Connie M. Knight, 47, previously of Belle Chasse, La., was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison in New Orleans federal court late yesterday for providing fraudulent hazardous waste safety training in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana. In addition, Ms. Knight was ordered to pay victim restitution in the amount of $25,300.

Vinh Chuong “Jimmy” Kha, 50, and Felix Kha 26, were sentenced today in federal district court in Los Angeles to serve 42 and 46 months, respectively, in prison for crimes related to illegal international trafficking of rhinoceros horn, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice and André Birotte Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.

Mississippi-based Hancock County Land LLC (HCL) pleaded guilty today to the unpermitted filling of wetlands near Bay St. Louis, Miss., and agreed to pay a $1 million fine and take remedial measures for two felony violations of the Clean Water Act, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Gregory K. Davis. HCL admitted causing the unauthorized excavation and filling of wetlands on a 1,710 acre parcel of undeveloped property in Hancock County, west of the intersection of Route 603 and Interstate 10.

The former president of Port Arthur Chemical and Environmental Services, LLC (PACES) has pleaded guilty in federal court to occupational safety crimes which resulted in the death of an employee, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and John M. Bales, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.

Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, announced today that she will be leaving the Department of Justice on June 7, 2013.

A California woman pleaded guilty to illegally feeding killer whales in the wild this Tuesday in federal court in San Jose, Calif., the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced.

The Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin announced a Clean Air Act (CAA) settlement with Wisconsin Power and Light Company (WPL) that will significantly reduce air pollution from three coal-fired power plants located near Portage, Sheboygan, and Cassville, Wis.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that CEMEX, Inc., the owner and operator of a Portland cement manufacturing facility in Lyons, Colo., has agreed to operate advanced pollution controls on its kiln and pay a $1 million civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

Three owners and operators of a Tennessee salvage and demolition company, A&E Salvage, Inc., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Greeneville, Tenn., for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act.

King County, Wash. and the city of Seattle have agreed to invest in major upgrades to local sewage and combined stormwater collection, piping and treatment under settlements with the Department of Justice and the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The state of Washington was a co-plaintiff and partner in these settlements.

Shusen Wei, 45, a citizen of China, pleaded guilty today in Miami federal court to charges stemming from his involvement in the smuggling of a carved rhinoceros horn from the United States to China, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment & Natural Resources Division, Wifredo A, Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and William C. Woody, Chief of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a Clean Air Act (CAA) settlement with Tyson Foods Inc. and several of its affiliate corporations to address threats of accidental chemical releases after anhydrous ammonia was released during incidents at facilities in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, resulting in multiple injuries, property damage and one fatality.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that Dominion Energy has agreed to pay a $3.4 million civil penalty and spend approximately $9.8 million on environmental mitigation projects to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations. The settlement will result in reductions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter by more than 70,000 tons per year, across three of the utility’s coal-fired power plants, located in Kincaid, Ill., State Line, Ind., and Somerset, Mass.

Honeywell Resins and Chemicals LLC has agreed to pay a $3 million civil penalty for alleged Clean Air Act violations at its Hopewell, Va., plant, and improve the facility’s air pollution control equipment and processes, the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

The Unified Government of Wyandotte Co. and Kansas City, Kan., has agreed to a settlement to address unauthorized overflows of untreated raw sewage and to reduce pollution levels in urban stormwater, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus today pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited U.S. ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Jersey and Delaware, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Eight individuals face federal charges stemming from a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Missouri Department of Conservation investigation of interstate and international trafficking in paddlefish “caviar,” the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri announced. Arkadiy Lvovskiy, Dmitri Elitchev, Artour Magdessian, Felix Baravik, Petr Babenko, Bogdan Nahapetyan, Fedor Pakhnyuk and Andrew Praskovsky have been charged in four, separate indictments in the Western District of Missouri for acts that occurred in 2011 and 2012.

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.25 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as well as the Missouri Air Conservation Law, Clean Water Law and Hazardous Waste Management Law at its facility in Mexico, Mo., announced the Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources today.

Norman Teltow, owner of Gold Metal Paint Co. LLC (GMP), pleaded guilty late yesterday in Denver to a criminal information charging him with illegally treating hazardous waste at the company’s facility, the Justice Department announced. Teltow, who will be sentenced on June 10, 2013, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that CountryMark Refining and Logistics LLC (CountryMark) has agreed to pay a $167,000 civil penalty, perform environmental projects totaling more than $180,000, and spend $18 million on new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its refinery, located in Mount Vernon, Ind.

