Although this is not an environmental criminal matter, it could have been. An old adage is that the only difference between an environmental crime and an environmental civil violation is who gets to your door first.
On October 7, 2008, an Arizona land developer and a contractor agreed to settle allegations of violations of the Clean Water Act for bulldozing, filling, and diverting approximately five miles of the Santa Cruz River, a major waterway in Arizona. According to the settlement, Scottsdale, Arizona based developer George H. Johnson (and his company Johnson International, Inc.), General Hunt Properties, Inc. and land-clearing contractor 3-F Contracting, Inc. will pay a combined $1,250,000.00 civil penalty. The penalty is the largest obtained in the history of USEPA