Editors' Summary: Most federal environmental statutes allow the federal government to bring both civil and criminal enforcement actions against parties engaged in unlawful activities affecting the environment. Many of these statutes grant states concurrent enforcement authority, and many states have enacted environmental laws that give state officials both civil and criminal enforcement authority. As a result, a defendant in an environmental enforcement action may be subject to parallel proceedings under civil and criminal laws at both the federal and state levels. The implications of this situation are so significant that parties subject to environmental laws must consider them carefully.

In this Article, the authors analyze in depth the relationship between civil and criminal enforcement of environmental laws. They begin with a discussion of the generally favorable attitude that federal courts have taken toward parallel criminal and civil actions instituted by the federal government. They then examine the discovery process and discuss the federal government's ability to use material from a civil proceeding in a criminal action and material from a criminal action in civil litigation. They review EPA and DOJ policies on parallel proceedings and discuss the impact of the U.S. Constitution's privilege against self-incrimination and protection against double jeopardy on parallel proceedings. They also examine the overlap between civil remedies and criminal sanctions, with special emphasis on the treatment of corporate defendants under the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Guidelines Manual. Finally, they discuss the tax, securities, and insurance implications to defendants of criminal prosecution under environmental laws.