in falsifying laboratory test results. 

Underground Storage Tank Initiative.

There are approximately one million 

underground storage tanks (USTs) in this 

country and EPA has estimated that 

approximately 35 percent of them do not 

comply with federal regulations. These 

tanks hold oil, gasoline, hazardous 

substances, and hazardous waste, and 

leaks from them pose a serious threat to 

nearby groundwater, the primary source 

of drinking water for most of the country. 

Division attorneys have prosecuted 

several cases under this initiative in the 

last year, including United States v. 

James "Eddie" Adams, et al., a South 

Carolina prosecution involving James 

Edward (Eddie) Adams and Carolina 

Upgrading of South Carolina, Inc., a 

South Carolina contractor that performed 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 6 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
testing services for owners and operators 

of USTs, who engaged in a scheme 

defrauding more than 400 UST owners in 

South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, 

Virginia, and Tennessee by conducting 

false tests at more than 1,500 UST 

facilities. Adams and Carolina Upgrading 

pled guilty in August 2001, to a 15-count 

indictment charging them with conspiracy 

to commit mail fraud, to make false 

statements and to submit false claims, as 

well as with separate charges for mail 

fraud and submission of false claims. 

Several former employees of Carolina 

Upgrading had been previously 

sentenced in connection with this 

fraudulent scheme. 

Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions 

Prosecution. Koch Petroleum Group, 

L.L.P., owned and operated a petroleum 

refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas that 

generated wastewater containing 

benzene, a known carcinogen. In 

early1995, it knowingly concealed its 

failure to conduct required tests that 

would have revealed the concentrations 

of hazardous air pollutants being 

discharged in its waste waters. It pled 

guilty to a false statement violation and 

agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $20 

million, $10 million of which will go toward 

special projects to improve the 

environment in Corpus Christi. The plea 

agreement also requires that Koch 

successfully complete a five-year term of 

probation and adhere to a strict 

environmental compliance program. 

Airbag Manufacturer to Pay $17.6 

Million in Fines for Illegal Handling of 

Hazardous Waste. TRW Vehicle Safety 

Systems, Inc. (VSSI) resolved charges 

that it violated hazardous waste laws at 

its airbag manufacturing plant in Queen 

Creek, Arizona, under a civil settlement 

and criminal plea agreement reached in 

2001. The agreement and plea resolved 

charges that VSSI knowingly sent sodium 

azide, a toxic and potentially explosive 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 7 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
compound, to a landfill not authorized to 

accept this waste, and for storing sodium 

azide at its facility without a permit in 

violation of federal law. The plea 

agreement requires VSSI to pay a $6 

million criminal fine each to the United 

States and Arizona, and establish 

environmental management systems at 

airbag facilities in Arizona and Nevada. 

The civil settlement, which resolves 

claims that VSSI failed to meet federal 

requirements for managing hazardous 

waste, requires VSSI to complete a 

comprehensive assessment of its facility 

and undertake any corrective action 

measures that are deemed necessary. 

VSSI is also required to pay a $5.6 million 

civil penalty, contribute $1.5 million to 

clean up the landfill where it sent the 

sodium azide waste, and perform 

environmental projects worth more than 

$5.7 million. This case is the largest 

criminal-civil settlement under the 

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 

in the country to date. 

First Criminal Prosecution for Violation 

of the Lead Hazard Reduction Act. In 

the first criminal prosecution in the nation 

for a violation of the Lead Hazard 

Reduction Act of 1992, David Nuyen pled 

guilty to obstruction of an agency 

proceeding, making false statements, and 

violating the Toxic Substances Control 

Act in connection with his failure to 

disclose lead paint hazards to tenants in 

Maryland and the District of Columbia, in 

spite of his knowledge of the hazards and 

his obligation to comply with the Lead 

Hazard Reduction Act. He had initially 

been contacted as part of the Department 

of Housing and Urban Development's civil 

initiative to determine compliance with the 

Lead Hazard Reduction Act, but his 

obstructive and deceptive conduct led to 

a criminal prosecution. 

Slaughterhouse Waste Processor and 

Company Officials Sentenced. Central 

Industries, Inc., a Mississippi firm which 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 8 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
processed millions of pounds of 

slaughterhouse waste from five chicken 

producers, discharged on almost a daily 

basis a half-million gallons of blood and 

offal into a tributary of the Pearl River. 

The company and four officials, including 

the president, vice-president, chief 

operating officer and a board member, 

pled guilty to violations of the Clean 

Water Act, and the company was ordered 

to pay a $13 million criminal fine and an 

additional $1 million in criminal restitution 

to the Mississippi Department of 

Environmental Quality for future 

environmental enforcement. Central was 

also ordered to publish a public apology. 

The company officials were fined a total 

of $475,000, and were ordered to serve 

home confinement and perform 

community service. 

Prosecuting Illegal Asbestos 

Abatement. Construction Personnel, Inc. 

(CPI ), a labor contract service, hired 

unauthorized aliens from Mexico, Central 

and South America, many of whom were 

not properly trained in asbestos removal 

or had false training and health 

certifications, to work for contractors 

doing asbestos removal. The asbestos 

abatement classes that were provided 

were actually used to recruit workers who 

were known to be in the United States 

illegally. The company, its president, vice 

president and other employees pled guilty 

and were sentenced in connection with 

this scheme in August. CPI has also 

forfeited over $300,000, which will be 

used by the Agency for Toxic Substances 

and Disease Registry, with the U.S. 

Department of Health and Human 

Services, to track and treat former CPI 

employees who may have been exposed 

to asbestos. 

