Persons living around the CITGO refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, who suffered immediate negative health effects from emissions from two large tanks at the facility that were operated between January 1994 and May 2003 in violation of the federal Clean Air Act, may be crime victims in United States v. CITGO Petroleum Corporation et al.

Three men who conspired to violate Clean Air Act workplace safety standards when they demolished a Chattanooga, Tenn., factory containing large amounts of asbestos were sentenced today in federal court, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resource Division, and William C. Killian, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier sentenced David Wood, James Mathis and Donald Fillers, and the Watkins Street Project LLC for their roles in the conspiracy.

Under a settlement announced today by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Durand Glass Manufacturing Company Inc. has agreed to install emissions controls on its three glass furnaces that will reduce more than 173 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 23 tons of particulate matter (PM) per year. Emissions of these pollutants can cause serious respiratory illnesses, aggravate asthma and contribute to the formation of ground level ozone or smog. Durand also installed monitoring systems that will allow it to continuously measure its NOx emissions and agreed to pay a $300,000 civil penalty to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act.

Suiza Dairy has agreed to pay a penalty and make significant upgrades to settle Clean Air Act violations, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. The case stems from violations at two Suiza Dairy Corporation dairies located in Rio Piedras and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, including two major releases of anhydrous ammonia from the Rio Piedras facility.

A 22-count federal indictment was unsealed today in federal court in New Orleans charging Connie M. Knight, 46, with impersonating a federal employee for the purpose of enticing people to pay her for fraudulent hazardous waste safety training, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The indictment also charges Knight with possessing false federal identification documents, creating false federal identification documents and transferring false federal identification documents to her employees.

Big game hunting outfitter Dennis Eugene Rodebaugh, 72, of Meeker, Colo., was convicted by a federal jury in Denver today of six charges of violating the Lacey Act, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Three defendants pleaded guilty today to charges of conspiracy, smuggling, Lacey Act violations, money laundering and tax fraud for their roles in the international illegal trafficking of rhinoceros horn. All of the defendants were charged in February 2012 as part of “Operation Crash,” a nationwide U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crackdown on those involved in the black market trade of endangered rhinoceros horn.

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, a producer of pesticides for commercial and consumer lawn and garden uses, was sentenced today in federal district court in Columbus, Ohio, to pay a $4 million fine and perform community service for eleven criminal violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which governs the manufacture, distribution, and sale of pesticides. Scotts pleaded guilty in February 2012 to illegally ...

A Miami-based ship surveyor was sentenced today for lying to the Coast Guard and for falsely certifying that inspections had been performed on two ships, which were designed to ensure that the ships were seaworthy and did not pose a threat to the crew or the marine environment, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General ...

Under the terms of a consent decree lodged in federal court today, the Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) will implement extensive remedial measures to minimize the discharge of sewage and other pollutants into the water bodies in and around Boston, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.  The BWSC will also pay a civil penalty of $235,000 for violations of the Clean Water Act and will perform a supplemental environmental project worth at least $160,000.

Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC will pay a civil penalty of $1.25 million to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) at its Suffolk Downs racetrack facility in Revere and East Boston, Mass., the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.  The company is also spending more than $3 million to prevent polluted water from entering nearby waterways and will perform three environmental projects worth approximately $742,000 that will provide water quality monitoring and protection efforts for more than 123 square miles of watershed. 

WASHINGTON – A federal jury today found House of Raeford Farms Inc., the owner and operator of a poultry slaughtering and processing facility located in Raeford, North Carolina, guilty of 10 counts of knowing violations of the Clean Water Act.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a settlement with two subsidiaries of Sinclair Oil Corporation to resolve alleged violations of air pollution limits established in a 2008 consent decree at refineries in Casper and Sinclair, Wyo. Sinclair Casper Refining Co. and Sinclair Wyoming Refining Co. will pay stipulated penalties totaling $3,844,000 and spend approximately $10.5 million on additional pollution control equipment and other projects to resolve the allegations. The settlement will require the Sinclair companies to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter by approximately 24, 385 and 59 tons per year, respectively.

A shipping company headquartered in Italy and the chief engineer of one of its ships were sentenced today in federal court in Mobile, Ala., for deliberately falsifying records to conceal discharges of oily wastewater from the ship directly into the sea.  Giusseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company S.P.A, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge ...

