FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ENR MONDAY JULY 21, 1997 (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION FILLS OUT TOP TWO CRIMINAL ENFORCEMENT POSITIONS WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division today named Steven P. Solow of Washington, D.C. as Chief of the Department's Environmental Crimes Section. Solow had been Acting Chief of the Section since May of 1997, and had served as an Assistant Chief in the Section since 1994. In one of his first actions as Chief, Solow named Deborah Smith as Deputy Chief of the Section, a newly created position. Smith had been an Assistant Chief in the Section since 1995. As head of the Division's Environmental Crimes Section, Solow will be responsible for environmental criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as coordination with and support for U.S. Attorneys throughout the country handling environmental crimes. Solow succeeds Ronald Sarachan who recently left the Section to return to the United States Attorney's office in Philadelphia. Sarachan brought Solow to the Section when he became Chief in 1994. "I am thrilled to have Steve heading up our environmental criminal enforcement," said Lois Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environment and Natural Resources Division. "He has the knowledge and leadership abilities to continue the effective program that the Section has developed in close cooperation with U.S. Attorney's Offices and other federal agencies. Deborah Smith's strong talents, and her experience as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, will make them a strong team." As an Assistant Chief in the Environmental Crimes Section, Solow most recently developed and coordinated the Department's enforcement initiative against illegal smugglers of a banned ozone- destroying refrigerant, known as freon. Freon, like other CFCs (or chlorofluorocarbons) depletes the stratospheric ozone layer that protects us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. The CFC initiative to date has resulted in more than 30 indictments and the seizure of over two and one-half million pounds of illegal CFCs. It is a model of effective coordination between the Section, U.S. Attorneys and other federal agencies, including the EPA, U.S. Customs Service, the FBI, and the IRS. Solow had also supervised the Section's legislative training and policy efforts, including work on the development of the Environmental Crimes and Enforcement Act of 1997, now pending in the House of Representatives. Before joining the Division, Solow was the co-director of the Environmental Litigation Clinic and Professor of Environmental Law at Pace University School of Law in White Plains, New York from 1992 to 1994. Solow first saw action in the environmental crimes arena as a New York State Assistant Deputy Attorney General, where he worked as a prosecutor for the New York State Organized Crime Task Force from 1987 to 1992, and as a special task force attorney from 1992 to 1994. Solow directed the investigation and prosecution of organized crime's involvement in violating environmental laws, and prosecuted numerous racketeering and narcotics cases for the Task Force. A native of Roslyn Heights, Long Island, Solow received his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1985, and his B.A. from Brown University in 1980. From 1985 to 1987 he was a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Rome. He currently resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two children. Deborah Smith received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 1978, and her B.A. from the University of Florida in 1974. Prior to joining the Section, she was the Director of the New England Bank Fraud Task Force for the Department's Criminal Division from 1993 to 1995. Before that, she was a Senior Litigation Counsel and Trial Attorney in the Fraud Section from 1987 to 1993, where she successfully prosecuted televangelist Jim Bakker for mail fraud and conspiracy in Charlotte, N.C. Ms. Smith was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Alaska United States Attorney's Office from 1982 until 1987, and was First Assistant for two years. Ms. Smith has also been a Public Defender and Staff Attorney to the Alaska Court of Appeals. She has received numerous awards for her work for the Department. ### 97-300