Environmental Criminal Prosecution: Essential Tool or Government Overreaching?: Introduction

Although criminal enforcement has always been an important component of environmental law, 1 the year of this symposium (2009) marked the twenty-year anniversary of an event that, for some, increased attention to the propriety and effectiveness of criminal remedies as tools for environmental protection. 2 On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker ran aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling almost eleven million gallons of North Slope crude oil and causing one of the largest and most significant single-incident environmental disasters in history. 3 Among the casualties were hundreds of thousands of birds, more than a thousand sea otters, hundreds of bald eagles, and the viability of important commercial salmon runs. Despite massive cleanup efforts, crude oil still remained in parts of the Prince William Sound environment for many years. 4 From a criminal law perspective, the Exxon Valdez saga also became one of the most notorious DUI cases in history. Captain Joe Hazelwood ultimately was acquitted of the charge of "drunk driving" (operating an oil tanker while under the influence of alcohol), 5 and was convicted instead of "negligent discharge of oil," fined $ 50,000, and sentenced to one thousand hours of community service. 6 Exxon, the corporation that owned both the oil and the tanker (through its shipping subsidiary), was the target of massive civil litigation seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as criminal charges for violations of several federal environmental statutes, to which it pleaded guilty and ultimately paid a $ 25 ...