Transcript Document

Environmental Enforcement
Presented at the
UHLC
March 10, 2010
Roger A. Haseman
Assistant District Attorney
Harris County, Texas
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Overview
Historical Perspective
 Types of Cases
 Investigative Agencies
 E.C.R.P.
 Annual Stats
 S.E.P.s
 Initiatives
 Training & Education

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Historical Perspective
Began in the late 1970s
 The Pollution Division
 One person assigned to this Division as
well as other duties


Received most, if not all, cases from the
Harris County Pollution Control Division
(HCPCD)
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Historical Perspective

Responsible for the prosecution of two
seminal cases:
American Plant Food Corp. v. State
(Water Pollution)
 Exxon Co. U.S.A. v. State (Air Pollution)


Still make case law with every trial today.
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Historical Perspective
1991 – SB2
 Created a multitude of new offenses, both
felonies and misdemeanors
 Health & Safety Code
 Water Code


Basic framework we still use today.
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Types of Cases We Prosecute
Illegal Dumping – Strict Liability
 Water Pollution – Strict Liability
 Used Oil Act Violations
 Air Pollution
 Hazardous Waste Violations

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Special Situation Cases

Parks and Wildlife Code Violations
– Sewage discharges from boats
– Industrial Waste discharges
(Fish houses/Seafood processors)
– Prohibited Species cases
(Non-native Fish/Plant life)

2007 – 2008 (29 total cases)
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Special Situation Cases

Animal Cruelty Investigations
– These were initially the responsibility of the
Pollution Division
2005 – Water Pollution cases involving
horse stables and dog fighting operations
 Environmental impact from animal feces
discharges and runoff

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Who Investigates
Environmental Crime?

HCPCD – HCPHES
– (Merger with the Health Department)
– 15 Investigators

HPD/EIU – 1993
– 6 Police Officers and 6 City Inspectors

HCEED – 1993
– 7 Constables + 2 Salvage Yard Detail
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Who Investigates
Environmental Crime?

Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
– 2 Game Wardens (Environmental Officers)

Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality (TCEQ)
– 2 Criminal Investigators
E.P.A. – ???
 County Attorney’s Office

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Environmental Circuit Rider
Project (ECRP)
Project of the Houston-Galveston Area
Council of Governments (H-GAC)
 Reimbursable Contract with H-GAC to
assist the other 12 counties in the region
 Enabled Environmental Crimes to obtain a
fourth prosecutor position


Idea conceived as a result of SB 1265
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SB 1265 – 2003
Codified as Section 7.203, Water Code
 Criminal Enforcement Review


Requires the TCEQ to first review offense
reports submitted by peace officers before
a prosecuting attorney may initiate
criminal environmental charges against a
defendant holding a TCEQ permit
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SB 1265 – 2003
The TCEQ then has 45 days to evaluate
the report, determine whether a violation
exists, and whether administrative or civil
remedies would be more appropriate than
criminal charges.
 If there is a determination that
administrative or civil remedies are
inadequate or inappropriate, then the
criminal prosecution may proceed.

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SB 1265 – 2003

In all other cases, the violation will be
resolved through administrative or civil
means, and a prosecuting attorney may not
prosecute the alleged violation.
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Response to SB 1265
Harris County prosecuted 400
environmental cases in 2003
 TCEQ prosecuted 20 total cases in the
remaining 253 counties during same period
 Businesses here complained to legislature
about being prosecuted
 Legislature decided to try to stop Harris
County from prosecuting these cases
(Rogue prosecutor)

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Response to SB 1265
Goal to work with H-GAC to provide
training and prosecution, if necessary to
the other 12 counties in the region
 2004 – Prepared both civil and criminal
manuals for prosecuting environmental
violations
 2005 – Went to every county in the region
to provide training

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Response to SB 1265
2006 – 2009
 Provided assistance to all counties in the
region
 Actively prosecuted cases as a special
prosecutor in Fort Bend and Montgomery
Counties
 In 2008 – 2009, handled approximately
100 cases in those two counties

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Annual Stats – Five Years
2005 – 383 Cases – $729,405.00
 2006 – 546 Cases – $594,951.00
 2007 – 420 Cases – $644,956.00
 2008 – 492 Cases – $259,300.00
 2009 – 481 Cases – $525,050.00
Avg. – 465 Cases/Year

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Annual Stats – Five Years

Total Restitution – $446,541.92

Total Community Service Restitution
$3,395,347.51
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Supplemental Environmental
Projects (S.E.P.s)
Both the City of Houston and Harris
County have S.E.P. Accounts
 Corporations perform projects through PreTrial Intervention Agreements
 Penalties – Fines + S.E.P. Contributions
 Total S.E.P. Contributions – 2004-2009
$2,435,650.00

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S.E.P. Recipients

Buffalo Bayou Partnership – $895,000.00
–
–
–
–
–
Hike and Bike Trails
Mighty Tidy
Buffalo Bend Wetland Park
Educational Tour Boat
International Coffee Building
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S.E.P. Recipients
Galveston Bay Foundation
 The Children’s Museum
 Keep Houston Beautiful
 Harris County – Ozone Monitors
 City of Houston – Hybrid Vehicles and
Park Projects

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Initiative – Back Log of Cases
Beginning of 2009 – 215 Cases
 As of March 1st – 139 Cases

We filed 424 new cases in 2009
 We handled 481 cases in 2009

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Other Initiatives for 2009—2010
Apartment Complex Sewage cases
 Power/Pressure Washing Cases
 Ship Channel Initiative – Boat Patrols

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Training & Education

City of Houston Seminars (NEET)
–
–
–
–
Waste Transporter Seminar
Power/Pressure Washing Seminars
Apartment Complex Sewage Issues
Automotive Industry Seminar
HCPHES Training
 H-GAC Environmental Roundtables

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Training & Education
TCEQ Basic Environmental Course
 TELEA Conference
 SEEN Conferences

– Our office is an agency member representative
for TDCAA
FLETC (Advanced Environmental Crimes
Course – Two Weeks)
 NDAA Courses

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Conclusion
No other county in Texas does what Harris
County does
 No other county in Texas has more than
one prosecutor assigned to environmental
 The vast majority of criminal
environmental case law has come and
continues to come from Harris County
 Harris County is the leader in Texas on
environmental crimes

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Miscellaneous Items

Mens Rea (Culpability)

Intentional or Knowing Violations
– “with respect to conduct” (Texas law)
– Ahmad v. United States (Federal law)
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Public Welfare Doctrine

Strict Liability Offenses
– Water Pollution (Chapter 7.147, Water Code)
– Illegal Dumping (Chapter 365, H&S Code)

Criminal Negligence

Corporations – Probation???
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Water and “Water in the State”

means groundwater, … lakes, bays, ponds,
… reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams,
creeks, estuaries, wetlands, marshes, inlets,
canals, the Gulf of Mexico, … and all other
bodies of surface water, natural or artificial,
inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or
nonnavigable, and including the beds and
banks of all watercourses and bodies of
surface water, that are wholly or partially
inside or bordering the state or inside the
jurisdiction of the state.
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Water in the State

Drainage ditches
Watts v. State, 140 S.W.3d 860
(Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2004,
pet. ref’d)

Sanitary sewer lines
McGee v. State, 923 S.W.2d 627
(Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1995, pet.
ref’d)
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QUESTIONS???
Roger A. Haseman
Assistant District Attorney
Chief, Environmental Crimes Division
Harris County, Texas
713-755-5834
[email protected]
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