Criminal restitution payments to the Environmental Protection Agency for its Superfund hazardous waste clean up costs due to Clean Air Act violations are permissible, the Sixth Circuit ruled June 3 (United States v. Sawyer, 2016 BL 176904, 6th Cir., No. 15-5181, 6/3/16). The payments to the EPA for its costs in cleaning up an asbestos-ridden industrial site didn't violate the Mandatory Victim's Restitution Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3663A, which requires an "offense against property," the court said. Ruling on a question of first impression in the circuit, the three-judge panel said it didn't matter that the government had no possessory interest in the contaminated property.
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