Patrick Scott, 47, of Tuba City, Arizona, was sentenced in Phoenix today to 30 days in prison, five months home confinement, one year supervised release and a $2,000 fine for illegally selling golden eagle and other migratory bird parts, a felony criminal offense, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and John S. Leonardo, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona.

Pacific International Lines, a Singapore-based container ship company, was sentenced today in D.C. federal court  under the terms of a plea agreement that requires the company to pay $2.2 million in criminal penalties, the Department of Justice announced today. Pacific International Lines previously pleaded guilty to three felony charges that it made false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by concealing illegal waste ...

David Hausman, an antiques dealer in Manhattan, was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to six months in jail for obstruction of justice and creating false records in connection with illegal rhinoceros horn trafficking, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice, and Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Big game hunting outfitter Dennis Eugene Rodebaugh, 72, of Meeker, Colo., was sentenced in Denver today to 41 months in prison to be followed by three years supervised release for six felony counts of violating the Lacey Act, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. District Judge Christine M. Arguello also sentenced Rodebaugh, to pay a $7,500 fine to the Lacey Act reward fund and $37,390 in restitution to the state of Colorado for the value of illegally taken elk and deer.

Three people have been charged this week in Newark, Miami and New York City with wildlife smuggling and related charges for their alleged roles in an international rhino horn smuggling ring, the Justice Department announced today. The arrests and charges are the result of “Operation Crash”, a nationwide effort led by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute those involved in the black market trade of endangered rhinoceros horns.

Today the United States filed a civil action against ATP Oil & Gas Corporation and ATP Infrastructure Partners, LP (ATP-IP) for civil penalties and injunctive relief under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.  The complaint was filed on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Ashu Bhandari, the former president and CEO of GEM Manufacturing LLC, a U.S. Virgin Islands-based company, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., for felony customs violations for his role in a scheme to illegally import protected black coral into the United States, the Department of Justice announced. Bhandari is the last defendant to be sentenced as the result of a far reaching investigation into the illegal trade in black coral. The scheme cost Bhandari’s company, GEM Manufacturing, millions of dollars in financial penalties and sent two of his trading partners to prison.

William W. Lowery IV, 44, of Tappahannock, Va., pleaded guilty today to trafficking in illegally-harvested striped bass, in violation of the Lacey Act, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Connie M. Knight, 46, previously of Belle Chasse, La., pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans today to three felony criminal charges and one misdemeanor criminal charge for creating false identification documents an impersonating a federal official, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno announced today the publication of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s (ENRD) Fiscal Year 2012 Accomplishments Report. The full report, which details the division’s work across the nation during FY2012, is posted at www.justice.gov/enrd/Current_topics.html.

In a settlement with the United States on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, automotive electronics manufacturer Edge Products LLC (Edge) has agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty for manufacturing and selling electronic devices that allowed owners of model year 2007 and later diesel pickup trucks to remove emission controls from their vehicles.

A New Zealand fishing company that owned and operated the tuna fishing vessel San Nikunau, and a former chief engineer on the ship, were sentenced in federal court today for environmental crimes and obstruction of justice, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald C. Machen Jr.

Jeffery S. Adams, 41, of Hudgins, Va., and his corporation Adams Fishing Adventures Inc. pleaded guilty today to trafficking in illegally-harvested striped bass, in violation of the Lacey Act. Among other things, the Lacey Act makes it unlawful for any person to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire or purchase any fish and wildlife taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of any law or regulation of the United States, or to attempt to do so. Under the Lacey Act, it is a “sale” of fish or wildlife for any person, for money or other consideration, to offer or provide guiding, outfitting, or other services.

WASHINGTON – The Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS) will invest approximately $300 million in pollution control technology, pay a civil penalty of $1.2 million, and spend $6 million on environmental mitigation projects to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA), according to the terms of a settlement with the United States, announced today by the Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

WASHINGTON – Transocean Deepwater Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties, for its conduct in relation to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Department of Justice announced today.   The criminal information and a proposed partial civil consent decree to resolve the U.S. government’s civil penalty claims against Transocean Deepwater Inc. and related entities were filed today in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana.