Environmental Crimes Blog


This blawg explores all aspects of environmental criminal law.

Author: Walter D. James III is a solo practitioner in Grapevine, Texas.

Blawg Related Categories: Environmental Law • Solo / Small Firm

Recent Posts from Environmental Crimes Blog


  • Enforcement by the TCEQ is a Joke

    The other day, I received an e-mail from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (“TCEQ”). I am a subscriber to its notification services. The e-mail screams out: “TCEQ APPROVES FINES TOTALING $816,375.” You think: Wow,…

  • A Win for the Good Guys?

    On Friday, October 20th, United States District Judge Henry Lee Adams conducted a post-conviction hearing and at the close of the evidence issued a ruling from the bench that immediately terminated Kassian Navigation’s probation. The…

  • A Budding Turf War???

    On October 21, 2009, Senator Urbin introduced a bill that would purportedly require cruise ships and other vessels to obtain an NPDES permit to dischage sewage (toilet waste) and other waste waters. The permit would…

  • A Rant of Sorts

    This post has nothing to do with environmental criminal law – it has to do with Federal judges and what Federal judges need to do more of – levy sanctions on stupid, idiotic, incompetent lawyering.…

  • More CWA Enforcement Promised?

    On October 15, 2009, Lisa P. Jackson, the USEPA Administrator, announced that the USEPA is stepping up its enforcement efforts under the CWA. Dubbed the “Clean Water Action Enforcement Plan,” the USEPA claims it is…

  • Illegal Importation of Coral

    On October 14, 2009, the USDOJ announced that Gunther Wenzek, a German national, pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, to one count of smuggling coral into the United…

  • Baggett Sentenced

    Sorry about the period with no posts – I just plain got busy . . .. On October 14, 2009, the USEPA announced that Larkin Baggett was sentenced to twenty (20) years in prison by…

  • More Enforcement from the Feds on the Horizon?

    On Monday, July 6, 2009, Inside EPA reported that the USEPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, in a July 2, 2009, memorandum sent to Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles, wrote that water…

  • A Name and a Face Behind Enforcement – Meet the Regulators

    You have probably never heard of him. Walter Benjamin Fisherow. He is one of the career lawyers at the USDOJ in the Environmental Enforcement Section and there is an article on him in today’s Washington…

  • Clean Water Act Civil Enforcement

    On August 18, 2009, the USDOJ announced that Cooper Land Development, Inc., a luxury home development company, headquartered in Rogers, Ark., had agreed to settle allegations that Cooper had violated the Clean Water Act. According…