Appellate Affirmations of Convictions 

and Sentences. The Ninth Circuit 

affirmed the longest prison sentence ever 

for an environmental crime. An Idaho jury 

had previously convicted a WhartonENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Justice Page 9 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
educated businessman and attorney in 

connection with his acts placing others in 

imminent danger of death or serious 

bodily injury by illegal disposal of 

hazardous waste without a permit, and 

the court sentenced him to 17 years 

imprisonment and ordered him to pay 

millions in restitution to a 20-year-old 

employee who was left with permanent 

brain damage from cyanide poisoning. In 

another appellate matter, the Eleventh 

Circuit affirmed convictions and 

sentences of corporate executives and 

managers for a company that operated a 

chemical manufacturing plant in 

Brunswick, Georgia for conspiracy and for 

numerous violations of the Clean Water 

Act, the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act, and the Comprehensive 

Environmental 

PROTECTING OUR NATION'S AIR AND 

WATER

Reducing Air Pollution from Coal-Fired 

Power Plants. During the past year, the 

Division continued to press enforcement 

actions to address Clean Air Act 

violations by coal-fired electric power 

generating plants. These power plants' 

failure to install the best available 

emissions control technology during 

major plant upgrades has resulted in tens 

of millions of tons of air pollution, leading 

to detrimental effects on asthma 

sufferers, the elderly and children, and to 

forest degradation, waterway damage, 

reservoir contamination, and deterioration 

of stone and copper in buildings. We filed 

two more enforcement actions (in addition 

to the eight actions already on file), and 

reached two "agreements in principle," 

one with Cinergy Corp. and one with 

Virginia Electric Power Co., under which 

the utilities tentatively agreed to install 

and optimize pollution-control equipment 

to achieve significant reductions in 

pollution and to pay civil penalties of $8.5 

million and $5.3 million, respectively. 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 10 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Addressing Pollution at the Nation's 

Oil Refineries. As part of a national 

enforcement effort to address Clean Air 

Act violations at the nation's oil refineries, 

we entered into five major, multi-facility 

settlements with petroleum companies 

that together account for almost 40% of 

the nation's refining capacity. Through 

these settlements, the settling companies 

will reduce toxic emissions by more than 

130,000 tons per year at 29 refineries, 

install pollution control equipment valued 

at $1.3 billion, pay $28 million in civil 

penalties, and perform supplemental 

environmental projects worth $12 million. 

Eight states joined in these settlements. 

The settlements all require the 

defendants to install state-of-the-art 

pollution control equipment. Reducing 

Ozone-Depleting CFCs at Facilities in 18 

States. We achieved a groundbreaking 

Clean Air Act settlement with Air Liquide 

America Corp. under which it will 

eliminate refrigerant chemicals that 

destroy the earth's stratospheric ozone 

layer and replace them with 

environmentally friendly alternatives. Air 

Liquide had been illegally releasing 

ozone-depleting gases from industrial 

process refrigeration systems at 22 

facilities located in 18 states. The 

agreement also obligates Air Liquide to 

pay a $4.5 million civil penalty and fund 

environmental projects that will benefit a 

lower-income, minority community in 

Calcasiea Parish, Louisiana. The total 

value of the settlement is approximately 

$17 million. 

Reducing Air Pollution at 14 Steel 

Plants in 7 States. The Division's 

settlement with Nucor Steel, Inc., which 

resolves allegations that Nucor violated 

environmental standards regulating the 

release of pollutants into the air, water 

and soil and the management of 

hazardous waste produced by steel 

furnaces, will potentially result in the 

reduction of an estimated 9400 tons of air 

pollution over eight years. The agreement 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 11 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
covers fourteen Nucor facilities in seven 

states, and calls for air pollution control 

technology that is expected to set a new 

standard in the steel industry for 

controlling air pollution from furnaces and 

paint operations. The company will also 

pay a $9 million civil penalty and spend 

another $4 million on continued 

emissions monitoring of hazardous 

pollutants and environmental projects to 

benefit the communities where the 

facilities are located. Four states - 

Arkansas, Utah, South Carolina and 

Nebraska - joined the United States in 

this settlement. 

Eliminating Airborne Pesticides in a 

Residential Neighborhood. After trial in 

June 2001, the defendants in U.S. v. 

Tropical Fruit, S.E. agreed to a settlement 

to resolve the government's claims under 

the Comprehensive Environmental 

Response, Compensation and Liability 

Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide 

and Rodenticide Act at their fruit farm in 

Puerto Rico. The defendants applied 

pesticides to agricultural crops in such a 

manner that the pesticides drifted beyond 

the boundaries of the Farm into an 

adjacent residential neighborhood, in 

violation of the pesticide label 

requirements. The consent decree 

requires defendants to pay a civil penalty 

and undertake extensive measures to 

prevent future releases of pesticides into 

the community by creating a significant 

buffer zone along the perimeter of the 

farm;ceasing pesticide spraying in that 

part of the buffer zone adjacent to 

residences and converting to manual 

spraying in the remainder of the buffer 

zone; planting a vegetative barrier along 

nearly the entire perimeter of the buffer 

zone; and hiring an individual to monitor 

pesticide handling operations. 

Upholding EPA's Standard-Setting 

Authority for Common Air Pollutants.

The cornerstone of the Clean Air Act is its 

provision governing the setting of national 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 12 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
ambient air quality standards for 

ubiquitous "conventional" pollutants such 

as ozone and particulate matter. In 1999, 

ruling on challenges to EPA's newlyrevised standards for ozone and fine 

particulate matter, the D.C. Circuit had 

issued an opinion holding that the 

standard-setting provision, as interpreted 

by EPA, violated the constitutional nondelegation doctrine. Working with the 

Solicitor General's Office, the Division 

appealed that decision to the Supreme 

Court and obtained a unanimous decision 

reversing the appellate court decision and 

upholding the constitutionality of the Act. 

Reducing Interstate Contributions to 

Unhealthy Ozone Levels. In order to 

address the problem of pollution 

emissions in one state that contribute to 

unhealthy levels of ozone (smog) in 

states downwind, EPA imposed federal 

emission limitations on certain sources of 

air pollution in upwind states that 

significantly contribute to ozone problems 

in the Northeast. That action was 

challenged by industry and utility interests 

and seven of the upwind states in 

Appalachian Power Co. v. EPA. In May 

2001, the Division obtained a favorable 

decision upholding EPA's approach to all 

of the significant statutory and policy 

issues presented, allowing EPA to move 

forward with implementing these vitally 

important emission reductions. 