A federal jury in Washington, D.C., today returned guilty verdicts against Sanford Ltd., a New Zealand fishing company, on six counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).  The jury also found a company employee guilty of two other charges.

A Delaware company was fined $557,000 for negligently discharging oil into the bayous of Jefferson Parish, La., the Department of Justice announced.  
 
Cedyco Corporation, headquartered in Houston, was sentenced today in federal court in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Northern States Power Co. will begin cleanup of the Ashland/Northern States Power Lakefront Superfund Site in Northwestern Wisconsin under a settlement the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.  The 40-acre site is located on the shore of Chequamegon Bay in Lake Superior and was used for various industrial purposes for more than a century, resulting in the release of volatile organic compounds, such as benzene, and semivolatile organic compounds, such as naphthalene, at the site.

Gibson Guitar Corp. entered into a criminal enforcement agreement with the United States today resolving a criminal investigation into allegations that the company violated the Lacey Act by illegally purchasing and importing ebony wood from Madagascar and rosewood and ebony from India.

David Hausman, an antiques dealer in Manhattan, pleaded guilty today in Manhattan federal court to obstruction of justice and creating false records, in relation to illegal rhinoceros horn trafficking, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, and Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

North Carolina’s Waccamaw River watershed will benefit from a $1 million restitution order from a federal court, funding environmental projects to acquire and preserve wetlands in an area damaged by illegal releases of wastewater from a corporate hog farm, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division; ...

After a seven week trial in federal court in Camden, N.J., multiple defendants were convicted on various felony counts of creating false records, trafficking in illegally possessed oysters, obstructing the Food and Drug Administration’s regulation of public health and safety, and conspiring to commit those crimes.

Port Arthur Chemical and Environmental Services LLC (PACES) and its former president Matthew L. Bowman have been charged with conspiracy to illegally transport hazardous materials, resulting in the deaths of two employees, in an indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Beaumont, Texas, yesterday, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General ...

The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General announced today a comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with the city of Chattanooga, Tenn.  Chattanooga has agreed to pay a $476,400 civil penalty and make improvements to its sewer systems, estimated ...

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today an agreement with over three dozen companies and government agencies that will result in a $56.4 million cleanup of the “Malone Services Company” Superfund Site in Texas City, Texas, a former waste-disposal site near the shore of Galveston Bay.

The Department of Justice   and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a Clean Air Act settlement with Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC) that will cover the utility’s three power plants in Alma and Genoa, Wis. DPC has agreed to invest approximately $150 million in pollution control technology that will protect public health and resolve violations of the Clean Air Act. The settlement will also require that DPC spend $5 million on environmental mitigation projects and pay a civil penalty of $950,000.

Gregory K. Dupont, 38, of Plaquemine, La., was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., to serve six months in prison, to be followed by four months in a half-way house and two years of supervised release. 

Toll Brothers Inc., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, will pay a civil penalty of $741,000 to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations at its construction sites, including sites located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The city of Perth Amboy, N.J., has agreed to make major improvements in its combined sewer system to protect people’s health and water quality under a legal agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Under the agreement, which was lodged by the Department of Justice in federal court today, the city will reduce ...

A settlement between the United States and the municipality of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, will resolve violations of the Clean Water Act and specifically violations of its Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System General Permit, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.  This is the first judicial action addressing violations of this type of permit.

Mid-America Pipeline Company LLC (MAPCO), and Enterprise Products Operating LLC, of Houston, have agreed to pay a civil penalty of more than $1 million to the United States to settle violations of the federal Clean Water Act related to three natural gasoline pipeline spills in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

A federal jury in Miami yesterday convicted a Miami-based ship surveyor for lying to the Coast Guard and for falsely certifying the safety of ships at sea, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice; Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Rear Admiral William D. Baumgartner, Commander, 7th Coast Guard District; and Jonathan Sall, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that BP North America Inc. has agreed to pay an $8 million penalty and invest more than $400 million to install state-of-the-art pollution controls and cut emissions ...

A Delaware company pleaded guilty today in federal court in the Eastern District of Louisiana to negligently discharging oil into the bayous of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, the Department of Justice announced.

