Abstract
The Deepwater Horizon disaster inflicted untold damage on humans and the natural environment in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Less discussed is that British Petroleum (BP) was prosecuted and found guilty of environmental crimes that contributed to this catastrophe and received the largest criminal penalty to date in a federal environmental prosecution. While this prosecution gives the impression that the federal government rigorously prosecutes environmental offenders for crimes that often impact fenceline communities, the goal of this article is to explore the broader picture of the prosecution of environmental crimes in the Gulf Coast and to assess the validity of that picture. Through content analysis of criminal prosecution summaries, we explore all prosecutions of environmental crimes stemming from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's criminal investigations during the period 1983–2019. We analyze prosecutions from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Results suggest that 400 cases were prosecuted in these states since 1983. A total of 758 defendants were prosecuted, resulting in cumulative monetary penalties exceeding $1 billion (excluding BP's $4 billion fine), over 19,000 months of probation, 4784 months of incarceration, and almost 24,000 hours of community service. These broader numbers reflect only about 10.8 annual prosecutions across five states and, excluding a few large penalty cases, suggest a need for greater enforcement resources and criminal prosecution in the region to deter environmental crimes and protect vulnerable communities.
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