Addressing PCB Contamination in 

Rivers. General Electric Co. (GE) has 

agreed to spend more than $250 million 

to resolve claims it polluted the 

Housatonic River with polychlorinated 

biphenyls ("PCBs"). PCBs are found in 

the river from western Massachusetts, 

where GE manufactured transformers 

and other equipment containing PCBs, to 

its mouth in Long Island Sound. The 

settlement requires GE to clean up the 

contamination at its manufacturing facility 

in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and carry out 

a "brownfield" plan to redevelop the 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 13 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
facility and bring new commercial life to 

Pittsfield. The agreement also requires 

GE to clean up stretches of the 

Housatonic River over time, undertake 

several projects to improve wildlife 

habitat, and make a $15 million cash 

payment to federal and state trustees for 

natural resource restoration projects. In a 

separate action, the Division defeated 

efforts to halt EPA's issuance of a record 

of decision that would require GE to 

remediate PCB-contaminated sediments 

in the Hudson River in New York. 

Upgrading 172 Sewage Treatment 

Systems in Louisiana. In October 2000, 

the Division lodged a consent decree with 

Total Environmental Solutions, Inc. 

(TESI), that sets forth a comprehensive 

schedule for bringing into compliance with 

the Clean Water Act 172 sewage 

treatment plants formerly controlled by 

Johnson Properties and its numerous 

affiliates. Over several years, Johnson 

Properties did practically no maintenance 

on these plants, and nearly all of the 

plants regularly discharged large amounts 

of partially treated and raw sewage into 

local waterways, including drainage 

ditches in subdivisions. Johnson 

Properties had initially signed a consent 

decree agreeing to remedial measures, 

but it soon became apparent that it was 

making no effort to comply with the 

agreement. We therefore moved for and 

secured the appointment of a receiver to 

manage the plants. The most recent 

settlement provides for transfer of the 

plants from the trustee to a responsible 

new owner who will bring them into 

compliance with the law. 

Ensuring Safe Drinking Water in 

Puerto Rico. An October 2000 settlement 

with the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer 

Authority (PRASA) will bring 43 drinking 

water systems throughout the island into 

compliance with the Clean Water Act and 

Safe Drinking Water Act. We filed suit 

against PRASA after it failed to comply 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 14 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
with numerous EPA administrative orders. 

The settlement requires PRASA to install 

sludge treatment facilities at drinking 

water plants and to filter the drinking 

water that comes from its public drinking 

water systems. PRASA's systems serve 

approximately 25,000 people. The 

settlement also requires PRASA to pay a 

$550,000 penalty and undertake nearly 

$500,000 in environmental projects. 

Landmark Storm Water Settlements. In 

June 2001, we achieved two significant 

victories in the enforcement of the Clean 

Water Act's regulation of storm water 

discharges, which EPA has identified as a 

leading cause of impaired water quality. 

In one, we reached a settlement with WalMart in the first federal judicial 

enforcement action against a single 

company for multi-state violations of the 

Act's storm water provisions. Under the 

settlement, Wal-Mart will pay a $1 million 

civil penalty, and establish a $4.5 million 

environmental management plan to 

prevent construction-related pollution at 

the retailer's multiple construction sites 

throughout the country. In the other, we 

achieved a settlement with National 

Railroad Passenger Corporation 

(Amtrak), the nation's largest passenger 

rail operator, that resolved violations at 

Amtrak facilities in Massachusetts, 

Connecticut and Rhode Island. Storm 

water discharges from rail maintenance 

facilities can carry oil, grease and metals 

into storm drains, ultimately 

compromising the health and quality of 

streams and waterways. The settlement 

requires Amtrak to address past 

violations, implement a nation-wide 

compliance audit and a nation-wide 

environmental management system, pay 

a $500,000 civil penalty, and undertake 

two environmental projects at an 

estimated cost of $800,000. 

United States Joins Three Citizen 

Groups to Alleviate Hog Waste in 

North Carolina. In July 2001, we joined 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 15 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
with three citizen organizations to settle 

claims against the owners and operators 

of five hog farms for unlawful discharges 

of treated hog waste. The settlement 

requires defendants to pay a $72,000 civil 

penalty and take specified measures to 

prevent future discharges of swine waste 

at these five farms in North Carolina. 

Division Secures Largest Ever Civil 

Fine at a Single Facility. In October 

2000, we achieved a settlement with 

Morton International, Inc., under which 

Morton will pay a penalty of $20 million for 

violating six environmental statutes at its 

chemical manufacturing facility in Moss 

Point, Mississippi. The State of 

Mississippi was a full partner in our 

enforcement action and will receive onehalf the penalty. The settlement requires 

Morton to conduct a full environmental 

assessment of its facility and to take 

corrective measures to address problems 

at the plant. Morton will also perform 

three environmental projects at an 

estimated cost of $19 million. Additionally, 

the settlement provides that an 

independent audit will be conducted at 23 

facilities formerly owned by Morton, but 

acquired by Rohm and Haas, and that 

any further environmental problems will 

be addressed by Rohm and Haas. 

Settlements with Three Universities 

Result in Innovative Environmental 

Management. In separate actions, both 

the University of Hawaii and University of 

Rhode Island resolved claims concerning 

the universities' violations of the 

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 

(RCRA), the primary federal hazardous 

waste law. The settlements require each 

institution to conduct environmental 

compliance audits, rectify problems 

revealed in the audits, pay civil penalties 

of $505,000 and $250,000, respectively, 

and perform environmental projects 

valued at $1.2 million and $500,000 

respectively. The settlement with Rhode 

Island also resolves claims under the 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 16 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. We 

also arrived at a multi-media, 

predominantly RCRA settlement with the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

which provides for the payment of a 

$150,000 civil penalty and the institution 

of an environmental management system, 

and three creative environmental projects: 

development of an innovative storm water 

management system, a "virtual 

compliance" web-based compliance 

assistance program, and collaboration 

with the local public school system to 

develop and implement an environmental 

curriculum. 

Defending Administrative Enforcement 

of PCB Disposal Requirements. In 

November 2000, the Fifth Circuit upheld 

EPA's administrative penalty assessment 

of $1.345 million against Newell 

Recycling Company for violations of PCB 

disposal requirements in the Toxic 

Substances Control Act. 

Preserving Our Nations's Wetlands.