The former captain of a Panama-flagged cargo ship that discharged hundreds of plastic pipes into the ocean, was convicted yesterday by a jury in Mobile, Ala., for obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard inspection of the vessel in the port of Mobile on Sept. 21, 2011. Prastana Taohim, 38, the captain of the M/V Gaurav Prem, was found guilty of two counts of obstruction of justice, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Kenyen R. Brown, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement with QEP Field Services Co. (QEPFS), formerly Questar Gas Management Co., to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at five natural gas compressor stations on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Northeastern Utah.

The city of Unalaska, Alaska, will undertake a major upgrade of its municipal sewage treatment plant under a settlement of a Clean Water Act enforcement action filed against the city and the state of Alaska by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Pharmacia Corporation and Bayer CropScience Inc. have agreed to pay $4.25 million to federal and state natural resource trustees to resolve claims for natural resource damages connected with the Industri-plex Superfund site located in Woburn, Mass., the Department of Justice announced today.

The Department of Justice and Ohio Attorney General have reached a proposed settlement of claims for injuries to natural resources caused by past releases and discharges of hazardous substances into the lower Ashtabula River and Harbor in northeast Ohio.

Integrated Production Services Inc. (IPS), a Houston-based natural gas and oil drilling contractor, was sentenced today in federal court in Muskogee, Okla., to pay a criminal fine of $140,000 for violations of the Clean Water Act at its hydraulic fracturing operation in Atoka County, Okla., the Justice Department announced.

Hess Corporation has agreed to pay an $850,000 civil penalty and spend more than $45 million in new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act violations at its Port Reading, N.J., refinery, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.  Once fully implemented, the controls required by the settlement are estimated to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 181 tons per year and result in additional reductions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior announced today that Freeport-McMoRan Corporation and Freeport-McMoRan Morenci Inc. (Freeport-McMoRan) have agreed to pay $6.8 million to settle federal and state natural resource damages claims related to the Morenci copper mine in southeastern Arizona.

Marking the ninth annual Earth Day Service Celebration today, Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West and Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno marked a day of service, commending volunteers from the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), Washington Parks & ...

The Department of Justice today released the executive summary of the report by an independent auditor of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF), the facility set up to process claims in the wake of the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

WASHINGTON – A former chief engineer from the tuna fishing vessel San Nikunau pleaded guilty today in federal court to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr.

The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General announced today a comprehensive Clean Water Act settlement with the city of Memphis, Tenn.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the settlement of lawsuits filed by 41 federally-recognized tribes against the United States, in which the tribes alleged that the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury had mismanaged monetary assets and natural resources held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the tribes. The announcement followed a 22-month-long negotiation between the tribes and the United States that has culminated in settlements between the government and tribes totaling more than $1 billion.

Two years ago—in April 2010—we embarked on an ambitious journey to right the wrongs of the past and to begin a new chapter in the United States’ history with its First Americans. Today, we come together in the spirit of partnership and mutual respect to recognize an important milestone in our relationship.

We were honored to join Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to announce the settlement of breach-of-trust lawsuits filed by more than 40 federally recognized American Indian tribes against the United States.  The announcement was an extraordinary conclusion to nearly two years of negotiations between the tribes and the United States that have culminated in settlements between the government and 41 tribes, totaling more than $1 billion.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced an innovative environmental agreement with Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Company that already has significantly reduced air pollution from all six of the company’s petroleum refineries.  In a first for the refining industry, Marathon has agreed to state of the art controls on combustion devices known as flares and to ...

Coltec Industries Inc. and National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) have agreed to pay a civil penalty of $280,000 and spend approximately $500,000 on an environmental project to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA’s marine diesel engine air rules, ...

Ilios Shipping Company S.A. was sentenced today in federal court in New Orleans for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

WASHINGTON – A federal jury in Shreveport, La., has convicted John Tuma, 54, of Centerville, Texas, of discharging untreated wastewater directly into the Red River without a permit, discharging untreated wastewater into the city of Shreveport sewer system in violation of its permit and obstructing an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspection, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and Western District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley.

