Environmental
Crimes
 |
Hazardous
Materials Response Unit |
Environmental
crimes threaten the public health and natural resources
of our nation. As environmental laws become more restrictive,
authorized disposal sites close, the costs of legitimate
disposal increase, and the financial incentive to illegally
dispose of hazardous waste grows. At any given time,
the FBI has approximately 450 pending environmental crimes
cases-roughly half of which are Clean Water Act cases.
Most investigations are conducted jointly with other
federal agencies, such as the US Environmental Protection
Agency and the US Coast Guard, as well as with state
regulatory agencies.
Environmental crimes involve, among other things, air pollution, water pollution,
and the illegal transportation, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. Because
of the increasing number of environmental allegations received, the FBI must
focus its resources on matters presenting the most serious threat to public health
and natural resources. Accordingly, the FBI's environmental crimes priorities
include situations involving:
1) handling hazardous waste and pollutants in such a way as to place workers
in physical danger;
2) environmental catastrophes that devastate the environment, place entire communities
at risk, or cause deaths; 3) violations at federal government facilities; 4)
businesses identified by regulatory agencies as having a long-standing history
of violations or flagrant disregard for environmental laws; and 5) organized
crime activities, generally in the solid waste industry.
