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Show AG office forms unit Attorney General Paul Van Dam announced the formation of a specialized unit within his office assigned as-signed to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes. This year the Legislature passed a law requested by the Attorney General's Office which established stiff criminal penalties for improper handling of hazardous or toxic wastes. Under this new law, violators are subject to fines up to $50,000 per day of violation and imprisonment for a term not to exceed ex-ceed five years. In addition, a person who knowingly know-ingly places another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury by violation of hazardous waste laws is guilty of a felony with a potential fine of $250,000 and imprisonment up to 15 years, with business organizations organiza-tions being subject to a fine of up to $1,000,000. It is these statutes the new unit will enforce. Attorney General Van Dam said, "It is time for Utah to make use of the tools provided by the Legislature to protect herself against those who would despoil her air, land and water for personal profit. This new unit is an important step in that direction." Van Dam noted that enforcement of the new law has been slow to start because of the lack of specialized training among investigators in-vestigators with state and county prosecution offices. This problem is being remedied. 41 We intend to coordinate our activity ac-tivity with local prosecutors to protect pro-tect citizens of this state and the environment en-vironment from illegal waste disposal practices through aggressive ag-gressive enforcement of these new criminal laws," stated Van Dam. |