A new task force in Missouri will work to ensure violators of state and federal environmental laws are prosecuted.
The Environmental Crimes Task Force was recently reconvened after a 25-year hiatus.
According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which led the effort to reconvene the group, the task force will focus on crimes like illegal dumping, hazardous waste disposal and illegal discharges into waterways.
DNR Director Kurt Schaefer said there's another crime they're concerned about, too.
"The Department of Natural Resources issues permits to all public drinking water systems in the state of Missouri as well as wastewater systems – that's the sewer systems for municipalities," he said. "And we're starting to see a higher level of attempts to hack into those systems to actually cause mischief and cause damage to the public and to the environment."
Schaefer said the task force won't focus on small cases.
"We're talking about large cases where someone has really placed the public in jeopardy, done substantial damage or potential damage to human health and the environment of Missouri," he said.
The task force is made up of DNR, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Missouri Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Schaefer was part of the first Environmental Crimes Task Force as an assistant Missouri attorney general in the 1990s. He said each of the agencies involved has pursued some cases since, but it was time to work together again.
"What we're reviving is really the conjoined effort to use resources in a more efficient way, communicate better and really make sure that we're providing a higher level of safety for the public, both in protecting human health and the environment," he said.
Schaefer pointed out that each agency brings a different set of tools to the table and that some criminal activity is a violation of both state and federal laws. He said the task force allows them "to communicate, not only to develop the cases and share information, but also to determine how those cases ultimately get prosecuted."
And not only will the Environmental Crimes Task Force work to prosecute environmental criminal activity — it will also plan strategies to prevent the crimes in the first place.
Schaefer said that many times this type of activity is financially motivated.
"That's really another big purpose of kind of why we want to get this task force together and get that message back out there that it's not going to pay in the state of Missouri to avoid state and federal environmental laws to try and save money when you're harming the public," he said.
The organizations involved in the Environmental Crimes Task Force gathered for a kickoff meeting last week.
Schaefer said he expects the task force will meet once a quarter.
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