The Division won three major victories for 

protection of our nation's wetlands this 

year. In one enforcement case involving 

more than 1000 acres of rare peat bog in 

Sanilac County, Michigan, the Division 

obtained a finding of liability for extensive 

violations of the Clean Water Act, and 

significant injunctive relief to address the 

destruction of these valuable resources. 

In another enforcement case involving 

California's rapidly vanishing vernal pool 

ecosystems, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the 

district court's award to the United States 

of a substantial civil penalty and order to 

the defendant to restore waters of the 

United States destroyed through deep 

plowing and discing. Finally, we obtained 

a stipulated penalty of $4,015,500 as a 

result of a developer's noncompliance 

with the terms of a prior settlement in a 

wetlands enforcement action in Indiana. 

Record Recoveries to Result in 

Restoration of Damaged Natural 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 17 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Resources. In December 2000, we 

reached a settlement with the remaining 

defendants in an action involving DDT 

contamination of the ocean off the coast 

of Los Angeles. The contamination 

resulted from the discharge of 

approximately 1800 tons of DDT from a 

Montrose Chemical Co. manufacturing 

facility into Los Angeles County sewers 

that empty into the Pacific Ocean, 

creating the largest known area of DDT 

contamination in the world. Under the 

settlement, defendants will pay $73 

million, of which $30 million will be used 

to restore natural resources damaged by 

the contamination. This recovery, 

together with previous recoveries from 

other defendants, brings the total amount 

recovered for environmental restoration in 

this area to $137.5 million. The funds will 

be used by federal and state trustees on 

projects such as artificial reefs to provide 

new habitat for fish and a program to 

reintroduce bald eagles and peregrine 

falcons to Santa Catalina and the other 

Channel Islands. The remaining $43 

million from the December settlement will 

be available to clean up the offshore 

contamination. 

In October 2000, we achieved the largest 

natural resource damage recovery to date 

under the Park System Resource 

Protection Act when we reached a 

settlement for damages arising out of the 

grounding of the vessel M/V Igloo Moon 

in Biscayne National Park off the coast of 

Florida. The grounding caused significant 

damage to the coral reef habitat in the 

Park. The $1 million recovery will cover 

the full cost of primary restoration as well 

as other compensable costs. In another 

grounding case involving a barge carrying 

1.5 million tons of oil that ran aground off 

the coast of Puerto Rico, we reached an 

agreement with the owners, operators 

and insurers of the barge to address the 

damages caused when the barge 

crushed the reef and spilled 800,000 

gallons of oil. Much of the oil was 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 18 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
discharged onto nearby land, affecting 

beaches and parklands in Puerto Rico. 

Under the settlement, $60 million will be 

deposited in the Oil Spill Liability Trust 

Fund, which financed the clean up, and 

an additional $23.5 million will be paid to 

settle the federal and state trustees' 

claims for natural resource damages. It is 

expected that the trustees' recoveries will 

be used to restore reef injured in the 

incident and to acquire land to enhance 

conservation, ecosystem preservation, 

habitat maintenance and recreational 

opportunities in the beach areas affected 

by the spills. Finally, in April 2001, we 

reached an agreement with Guide 

Corporation in which the company will 

pay more than $10 million to settle a civil 

lawsuit over one of the largest fish kills in 

Indiana history. Guide, an automotive 

lighting manufacturer, discharged toxic 

wastewater from an automotive parts 

facility to the Anderson, Indiana sewage 

treatment plant which, in turn, discharges 

into the White River. Under the 

settlement, Guide agreed to pay $6 

million into two White River restoration 

funds, $2 million to reimburse the costs of 

agencies that responded to the fish kill, 

and $2 million in civil penalties. In a 

related action, Guide also agreed to plead 

guilty to criminal violations of the Clean 

Water Act and pay more than $4.1 million 

in criminal penalties, asset forfeiture, and 

restitution under a plea agreement, plus 

commence a comprehensive 

environmental compliance training 

program for all employees. 

ENSURING CLEANUP OF 

HAZARDOUS WASTE

Record Cost Recovery from a Single 

Individual. In December 2000, we 

reached an agreement with Robert 

Friedland regarding the Summitville Mine 

Site in Colorado. We sued Friedland as 

an "operator" of the site due to his roles 

as financier, major stockholder, chairman, 

CEO and director of the owner 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 19 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
corporation, Summitville Consolidated 

Mining Company, Inc. and its parent 

Galactic Resources Ltd. Pursuant to the 

settlement, Friedland will pay 

$27,750,000 over a nine year time period 

to address arsenic contamination at this 

site. The settlement also provides that $5 

million will be spent to restore natural 

resources damaged by the 

contamination. The Environmental 

Protection Agency spent more than $150 

million mounting an emergency response 

action to address a 43-acre cyanide heap 

leach pad that was about to overtop its 

dikes when the owners declared 

bankruptcy in 1992 and abandoned the 

site. 

Record Settlement to Cleanup One of 

the Nation's Most Toxic Waste Sites.

The United States and California reached 

an agreement with Aventis CropSciences 

USA, Inc. that will fund cleanup costs that 

could approach $1 billion at the Iron 

Mountain Mine Superfund Site near 

Redding, California. The settlement is one 

of the largest settlements with a single 

private party in the history of the federal 

Superfund program. Through the creation 

of a unique funding vehicle that will 

generate $200-300 million over 30 years 

with a $514 million balloon payment in 

year 30, the settlement assures that 

money is available each year for longterm operation of a pollution treatment 

and control system needed to prevent 

toxic discharges from the site. This site 

has been one of the largest point sources 

of toxic metals in the United States, and 

the source of the most acidic mine 

drainage in the world. Aventis will also 

pay federal and state trustees $10 million 

for natural resource restoration projects. 

Petrochemical Companies Agree to 

Pay Second Highest Superfund 

Recovery. In September 2001, we 

reached a $120 million settlement with 

numerous oil refiners and petrochemical 

companies relating to contamination at 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 20 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
the Sikes Disposal Pits Superfund Site 

located near Crosby, Texas. Under the 

decree, the United States will receive 

$111.3 million, plus interest, toward 

reimbursement of costs it incurred to 

cleanup chemical and oil-based 

contamination at the Site. The State of 

Texas, which joined the settlement, will 

receive the balance of the proceeds. 

