Tom Corbett took office as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General this week promising to “protect our environment and work with the Legislature to strengthen our laws so that we continue to have clean air to breathe and fresh water to drink.”

As U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and during his 14 months as Attorney General appointed by Gov. Ridge to fill out the term of Ernie Preate, General Corbett developed a solid record of prosecuting environmental criminals.

While U.S. Attorney, General Corbett convicted the first municipality in the nation for violating the Federal Clean Water Act which led to a $50 million upgrade in municipal sewage systems in Western Pennsylvania.

During his earlier time as Attorney General he began to bring down the backlog of cases in the Environmental Crimes Section which won convictions under the Solid Waste Management Act, Clean Streams Law, the Storage Tank Act and other laws.

General Corbett proposed several initiatives during the campaign that would improve the tools used by the Attorney General and the Department of Environmental Protection to enforce Pennsylvania’s environmental laws. They included—

· Increase the penalties and jail time under the Clean Streams Law and extend the statute of limitations on bringing criminal cases;

· Increase the compliment of the Environmental Crimes Section by adding more agents and prosecutors with expertise in environmental law;

· Create a toll-free tip line for whistleblowers and other tips involving environmental crimes;

· Encourage the referral of criminal cases to the Attorney General’s Office from DEP and county district attorneys by improving communication, collaboration and cooperation on environmental cases. [The Attorney General can only investigate cases referred by these parties. It has no original jurisdiction to bring environmental cases on its own.]

For more information on positions taken by General Corbett during the campaign, go to the “Protecting the Environment” and “Action Plan to Protect the Environment” webpages.

[Note: David Hess from Holston & Crisci served on the bipartisan Transition Team for Attorney General Corbett.]

1/21/2005