The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) recently partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to host a workshop aimed at enhancing coordination in addressing environmental crime and examining improved enforcement techniques. Attendees included individuals from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as representatives from Europol and the governments of Scotland, Canada, and Mexico.
Chapter 24 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), entered into in 2020, outlines seven multilateral environmental agreements, including measures to combat wildlife trafficking and address air quality and ocean pollution. The workshop primarily focused on pollution and waste crimes.
Speakers emphasized the increased importance of enforcing environmental laws and international agreements due to climate change's growing impact worldwide. However, investigating and prosecuting environmental crime presents challenges due to its intersection with complex white-collar crime, financial structures, and technical issues.
In this context, the workshop introduced new enforcement techniques such as data analytics and unmanned aerial vehicles to enhance the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes across international borders. The event concluded by identifying specific ways to implement operational enforcement activities within the next year.
“Environmental crimes are often transnational, affecting a variety of communities in myriad ways. It is important to foster collaboration within the U.S. government, and between our government and those of other nations, to enforce laws to reduce waste and pollution, among other things. This week’s workshop did that, and highlighted ways to incorporate more sophisticated enforcement resources. We thank all who attended the workshop for their commitment to uphold the rule of law,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of ENRD.
The workshop builds on ENRD’s ongoing efforts to improve global collaboration in addressing environmental crimes in countries including Guatemala, Mozambique, Ghana, Southeast Asia, Cameroon, and Ukraine.