Environmental crimes in the United States include criminal violations of environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, as well as violations of other criminal laws arising from dealing with environmental regulators and regulations. Both individuals and corporations can be prosecuted for dumping hazardous waste, polluting the air or water in a community, for example, as well as falsifying reports to the EPA, evading reporting requirements, or obstructing a government inspection or investigation.
The EPA’s Criminal Enforcement Office often works with the DOJ’s Environmental Crimes Section, which is within the Environment & Natural Resources Division. The EPA recently announced that 89% of its environmental criminal cases in 2020 were brought against individual defendants, with a 94% conviction rate.
The federal government can rely on several different laws to charge individuals and corporations with environmental crimes, including, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. The government can also charge defendants with non-environmental crimes in connection with environmental issues, however, such as making false statements to the government, obstructing an investigation, and committing wire fraud against the EPA or other agencies by submitting false certifications to obtain permits or fuel credits.