Chapter 23: Criminal Liability
The purpose of most environmental statutes and regulations is to ensure the proper management of materials entering the environment. Violations of these provisions create liability, which may give rise to penalty. While avoidance of harm and remediation of harm are the key components of environmental regulation, the focus of criminal enforcement is liability for past harm.
The primary difference between an environmental infraction and a crime is intent. Environmental accidents, regulatory infractions, and oversights do happen. It is not these that environmental criminal statutes attempt to address. Criminal sanctions, for the most part, involve intentional activity that leads or could lead to harm.
A “crime” is any act or omission that violates a penal law. Criminal environmental laws, for the most part, do not punish bad acts accomplished unintentionally and do not punish a guilty mind in one who fails to act. There must be both an act and simultaneous intent. The commission of a crime requires a wrongful deed (actus reus), for which the actor is liable if combined with a guilty mind (mens rea).
The criminal act or wrongful deed is relatively simple. It is conduct prohibited by statute. Environmental crime most obviously includes emitting, releasing, dumping, spilling, abandoning, or burying waste or hazardous substances.
§ 23.1 Introduction
§ 23.2 Federal Environmental Crimes
§ 23.2.1 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
§ 23.2.2 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
§ 23.2.3 The Clean Water Act
§ 23.2.4 The Clean Air Act
§ 23.2.5 Other Federal Environmental Statutes
§ 23.3 Colorado Environmental Crimes
§ 23.3.1 Colorado Hazardous Waste Act
Prohibited Acts
Mens Rea/Penalties
Prosecutorial Jurisdiction/Referral Requirement
§ 23.3.2 Colorado Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act
Prohibited Acts
Mens Rea/Penalties
Prosecutorial Jurisdiction/Referral Requirement
§ 23.3.3 Colorado Water Quality Control Act
Prohibited Acts
Mens Rea/Penalties
Prosecutorial Jurisdiction/Referral Requirement
§ 23.3.4 Hazardous Substance Incidents
Prohibited Acts
Mens Rea/Penalties
Prosecutorial Jurisdiction/Referral Requirement
§ 23.3.5 Other State Statutes
§ 23.3.6 County and Municipal Ordinances
§ 23.4 Sentencing and Punishment
§ 23.4.1 Federal Sentencing
§ 23.4.2 State Sentencing
§ 23.4.3 Debarment and Listing
§ 23.4.4 Table of Federal and State Environmental Criminal Penalties
HON. BRIAN R. WHITNEY
Denver District Court
Brian R. Whitney was the First Assistant Attorney General for the Special Prosecutions Section of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. The Special Prosecutions Section is responsible for prosecuting complex economic crimes, multi-jurisdictional crimes, environmental crime, and organized crime. He headed the Environmental Crimes Unit of that Section since its inception under Attorney General Ken Salazar. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Whitney was a prosecutor with the Fourth Judicial District of Colorado as well as a patent litigator with a private law firm in Denver. Mr. Whitney received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University and his law Degree from the University of Denver College of Law. Mr. Whitney was appointed by Governor Bill Owens to the Denver District Court and took the bench in January 2007.
