This is a guest post from my friends at K&L Gates, Barry Hartman and Varu Chilakamarri. As many of you may know, Barry Hartman served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environmental Division from 1989-1992 and Varu Chilakamarri served in the Justice Department for 17 years, including as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division and as an appellate attorney in the Environment Division.
On March 25, 2025, the Deputy Attorney General proposing massive reorganization and reduction in force ("RIF") at the Department of Justice ("DOJ"). The memo touches many areas that may be of interest, including environment criminal enforcement.
Among other things, the reorganization would streamline and consolidate various offices including all separate legal policy offices and appellate offices, as well as criminal work that is done outside the DOJ’s Criminal Division or the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices ("USAOs"). This means, for example, that the Environment Division would no longer have their own policy, appellate, or criminal enforcement sections. The memo also proposed that the Environment Division field offices in Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Sacramento will be eliminated.
While many USAOs handle environmental matters, as practitioners know, more often than not there is some level of coordination with the Crimes Section to ensure reasonable consistency in enforcement – especially given the amorphous nature of "knowing" violations. This is a goal that the business community, especially companies with nationwide operations, supported. Whether there will continue to be coordination like this is an open question, especially given the unconfirmed rumors that the Administration is also considering eliminating the EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance ("OECA").
More later.
As always, feel free to contact me at [email protected].
WDJiii
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