The federal government and citizen groups are attempting to increase enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. Under the major environmental laws, government agencies and other groups may sue alleged violators for injunctive relief and civil penalties. Several of these laws authorize plaintiffs to recover civil penalties that (1) deprive violators of the economic savings they may have obtained through noncompliance and (2) account for harm to human health and the environment.

The Office of Enforcement of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) generally assumes that corporations and municipalities have reaped substantial profits as a result of their failure to install, operate properly, and maintain pollution control equipment. Within the past year, EPA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have demonstrated their intention to impose record-setting penalties in such cases.¹