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100th Anniversary ENRD seal 1909 to 2009

On November 16, 2009, ENRD celebrated the Division's 100th Anniversary! 

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Environment and Natural Resources Division: Mission

Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division:  Ignacia S. Moreno
Ignacia S. Moreno
Assistant Attorney General
Environment and Natural Resources Division

 

The Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice handles environmental and natural resources litigation on behalf of the United States.  The work of the Division arises under approximately 150 federal civil and criminal statutes, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, CERCLA (Superfund), Safe Drinking Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and Tucker Act.  The Division’s mission is to enforce the Nation’s environmental laws to ensure clean air, water and land for all Americans; prosecute criminal cases under federal pollution and wildlife laws; defend environmental and natural resources laws and federal agency programs and actions; litigate cases under statutes providing for the management of public lands and natural and cultural resources; litigate cases to protect the rights of Indians under treaties, acts of Congress, and Executive Orders and defend the United States in claims brought by Indians; prosecute eminent domain proceedings to acquire land on behalf of the United States for authorized public purposes; conduct the Division’s appellate litigation in federal circuit courts of appeals and state appellate tribunals and assist the Office of the Solicitor General with appeals to the United States Supreme Court; and advise the Attorney General, Congress, the Office of Management and Budget and the White House on matters of environmental and natural resources law.  

 
Litigation Responsibilities

The Environment and Natural Resources Division, which is organized into ten sections, has primary responsibility for litigation on behalf of the United States regarding:

With offices across the United States, the Division is the nation's environmental lawyer, and the largest environmental law firm in the country.

 
Latest News
February 4, 2010
Alligator Hunting Guides Sentenced for Knowingly Attempting to Acquire Protected Alligator (10-124)
Travis Dardenne and Jeffery Brown of Plaquemine, La., were both sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., to pay a $2,000 fine and serve one year of probation for violations of the Lacey Act for knowingly attempting to acquire an American alligator in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act and Louisiana law. (Read more)
February 2, 2010
South Dakota Man Sentenced for Smuggling Big Game Leopard Hide into the United States (10-116)
Wayne D. Breitag of Aberdeen, S.D., was sentenced in federal court in Aberdeen yesterday to pay a $20,000 fine and serve six months of home confinement for smuggling the hide of a leopard into the United States in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). (Read more)
January 28, 2010
Three Indicted for False Labeling, Smuggling and Misbranding of Seafood Products (10-100)
A federal grand jury in Mobile, Ala., today returned a 28-count indictment against three individuals for conspiring to falsely label, smuggle and misbrand more than 325,000 pounds of seafood in order to avoid paying tariffs and defraud customers. (Read more)
Texas Company Pleads Guilty and Is Sentenced for Environmental Crime (10-098)
Economy Cash & Carry Inc., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in El Paso, Texas, to a criminal violation of the Plant Protection Act related to the falsification of a required certificate stamp. (Read more)
January 27, 2010
Businessman Convicted for Evading $1.9 Million in Taxes on Sales of Ozone-Depleting Greenhouse Gases (10-092)
Dov Shellef, a businessman from Great Neck, N.Y., was convicted today on 86 counts, following a five-week jury trial, for conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service in the collection of approximately $1.9 million in excise taxes due on sales of the ozone-depleting greenhouse gas known as CFC-113. (Read more)
 
Last Updated: 2/4/2010