Between 1978 and 1988, he was a deputy attorney general and directed environmental prosecutions and investigations into organized crime's presence in the garbage industry in New Jersey.
But legal experts who have been following the trial, one of the most highly publicized environmental prosecutions in American history, say the government's problems transcend the usual sparring.
A mining company's own press release and documents can be used as evidence against it in one of the country's largest environmental prosecutions, a Queensland magistrate has ruled.
Daniel McGowan, an environmental activist whose prosecution for "eco terrorism" was the subject of an award-winning film, was finishing his seven-year term at a Brooklyn halfway house when he wrote a HuffPost blog post that contained details about a secretive prison where he had spent years in isolation.
They have evaded prosecution for environmental damage like oil spills, as well as poor labor conditions, forcing crews to work like slaves without adequate pay or rest.
Among them: failing to close a hazardous waste incinerator in Ohio, not pushing for higher fuel-efficiency standards in automobiles and allowing federal prosecution of environmental crimes to decline.
Chevron has argued that outtakes from "Crude," depicting what the company says is improper interaction between lawyers for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs and a neutral court-appointed expert, could be useful as Chevron fights litigation seeking $113 billion for environmental damage and the prosecution of two Chevron lawyers in Ecuador.
Joseph O. Johns, who oversees the prosecution of environmental crimes, said the government was "generally satisfied" with the ruling, but acknowledged it would not compensate for everything lost in the fire. .
The group has written to Queensland's environment minister, Steven Miles, asking how the government intended to rehabilitate the wetlands and whether any prosecutions for environmental damage would follow.
