Environmental Crimes Enforcement Act
John McArdle at E&E reported yesterday that the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up the Environmental Crimes Enforcement Act (“ECEA”) this week that is aimed at upping the penalties under the Clean Water Act by asking the United States Sentencing Commission to raise sentencing guidelines for environmental crimes. The ECEA would also include mandatory restitution.
Fred Burnside provided me with the article and was quoted in the article as well. “Any time you get restitution for victims, it generates a lot of interest for enforcing the environmental laws. . . . That increases the information flow and the EPA will hear about more violations and crimes when they happen,” Burnside said recently. “And any time you get more significant fines and jail time, that adds more deterrent value to the work the criminal program does for EPA.”
Fred, you have left the Feds – you are now on the side of Truth and Justice . . ..
More later.
As always, feel free to contact me via e-mail at walter.james@jamespllc.com.
WDJiii