The US Department of Justice has announced that throughout 2016 it imposed criminal penalties to the amount of more than $363 million to shipping companies and crew for the intentional discharges of pollutants from ocean-going vessels in US waters.
US DoJ says that 2016 was one of the most successful years in its history of over a century, including the highest recoveries in environmental enforcement, record-setting recoveries in natural resource damages, and the highest criminal penalties handed down in individual vessel pollution and Lacey Act trafficking cases.
“I am extremely proud and grateful to have led the men and women of this division through a landmark year in its long history of protecting, defending and preserving the environment and natural resources of this great nation,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden.
“Together, we brought justice and an immense restoration effort to the Gulf shores spoiled by Deepwater Horizon, and resolution to automobile consumers and all Americans deprived of clean air by Volkswagen’s deceit. And we ended, fairly and honorably, the vast majority of protracted litigation that has stood in the way of a stronger nation-to-nation relationship between the United States and American Indian tribes.
The first key enforcement success was the final entry in April 2016 of the consent decree in the Department’s record-breaking settlement with BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation in which the United States and the five Gulf Coast states secured payments in excess of $20 billion to resolve their claims against BP. This settlement is the largest in the history of federal law enforcement for a single defendant, and it includes the largest-ever Clean Water Act civil penalty and the largest-ever recovery of damages for injuries to natural resources.
Next, ENRD took important steps toward resolving the civil Clean Air Act violations alleged in the United States’ complaint relating to Volkswagen’s use of devices designed to defeat vehicle emissions tests on approximately 580,000 model year 2009-2016 2.0 and 3.0 liter diesel vehicles sold or leased in the United States.
In December 2016, the Environment and Natural Resources Division obtained the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution when it concluded the prosecution of Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. The company pleaded guilty to seven felony charges and will pay a $40 million penalty.
Furthermore ENRD attorneys devoted substantial effort to defending key rules at the heart of this Administration’s commitment to safeguard clean air and clean water. The division is defending EPA’s Clean Power Plan—the Agency’s historic Clean Air Act rulemaking that takes action on climate change by reducing greenhouse gases from power plants. The rule has faced challenges from over 100 state and industry parties, with the cases consolidated in West Virginia v. EPA. The division’s vigorous defense of the rule culminated in a marathon six-hour oral argument before a 10-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. An evaluation of ENRD’s defense of other EPA Clean Air Act regulations indicates that the division prevailed in over 90 percent during 2015 and 2016.
Source: US Department of Justice
