"New Top Cop at the E.P.A. Aims to Get Enforcement Back on Track"

"The head of the unit that investigates environmental crimes is promising to “hold polluters accountable.”"

"Under President Biden, the Environmental Protection Agency has closed fewer civil cases against polluters than any administration in the last two decades and has overseen a drop in criminal investigations of environmental crimes.

David M. Uhlmann hopes to change that.

Mr. Uhlmann, 60, begins a new job this week as the agency’s top cop. An expert on environmental law, Mr. Uhlmann is leading the E.P.A. unit that holds companies and individuals accountable for fouling drinking water, dumping hazardous waste, failing to control toxic pollution and other violations.

A onetime federal prosecutor who spent seven years as chief of the environmental crimes section at the Department of Justice, Mr. Uhlmann was the lead attorney on the country’s first environmental justice criminal trial and later won the longest jail sentence in history for an environmental crime."

Lisa Friedman reports for the New York Times August 17, 2023.

Source: NYTimes, 08/18/2023