Cleanup and Redevelopment of 

Niagara Falls Superfund Site. Under a 

settlement with Goodyear Tire & Rubber 

Co., a polluted, abandoned trailer park in 

western New York State will be cleaned 

up and redeveloped. EPA relocated 

residents in 1989 after discovering that 

residents of the mobile homes were living 

on top of and even playing with chunks of 

hazardous waste. Goodyear will clean up 

the site, reimburse the government for its 

costs and compensate for damages to 

natural resources resulting from the 

contamination. 

Resolving Federal Liability to Ensure 

the Cleanup of Hazardous Waste. A 

significant portion of the Division's 

practice involves resolving the liability of 

federal agencies in connection with the 

cleanup of contaminated facilities under 

the federal Superfund statute, CERCLA. 

In September 2001, the Division finalized 

a unique CERCLA settlement that saved 

the United States tens of millions of 

dollars, while facilitating environmental 

remediation. The settlement involved the 

Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, in 

Irvine, California, which had released 

volatile organic compounds into shallow 

groundwater below the surface of the Air 

Station, and ultimately into an adjacent 

deeper off-base aquifer. The deeper 

aquifer was also contaminated by nitrates 

and total dissolved solids from the 

activities of other entities, and the Water 

Districts for Orange County and the Irvine 

Ranch had undertaken a long-term 

project to pump and treat the water from 

the deeper aquifer. Through the 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 21 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
settlement agreement, the two Water 

Districts will now be responsible for the 

long-term cleanup of both the off-base 

deeper aquifer and the on-base shallow 

groundwater, at a projected cost of $97 

million. In return, the United States will 

contribute $27.25 million toward the cost 

of the cleanup. This arrangement results 

in a significant cost savings both to the 

United States and to the Water Districts 

due to the cost efficiency of constructing 

and operating a total treatment system for 

both of the contaminated areas. 

Defending CERCLA's Constitutionality.

The United States intervened in a Sixth 

Circuit appeal to defend the 

constitutionality of the Superfund statute. 

The defendant in a private cost recovery 

case asserted that application of 

retroactive liability under Superfund was 

an unconstitutional taking or due process 

violation, but we successfully argued that 

application of retroactive liability was 

constitutional. As a result, the first court of 

appeals to hear this issue has assisted in 

ensuring that toxic waste sites across the 

country are cleaned up and that the costs 

are shared fairly and equitably. 

PRESERVING OUR NATURAL 

RESOURCES AND PUBLIC LANDS

Restoring the Everglades. A number of 

victories last year continued and 

advanced our unprecedented joint effort 

with the State of Florida to restore and 

protect unique South Florida ecosystems, 

including the Florida Everglades, the 

largest subtropical wilderness in North 

America. For example, we secured the 

dismissal of a challenge to the historic, 

$7.8 billion, 30-year Comprehensive 

Everglades Restoration Plan authorized 

by Congress, and, in another case 

involving intensive litigation, we obtained 

a ruling retroactively granting our motion 

to augment the surface water cleanup 

program and prolong provisions in a 1992 

consent decree. The court declared the 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 22 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
merits of our motion (filed jointly with the 

State) to be "abundantly clear," 

notwithstanding the opposition of 

numerous intervenors. We also continue 

to contribute to protection of the unique 

Everglades ecosystem by ensuring that 

acquisitions by eminent domain were 

effected as to approximately 2,500 tracts 

for inclusion within the Everglades 

National Park and Big Cypress National 

Preserve expansion. We have also begun 

preliminary work with the National Park 

Service on the acquisition of outstanding 

mineral interests in the park. 

Defending the Forest Service's 

Management of the National Forests.

We continue to enjoy success in 

defending Forest Service decisions and 

actions related to the National Forests. 

We defeated an attempt to enjoin some 

200 timber sales in 11 National Forests in 

the Sierra Nevada and also brought to 

successful conclusion the last challenge 

to the Northwest Forest Plan. We 

forestalled an attempt to reopen the 

spotted owl litigation in Hanson v. Forest 

Service, and the Ninth Circuit Court of 

Appeals granted our motion to dismiss an 

appeal concerning the revised Tongass 

Land Management Plan. Collectively, 

these cases preserved the Forest 

Service's discretion to take the actions 

necessary to balance environmental 

protection with resource use and forest 

health concerns. 

Protecting National Grasslands. The 

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 

Nebraska National Forest Supervisor's 

decision to modify the stocking level for 

cattle grazing pursuant to a federal permit 

on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in 

South Dakota. The Court affirmed the 

methodology used by the Supervisor to 

establish the new stocking level, holding 

that the supervisor did not act arbitrarily 

or capriciously in arriving at his decision. 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 23 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Wild Burro Management. The Ninth 

Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the 

State of Arizona's challenge to the 

Bureau of Land Management's authority 

to manage the wild burro population 

under the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and 

Burros Act in the Alamo Lake Wildlife 

Area, holding that it was barred by the 

statute of limitations. 

Defending Presidential Authority 

Under the Antiquities Act. In two 

precedent-setting decisions, we defended 

the Presidential designation of two 

national monuments under the Antiquities 

Act of 1906. In the first case, the court 

upheld the constitutionality of the 

Antiquities Act and found that the 

President properly exercised his 

discretion in accordance with the Act's 

standards when establishing the Giant 

Sequoia National Monument in 

California's southern Sierra Nevada to 

protect objects of historic and scientific 

interest within the Monument. In the 

second, the court upheld the 

establishment of the Grand CanyonParashant National Monument in Arizona, 

finding that plaintiffs lacked standing, had 

failed to state a claim for relief, and had 

not demonstrated any Constitutional 

infirmities in the Act. 

Continued Stewardship of Rio Grande 

River Water. We represented the 

Department of the Interior, the Corps of 

Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation 

in the complex litigation surrounding the 

use of the waters of the Rio Grande River 

and the protection of threatened or 

endangered species, most notably in Rio 

Grande Silvery Minnow v. Martinez, in 

which we negotiated an agreement with 

the State of New Mexico to provide an 

additional 30,000 acre-feet of water per 

year for the endangered silvery minnow 

for years 2001 through 2003. 

