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Basic Information
EPA's criminal enforcement program was established in 1982. Recognizing the growing need to combat environmental crime, Congress granted EPA full law enforcement authority in 1988 and greatly expanded the program with the enactment of the 1990 Pollution Prosecution Act.
The criminal enforcement program has successfully prosecuted significant violations across all major environmental statutes, including: data fraud cases (e.g., private laboratories submitting false environmental data to state and federal environmental agencies); indiscriminate hazardous waste dumping that resulted in serious injuries and death; industry-wide ocean dumping by cruise ships; oil spills that caused significant damage to waterways, wetlands and beaches; international smuggling of CFC refrigerants that damage the ozone layer and increase skin cancer risk; and illegal handling of hazardous substances such as pesticides and asbestos that exposed children, the poor and other especially vulnerable groups to potentially serious illness.
The criminal enforcement program is made up of well-trained, fully designated federal law enforcement agents, environmental forensic scientists and engineers, attorneys and training specialists. With more than 40 Area and Resident offices nationwide, and supported by its forensics laboratory in Denver, Colorado and its training facilities in Washington, D.C., Denver, Colorado and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, the program works closely with other federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement authorities, both to investigate and successfully prosecute criminal violations and to build the criminal enforcement capacity of other units of government.