Long Beach awarded $50,000 grant to prosecute environmental cases

The Long Beach city prosecutor’s office on Wednesday received a $50,000 environmental prosecution grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the first since 2007.

“Environmental prosecution has suffered in recent years due to budget cuts, and this will help give us the resources to prosecute environmental cases,” