环境美国诉讼项目

全国各地的, numerous companies continue to dump far more pollution than the law allows into our air and water. These polluters have exposed the people who live nearby to pollutants that cause cancer, 引发哮喘发作, 破坏身体的荷尔蒙系统, 缩短生命. 他们伤害了野生动物，破坏了它们的栖息地.

然而在这些案例中, 州和地方政府官员什么也没做, 要么太少，要么太晚, 制止污染，追究污染者的责任.

Fortunately, the law gives citizens a chance to act directly to stop the pollution. 根据清洁空气法案, 《伟德国际app》, 和其他环境法律, 公民有权对违规者提起诉讼.

代表公民行事, and often working in tandem with other national and local environmental groups, 我们的国家诉讼团队就是这样做的. 在一起, we’ve won more than $250 million in court-ordered penalties and pollution-reducing actions, 从旧金山湾到波士顿港, from the Great Lakes to the neighborhoods abutting the nation’s largest chemical refineries in 德州.

In the past year, our national litigation team has focused on these major cases:

• 两个案子，一个反对 埃克森美孚 还有一起是针对巴西国家石油公司的子公司, 巴西石油公司, for thousands of Clean 空气 Act violations at their 德州 refineries. 2017年4月，一名联邦法官下令埃克森美孚支付14美元.罚款2500万, believed to be the largest civil penalty ever imposed in an environmental citizen suit, 提交16,386 days of violation of the Clean 空气 Act at the company’s Baytown, 德州, 炼油厂和化工厂. U.S. District Judge David Hittner found that Exxon profited by more than $14 million by delaying implementation of necessary pollution control measures, and released more than 10 million pounds of illegal air emissions. 埃克森美孚公司对这一决定提出了上诉.
   
• 对 这是朝圣者的骄傲, the world’s second largest chicken producer, for polluting Florida’s Suwannee River. 2017年11月, 这家公司达成了升级设备的协议, investigate the possibility of eliminating or significantly reducing all discharges to the Suwannee River, and pay what is believed to be the largest 干净的水 Act penalty in a citizen enforcement suit in Florida history.
   
• 对 阿塞洛-米塔尔, 世界上最大的钢铁公司, for showering Pittsburgh-area neighborhoods with emissions of soot, 酸性气体和有害气味. 2017年12月，该公司同意支付1美元.5 million penalty (another state record) and spend an estimated $2 million on air pollution controls.
   
• 对 卡塞拉浪费系统, 在40个州都有业务的垃圾车, for landfill pollution that has contaminated Massachusetts drinking water supplies with heavy metals and a suspected carcinogen. our sister group Environment Massachusetts is seeking an injunction that would require Casella to contain or remediate the pollution, 为居民家庭提供清洁的水源, and obtain a 干净的水 Act discharge permit or stop its discharges to the wetlands, and an order directing Casella to pay a civil penalty for the company’s 干净的水 Act violations.

我们总是在留意其他非法污染的案例. Now, however, we’re concerned the number of these cases may soon be on the rise. During the Trump administration, penalties collected by the EPA went 下降了60%.

With the support of our members and in partnership with local citizens and environmental allies, 我们继续:

• Pursue our current cases to stop their violations of the Clean 空气 and 干净的水 Acts, 强迫他们清理并为他们的污染买单.

• Research more cases across the state and country, including those reported to us by our members.

• 动员的法律, scientific and other technical resources we need to take more polluters to court, 他们负责, 清洁我们的空气和水, 保护我们的健康, 保护自然和野生动物.