Senate committee hears bill to create tiered criminal penalties for environmental violations

Sen. Yasmine Trudeau, sponsor of ESSB 5360, told the Senate Environment & Energy Committee that the bill would strengthen criminal enforcement of Washington’s principal environmental laws and ensure “criminal polluters who violate our environmental laws pay the price of doing dirty business here in Washington state.”

The bill would create first-, second- and third-degree offenses under the Water Pollution Control Act, the Clean Air Act and the Hazardous Waste Management Act and apply those criminal standards to individuals and entities in some circumstances. Under the striking amendment described to the committee, a first-degree violation would be a Class B felony if someone “knowingly” violated the statute and knew the conduct placed another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm; a second-degree violation would be a Class C felony for knowing or negligent conduct that nevertheless placed a person or property in imminent danger; and a third-degree violation would be a gross misdemeanor for negligent conduct that did not pose imminent danger and would carry a fine and up to 364 days in jail.

The bill as amended clarifies that…