Bruce Pasfield was mentioned in an InsideEPA.com article discussing the growing legal trend of using the Crime Victims Rights Act of 2004 (CVRA) as a vehicle for seeking compensation in hazardous release cases brought under the Clean Air Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (Superfund) —a novel strategy for use of the victims’ law which, to date, has been rarely used in an environmental context.
Pasfield was highlighted in the article for his role as moderator of a June 26 American Bar Association teleconference that included Stacey Mitchell, Department of Justice (DOJ) environmental crimes chief. During the conference, Pasfield asked Mitchell whether the department is noticing the CVRA “becoming more of an issue” in criminal environmental prosecutions, to which the DOJ chief responded, “ We certainly have seen a lot of action in the crime victims rights area within the last calendar year,” adding that the law is “here to say.”