Significant Water Rights Successes 

across the Western United States. Last 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 24 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
year we protected important federal water 

rights through negotiation of mutually 

beneficial settlement agreements with 

state and private interests. In Arizona's 

general stream adjudication for the Little 

Colorado River, we negotiated 

agreements with all the major industrial 

users of ground water in the basin, with 

the City of Flagstaff, and with the State 

Lands Department. These agreements 

protect national forest lands and National 

Park Service lands at Grand Canyon and 

Petrified Forest National Parks; Wupatki, 

Walnut Canyon and Sunset Crater 

National Monuments; and the Hubbell 

Trading Post National Historic Site. In 

Utah, we negotiated settlements 

recognizing reserved water rights for 

Rainbow Bridge National Monuments and 

Golden Spike National Historic Site. In 

California, we secured an agreement 

protecting flows in the Santa Margarita 

River needed by the United States Marine 

Corps for military and environmental 

purposes at Camp Pendleton. In addition 

to our continuing defense of federal 

management of Reclamation projects in 

western states including California, 

Oregon, and New Mexico, we negotiated 

agreements with two major irrigation 

districts in the State of Washington's 

adjudication for the Yakima River Basin. 

These agreements resolve disputes 

among the Bureau of Reclamation, the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, the State, the 

Yakama Indian Nation, and the water 

districts, and provide sufficient water for 

crop irrigation while ensuring that the 

United States can meet its statutory 

conservation purposes and trust 

responsibility to the Yakama to protect 

fishery resources in the basin. Finally, we 

took important steps forward in water 

rights litigation. In the Klamath Basin 

Adjudication, we secured an 

administrative decision confirming that 

Crater Lake National Park has a reserved 

right for water necessary to fulfill 

reservation purposes, including 

preservation and protection of natural 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 25 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
objects, timber, and game and fish; 

prevention and extinguishment of forest 

fires; and permitting tourism, including 

hotels and restaurants. We also obtained 

favorable rulings from the Klamath 

hearing officer and the Idaho Supreme 

Court in the Snake River Basin 

Adjudication, confirming federal 

entitlement to reserved rights for flows 

sufficient to protect "outstandingly 

remarkable values" in designated Wild 

and Scenic rivers. 

Resolving Miners' Claims in Denali 

National Park. In the first two Fifth 

Amendment Takings Clause cases 

brought by the holders of unpatented 

mining claims in Denali National Park, we 

have achieved favorable outcomes. The 

plaintiffs in these cases sought 

compensation from the United States 

based on an alleged prohibition on mining 

activities within the Park. A five-week trial 

in the first of these cases resulted in a 

district court award of less than five per 

cent of the plaintiffs' original demand, 

which success was instrumental in 

achieving a settlement in the second 

case. 

Protecting the National Rails-to-Trails 

Program. In the first Fifth Amendment 

Takings Clause case involving the 

National Trails System Act, the Court of 

Federal Claims awarded the plaintiff less 

than one-third of the amount originally 

requested. This case, and the more than 

twenty other similar cases now pending 

involving thousands of claimants, result 

from federal legislation converting 

formerly unused railroad rights-of-way 

into a nationwide system of recreational 

trails enjoyed by millions of Americans. 

The Court's award in this and similar 

cases helps to protect both the public fisc 

and this valuable program. 

Resolving Longstanding Claims under 

the "Forest In Lieu" Program. This year 

we brought to closure numerous claims 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 26 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
for compensation brought by individuals 

whose predecessors-in-interest conveyed 

property to the United States for the 

national forests, but who failed to 

received anything in return. These claims 

date back to the late 1800s, and 

numerous attempts by Congress over the 

past century to resolve these claims have 

proven unsuccessful. Our settlement of all 

of these claims bring this long and 

complex saga to an end. 

Protection against Loss of Substantial 

National Park Lands. After a two-week 

trial, the federal district court in Alaska 

denied plaintiffs' claim to 30,000 acres 

which included almost all of the Cook Inlet 

coastline of Lake Clark National Park. 

The case involved issues concerning the 

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and 

interpretation of a 1976 agreement 

between the Department of the Interior 

and Alaska Native corporations. 

ENFORCING WILDLIFE PROTECTIONS 

AND DEFENDING WILDLIFE 

MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS

Three Appellate Victories in Criminal 

Wildlife Prosecution. Working with the 

Division, the United States Attorney's 

office in New York obtained a decision 

vacating the defendants' sentences and 

remanding for resentencing in a caviar 

smuggling case. Eugeniusz Koczuk and 

Wieslaw Rozbicki smuggled 

approximately 19,000 pounds of sturgeon 

roe into the United States over an eightmonth period shortly after sturgeon were 

listed as protected. In sentencing the 

defendants, the district court departed 

downward from the range prescribed by 

the Sentencing Guidelines on the ground 

that the Guidelines overstated the 

seriousness of the offenses. On appeal, 

the Court of Appeals rejected the district 

court's attempt to second-guess the 

Sentencing Commission. In another case, 

the Court of Appeals affirmed the 

conviction and sentence of Petros 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 27 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Leventis, who was convicted of two 

counts of illegal coral smuggling. Leventis 

had been sentenced to concurrent terms 

of 18 months imprisonment followed by 

24 months supervised released and a 

$5,000 fine, while his company was 

sentenced to concurrent terms of 60 

months probation and a $25,000 fine. In a 

third case, the Ninth Circuit Court of 

Appeals upheld the conviction of James 

Fejes, an Alaska based hunting 

outfitter/guide. Fejes was found guilty of 

violating federal law, which prohibits the 

taking of wildlife protected by state law, in 

connection with a caribou hunt 

undertaken in violation of Alaska law. 

Wildlife Smuggling Kingpin Pleads 

Guilty. Keng Liang "Anson" Wong, a 

Malaysian wildlife dealer, arrested in 1998 

in Mexico City after a three-year 

undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

investigation into international trafficking 

in live endangered species, pleaded guilty 

to multiple felony counts related to the 

smuggling and sale of various highly 

endangered reptiles. Wong was 

sentenced to 71 months in prison and 

ordered to pay $64,000 in fines and 

assessments. Between 1995 and 1998 

Wong lead a wildlife smuggling ring that 

illegally imported over 300 protected 

reptiles and amphibians worth in excess 

of $5 million, including Komodo dragons 

and the rarest tortoise species, the 

Madagascan ploughshare tortoise, into 

the United States using commercial 

shipments, human couriers and FedEx 

packages. 

