|
|
|
  
11/3/2025
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtny.us
Monday, Nov 3, 2025 449 pm EDT
History of Criminal prosecutions of the US Clean Water Act
"Water pollution crimes involving significant harm or culpable conduct
are remedied via criminal prosecution. Democratic and Republican presidents offer varied commitments to enforcing the U.S. Clean Water Act, but little is known about the prosecution of water pollution crimes generally or how such prosecutions vary across presidential administrations"
-Dr. Joshua Ozymy, Dr. Melissa J. Ozymy & Dr. Danielle McGurrin
As of the latest data upload to the EPA Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO), a total of 33,183 Clean Water Act cases have been adjudicated in the EPA administrative regions, including Puerto Rico. Of 33 thousand plus CWA prosecutions, 867 have involved criminal charges, the knowing or negligent discharge of contaminants into navigable waters of the USA. Texas has the highest number of all types of prosecutions (5192), with Puerto Rico taking the title for highest number of CWA criminal prosecutions (344).
WaterToday writes a brief summary of one US CWA historic prosecution each week. See our latest, Pushing excess rip-rap over the cliff does not work out for this homeowner in Maryland, here.
THE POLITICS OF THE CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT OF THE U.S. CLEAN WATER ACT, 1983-2021
A study of prosecutions and sentencing for Clean Water Act Crimes by Ozymy et al found that US Federal District courts had adjudicated a total of 853 CWA criminal cases, from the initiation of the criminal enforcement authority to the end of 2021. These proceedings involved a total of 1,528 defendants, collectively sentenced to federal fines, fees and restitution payments of more than $1.27 billion. The defendants were followed up and supervised by the court for a total 2,949 years of probation. In all, convicted CWA criminals were locked up for 446 years, sharing cells with other convicted criminals, to the end of 2021.
From the scholarly article published in Villanova Environmental Law Journal, Ozymy et al gives the reader a sense of the timeline and progression from administrative judgements toward more serious penalties and enforcement, felonies against the environment.
"The Rivers and Harbors Act (1899) and Lacey Act (1900) established legal and administrative frameworks to begin prosecuting criminal violations of federal environmental law in the United States. The Public Lands Division was organized within the Department of Justice in 1909 to oversee environmental issues and later evolved into the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). The 1970s was a watershed era that saw the development and passage of an array of wide-reaching environmental laws including the CWA, Clean Air Act (CAA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and the creation of the EPA to oversee the evolving regulation of these areas under the relevant statutes.18 As the enforcement of these laws progressed through the 1970s, it became clear that treating all violations as misdemeanors or civil offenses would be insufficient to deter chronic, willful, and serious environmental law violations.
According to the authors, the need for criminal enforcement within the US Environmental Protection Agency and the structures to support it evolved towards the end of the 1970's. Ozymy et al says, "By the 1980s, environmental criminal enforcement significantly evolved as Congress increased support for the prosecution of environmental crimes through the 'tough on crime' movement. Congress added criminal provisions to the RCRA in 1984, the CWA in 1987, and the CAA in 1990, making the provisions common across statutes. In 1981, Congress appropriated policing resources for environmental criminal investigations within the EPA's Office of Enforcement, now referred to as the Office of Compliance Assurance (OECA). In 1982, Congress hired criminal investigators and subsequently granted them permanent police authority in 1988."
The authors sought to determine whether the Republicans or Democrats had been tougher prosecuting CWA crimes. As it turns out, the Dems are tougher on CWA crime, but not by much. The article concludes, there is very little difference from one administration to another, over the time period studied. Americans value access to clean water, on both sides of the aisle.
The Politics of the Criminal Enforcement of the U.S. Clean Water Act, 1983-2021, 34 Vill. Envtl. L.J. 1 (2023).
|
|
|
|
All rights reserved 2025 - WTNY - This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part and may not be distributed,
publicly performed, proxy cached or otherwise used, except with express permission.
|
|
