FIFRA at 40: The Need for Felonies for Pesticide Crimes
In 1996, Congress abandoned a seven-year effort by consecutive Republican and Democratic administrations to increase FIFRA’s misdemeanor penalties for criminal violations to the felony levels provided under the other major federal environmental laws. More than 20 years later, this disparity remains, despite a series of incidents and criminal prosecutions that demonstrate the inability of misdemeanor penalties to effectively deter pesticide crimes. This Article provides an overview of the FIFRA criminal provisions, reviews the previous failed attempts to amend FIFRA to increase its criminal penalties, describes cases that EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice have prosecuted since the failure of those legislative attempts, and discusses the consequent need today for stronger FIFRA criminal penalty provisions.