Lobster Smugglers Convicted and 

Sentenced. Four defendants were 

convicted sentenced to record amounts of 

incarceration for smuggling $18 million 

worth of spiny lobster into the United 

States harvested and exported in 

violation of Honduran laws intended to 

preserve a sustainable lobster fishery. 

Three defendants, David Henson McNab, 

Robert Blandford, and Abner J. 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 28 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Schoenwetter each received 97 months 

imprisonment (more than eight years). 

McNab was fined $100,000 plus 

assessments, while the other two 

defendants were fined $15,000 plus 

assessments. The Court also entered a 

final forfeiture order against the three 

men, forfeiting $100,000 each from 

Blandford and Schoenwetter and 

$800,000 from McNab, which represented 

proceeds from their illegal scheme. The 

fourth defendant, Diane Huang, was 

sentenced to 24 months imprisonment 

and fined $10,000. 

Prosecuting Endangered Species Act 

Violations. John Zentner, an 

environmental consultant in Emeryville, 

California, and his corporation, Zentner & 

Zentner, were prosecuted under the 

Endangered Species Act for unlawfully 

taking threatened California Red-legged 

frogs at the site of a new housing project 

in Concord, California. Zentner and his 

company collected over 50 protected 

frogs and 500 tadpoles from the sole 

pond at the site, shrunk the pond by more 

than half in order to facilitate the 

development, and relocated the frogs into 

the remainder of the pond, which was no 

longer capable of sustaining them. The 

defendants failed to notify wildlife 

authorities of the existence of the frogs at 

the site despite the demonstrated 

concern of officials that the species were 

probably present. Zentner was sentenced 

to a $10,000 fine, to serve 200 hours in 

community service as an unpaid 

environmental consultant to the NapaSonoma Marshes State Wildlife area, and 

three years of probation; the company 

was sentenced to a $65,000 fine. 

Defending Federal Construction and 

Operation Programs. The Division 

continued its successful defense of the 

operations of the major hydroelectric 

facilities and irrigation projects within the 

Snake and Columbia River basins. In 

Trout Unlimited v. NMFS, the court 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 29 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
rejected plaintiffs' broad challenge to the 

Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau 

of Reclamation's maintenance of flows in 

the Columbia and Snake River to protect 

listed salmonids. We also prevailed in a 

challenge to construction of a powerline 

for the international observatory located 

on Mount Graham near Tucson. 

Defending the Commerce 

Department's Management of Ocean 

Fisheries. The Division has defeated 

repeated attempts to shut down fishing 

operations in New England over concerns 

about the possibility that federal fisheries 

could contribute to the entanglement of 

endangered northern right whales. 

Instead, the National Marine Fisheries 

Service ("NMFS") will be given the 

opportunity to finalize and implement 

procedures to ensure that the fisheries 

will not harm right whales. The Division 

has also successfully defended numerous 

management actions taken by the 

Secretary of Commerce to regulate 

federal fisheries to promote both the 

economic well-being of the federal fishing 

industry and the overall long term viability 

of the fisheries, including the lobster, New 

England pelagic longline, and yellowfin 

tuna and shark fisheries. 

Defending Constitutional Challenges 

to the Endangered Species Act. Over 

the past year, the Division successfully 

defended two constitutional challenges to 

the enforcement provisions of the 

Endangered Species Act ("ESA"). One 

case involved a challenge to the ESA as 

applied to proposed commercial 

development activities in the habitat of 

several karst (cave-dwelling) invertebrate 

species that only occur in Texas. The 

other challenged the ESA as applied to 

proposed residential development in the 

habitat of the arroyo southwestern toad, 

which only occurs in California and 

Mexico. Both courts held that the 

proposed development projects are 

activities substantially affecting interstate 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 30 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
commerce, and hence, that they may be 

regulated. 

Defending Government Decisions 

Regarding Listing of Species. In 

several cases, the Division prevailed 

against claims challenging decisions of 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

regarding whether to list a species as 

threatened or endangered under the 

ESA. In Center for Biological Diversity v. 

Badgely, the court sustained the decision 

of the Fish and Wildlife Service that listing 

of the Northern goshawk in the western 

United States was not warranted where 

the best information reflected that there 

was not a population decline or significant 

curtailment of habitat. In Cook Inlet 

Beluga Whale v. Daley the court rejected 

plaintiffs' challenge to NMFS' 

determination that the Cook Inlet Beluga 

whale was not endangered or threatened. 

NMFS had concluded that the recent 

dramatic decline of the species' 

population was attributed primarily to 

overharvest by Alaska natives and took 

action under the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act to regulate the harvest. 

With authority to control the harvest in 

place, NMFS concluded that no other 

factor placed the population at risk of 

extinction, and the court agreed. 

Opposing Emergency Motions Seeking 

to Enjoin Government Programs. The 

Division has a constant flow of cases 

involving requests for emergency relief. 

Often, such motions seek to enjoin major 

federal projects or authorizations and the 

Division must defend on extremely short 

notice. For example, the Division has 

successfully opposed a request for 

emergency relief in litigation concerning 

the reconstruction of the Wilson Bridge on 

the Washington, D.C. Beltway, and the 

operation of the Washington Aqueduct, 

which provides water to approximately 

one million customers in the District of 

Columbia and northern Virginia. 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 31 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
PROTECTING INDIAN RIGHTS AND 

RESOLVING INDIAN ISSUES

Courts Uphold Authority of Indian 

Tribes. The Seventh Circuit Court of 

Appeals upheld EPA's grant of authority 

to the Sokaogan (Mole Lake Band) 

Chippewa Community Reservation to 

regulate waters on their reservation under 

the Clean Water Act, in the face of a 

challenge to the Band's authority over the 

waters in question. In another matter in 

which we filed an amicus brief and 

presented oral argument, the Alaska 

Supreme Court ruled unanimously that 

Indian Tribes in Alaska have jurisdiction 

to accept transfer of child custody cases 

from state courts pursuant to the Indian 

Child Welfare Act (ICWA), without regard 

to the existence of Indian country. In so 

doing, the Alaska Supreme Court 

expressly overruled several previous 

decisions and reaffirmed the inherent 

sovereignty of federally-recognized Tribes 

in Alaska. 

