The report discusses and analyzes the following:
As the devastation from BP's oil rig disaster grows, a new report released today by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) illustrates how corporations have evaded U.S. environmental laws for decades, only to be later held accountable and responsible for clean-up through the civil justice system.
The report examines how laws passed in the 1960s and 1970s were supposed to protect the environment, but lax enforcement left corporations with little incentive to comply. Ultimately, trial attorneys were the ones who sought justice for communities destroyed by corporate polluters.