CATOOSA, Okla. – The Justice and Interior Departments today completed the first in a series of national level training courses, “Criminal Jurisdiction in Indian Country” (CJIC), designed to strengthen the ability of tribal and local law enforcement to participate in the investigation and enforcement of federal crimes in Indian country and ...

Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing (CRRM) has agreed to pay a civil penalty of more than $970,000 and invest more than $4.25 million in new pollution controls and $6.5 million in operating costs to resolve alleged violations of air, Superfund and community right-to-know laws at its Coffeyville, Kan., refinery, announced the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today.

Italian-based shipping company Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company S.P.A., owner and operator of the Motor Vessel Bottiglieri Challenger, and Vito La Forgia, the vessel’s chief engineer, have been charged in a four-count indictment with the illegal dumping of waste oil and oil-contaminated waste water in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), conspiracy and two counts of obstruction of justice, the Department of Justice announced today.

Enrique Gomez De Molina, 48, of Miami Beach, Fla., was sentenced in federal court in Miami today to 20 months in prison for illegal trafficking in endangered and protected wildlife, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice; ...

Allan Wright, 45, of Russellville, Ohio, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Cincinnati to violating the Lacey Act by trafficking in and making false records for illegally harvested white-tailed deer, the Department of Justice announced.   Wright committed the Lacey Act crimes while he was employed as a wildlife officer for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Seven people have been arrested on charges of trafficking in endangered black rhinoceros horn over the past week in Los Angeles, Newark, N.J., and New York, the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior today announced.  Special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Immigration and  ...

Julius DeSimone of Rome, N.Y., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Utica, N.Y., for conspiring to violate the Clean Water Act and to defraud the United States, and to making false statements to federal law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York and the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division announced today.

MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC has agreed to settle its liability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in a settlement with the United States valued at $90 million, announced the Department of Justice, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today. Approximately $45 million of the $90 million settlement is going directly to the Gulf in the form of penalties or expedited environmental projects.

Alexander D. Alvarez of Atmore, Ala., pleaded guilty in federal court today to violating the Lacey Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) for illegally selling and possessing the feathers of anhingas and other migratory birds protected under the MBTA, the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama announced.

Freedman Farms Inc. was sentenced today in federal court to five years probation and ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines, restitution and community service payments for violating the Clean Water Act when they discharged hog waste into a stream that leads to the Waccamaw River, announced ...

Gregory K. Dupont, 38, of Plaquemine, La., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., to one felony count of illegally guiding out-of-state sport hunters to unauthorized areas to hunt American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in violation of the Lacey Act, the U.S. Endangered Species Act and Louisiana law, the Justice Department announced.

Dover Chemical Corporation has agreed to pay $1.4 million in civil penalties for the unauthorized manufacture of chemical substances at facilities in Dover, Ohio, and Hammond, Ind., the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. 

Seafood Solutions Inc., a California corporation, was sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles today to pay $1 million in fines and community service payments for its role in the false labeling of frozen fish fillets.  The corporation was fined $700,000 and ordered to make a community service donation of $300,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

South San Francisco, Calif., food processor Columbus Manufacturing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbus Foods LLC, has agreed to pay a penalty and make significant upgrades to settle Clean Air Act violations, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

Three men and a demolition company were convicted by a federal jury in Chattanooga, Tenn., of environmental crimes and obstruction of justice charges related to the illegal demolition of a Chattanooga factory containing large amounts of the toxic air pollutant asbestos, announced William C. Killian, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney ...

Two corporations pleaded guilty in separate hearings in Baltimore for their role in managing and owning a ship engaged in deliberate discharges of waste oil and plastic garbage.

Two Kentuckians and their caviar companies pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to trafficking in and falsely labeling illegally harvested paddlefish (Polydon spathula).

Keoje Marine Co. Ltd., and two engineers from the M/T Keoje Tiger pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Honolulu to environmental crimes violations, announced Environment and Natural Resources Division Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and U.S. Attorney Florence T. Nakakuni.

Triad Mining Inc., the owner and operator of 31 surface mines in Appalachia and Indiana, has agreed to pay a penalty and to restore affected waterways for failing to obtain the required Clean Water Act (CWA) permit for stream impacts caused by its surface mining operation in Indiana, announced the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).