Supreme Court Affirms Tribal 

Ownership of Lake Bed and 

Streambanks. The Supreme Court 

affirmed that the Coeur d'Alene Tribe is 

the beneficial owner of the beds and 

banks of the portions of Coeur d'Alene 

Lake and the St. Joe River that are within 

the boundaries of the Coeur d'Alene 

Indian Reservation in Idaho. The United 

States had brought this case on the 

Tribe's behalf to quiet title to the 

submerged lands in question. Affirming 

the decisions below, the Supreme Court 

took a broad, contextual approach to 

conclude that Congress recognized the 

reservation in a way that demonstrated an 

intent to defeat state title. 

Indian Water Rights Settlements in 

Montana. The Division has devoted 

significant resources to settling water 

rights claims in several basins in 

Montana. Since January, we have settled 

or resolved 118 such claims. Also, in late 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 32 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
August, the Montana Water Court 

approved the Fort Peck Compact, which 

the United States, the State, and the 

Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation 

had negotiated as a comprehensive 

settlement of numerous water claims in 

four different Montana water basins. 

Tribal Fishing Rights in Washington. In 

a sub-proceeding of an Indian treaty 

fishing rights case concerning the catch of 

whiting in the Pacific Northwest, the court 

granted the United States' motion for 

summary judgment on an issue pertaining 

to the quantification and allocation of the 

catch of this fish species between Indian 

and non-Indian fisherman. In another part 

of that case, the court, reversing a prior 

ruling, held that Washington's claims for 

declaratory and injunctive relief requiring 

the United States, inter alia, to repair fish 

blocking culverts on federal lands, were 

barred. 

Taking Land into Trust for Tribes. In a 

Nevada county's challenge to the 

Secretary's authority to take land into 

trust for the benefit of a tribe, the Court 

granted the United States' motion to 

dismiss on all counts in March. 

Specifically, the Court rejected the 

County's arguments that the Secretary 

abused its discretion in taking the land 

into trust and that the settlement act 

authorizing the trust acquisition was 

unconstitutional. The county has 

appealed to the Ninth Circuit. 

Resolving Longstanding Indian 

Claims. We settled the longstanding land 

claims of the Pueblo of Isleta, a federally 

recognized Indian Tribe which claimed 

aboriginal title to more than 30 million 

acres of land in New Mexico and Texas. 

Litigated under special jurisdictional 

legislation that allowed the tribe 

compensation for lands lost during the 

last 140 years, together with interest over 

that time period, the settlement requires 

payment to the Pueblo of $40 million. 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 33 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
New York Land Claims Litigation. The 

district court awarded the Cayuga Nation 

$211 million in prejudgment interest (in 

addition to the $37 million previously 

awarded by the jury) regarding its claim 

on lands in the state of New York. The 

United States took the lead role in the two 

trials in this action: one, a seven-week 

jury trial regarding economic evidence, 

and the other a five-week bench trial 

regarding historical proof and economic 

theories of prejudgment interest. 

SUPPORTING THE DIVISION'S 

LITIGATORS

E-SIP Extranet. Last year, the Division 

launched E-SIP, the Department's first 

extranet for sharing case documents with 

clients, co-counsel and experts in a 

secure web-based environment. E-SIP 

provides authorized users with secure 

web access to our litigation support 

databases. Certification and Accreditation 

was accomplished in just over 8 weeks -- 

a process that typically takes 18 months. 

This system allows parties to take 

advantage of collaborative features of the 

database software, and yet is software 

independent because of its browser 

based environment, saving both time and 

money. The system also saves the 

Division a great deal of time and 

resources that previously were spent 

burning and mailing multiple copies of CD 

database libraries. 

Electronic Litigation. We have laid the 

foundation for the Division's attorneys to 

move toward managing more electronic 

cases as this form of litigation practice 

grows. We have introduced the first online privilege review system; and, in a few 

select cases, we have begun working with 

opposing parties to coordinate fully 

electronic exchange of documents. We 

also enhanced our capabilities for 

providing litigation support in the 

computer lab at the Division's Patrick 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 34 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Henry building, and added this in-house 

capability in the Denver field office. 

Improved Litigation Support. We 

created a protocol for litigation support 

cost sharing agreements under which 

ENRD shares the cost of processing 

documents with other parties involved in 

our cases. The first of these agreements 

alone saved us over $170,000, and we 

expect the savings to continue under 

similar agreements in the future. We 

participated as a voting member on the 

technical panel reviewing the MEGA 2 

litigation support contract proposals. 

MEGA 2 is the sequel contract to MEGA 

1 which will enable us to save money 

because services are collectively 

purchased in bulk at the Department level 

at rates less expensive than those we 

would be able to negotiate on our own. 

Improved Business Practices. Using 

the recommendations of the Expert 

Witness Task Force, we have changed 

several aspects of the administration of 

our Expert Witness program so that it 

runs more smoothly. The EWU processed 

almost 1,000 expert contracts and 

contract modifications last year, roughly 

25% of them in September alone. The 

streamlined procedures have made that 

task easier. The simplified forms and 

procedures have rated positive reviews 

from all concerned, and staff who are 

using the new EXTRA litigation support 

management system have been very 

pleased with it as well. 

Contact Us | Accessibility | A-Z Index | Site Map | Archive | Privacy Policy | 

Legal Policies and Disclaimers

FOIA | For DOJ Employees | Other Government Resources | Office of the Inspector 

General | USA.gov | No FEAR Act

Last Updated: 12/16/2009 

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 35 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019
Was this page helpful? 

Yes No

Updated April 13, 2015

ENRD FY 2001 Summary Of Litigation Accomplishments | ENRD | Department of Jus... Page 36 of 36

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/enrd-fy-2001-summary-litigation-accomplishments 5/29/2019