Corporations, through the guidance of new laws, in the future in the United States, should be held more accountable for environmental crimes, because without these new laws companies will continue to pay fines meniscus and serve little to no time in prison to destroy the environment in which we must live and survive. Businesses throughout history have lived under government protection. The reason I say this is because throughout history multinational corporations have gotten away with literally killing our environment by following weak laws and having very few standards. Corporate action only changed when society started having problems with breathing bad air, drinking water making us sick, and releasing chemicals into the environment that cause cancers and other diseases. The reason this has changed is because people have risen up and demanded more from our elected officials and our businesses. A huge step forward in holding companies accountable was the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 by presidential order. It was President Nixon, believe it or not, who created the agency. The reason the EPA was created was because of a fire that occurred on the Cuyahoga River in Ohio in 1969. The reason the river caught fire was because it was so polluted and only a year later Nixon signed the presidential order to create the EPA. Another byproduct of the Cuyahoga River Fire was the passage of the Great Lakes Clean Water and Quality Agreement and this marked the beginning of higher standards and regulations in protecting the environment through new laws. Another good law signed by President Nixon was the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970. This act requires that all federal organizations...... middle of paper ......damage to the nervous system in studies on animals, remains in use today. Criminal enforcement of environmental regulations has become radically greater since the Superfund law was passed in 1980. This law gave prosecutors ammunition to prosecute executives, managers, and low-level workers of corporations. In the eyes of the EPA, stronger laws are what help deter companies from violating environmental rules and regulations. But I thought the punishment should be in line with that of someone who sold a kilo of cocaine, and that will make an even bigger difference, because these billion dollar companies don't fear a fine, most of them would write it off on their their accounts. taxes and would gladly do the twelve months or so in federal prison. But in their eyes they are the ones who are getting over the situation because they simply made money by not doing the right thing.