United States Attorneys' Offices have responsibility for the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes within their own districts and the Environmental Crimes Section has responsibility for the investigation and prosecution of environmental crimes on a nationwide basis. Cooperation and consultation between United States Attorneys' Offices and ECS can make the most effective use of the Department's resources. Close coordination is particularly vital in cases that involve national initiatives, present novel issues of law (including the first case under a statute, provision, or regulation), involve simultaneous investigations in multiple districts, involve international or foreign policy implications, or are of an urgent or sensitive nature. Often the United States Attorneys' Offices and ECS work jointly on cases. When a United States Attorney's Office and ECS work jointly on a case, the responsibility for that case shall be shared by those two offices, in which case the two offices shall work and act together through consultation and agreement. Neither office shall enter into a case being handled solely by the other except by mutual consent.

[cited in JM 5-11.110]

[updated April 2018]