At a recent conference, the newly confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), Todd Kim, delivered remarks strongly signaling an increased focus on prosecuting companies and individuals for environmental crimes, and placing a priority on all other enforcement. The remarks also emphasized two top Biden Administration priorities: tackling climate issues and promoting environmental justice.
DOJ Environmental Crimes Section (ECS) Chief Deborah Harris spoke later in the conference and echoed Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Kim’s remarks, predicting “more vigorous enforcement as opposed to just aiming for compliance.”
Through increased enforcement of corporations, AAG Kim explained that DOJ aims to “promote a corporate culture that fosters strict attention to law,” in recognition that “decisions made in the day-to-day operation of corporations can control the environmental health of the American people.” AAG Kim was direct about what the government wants to see from companies:
Integrate environmental compliance into the culture of your company.
Institute systems that foster decision-making that improves environmental and health outcomes.
Ensure that, if environmental problems arise, your company has systems in place to investigate, determine, and document what went wrong, and why.
Establish and enforce systems of accountability all the way up the corporate chain for environmental...
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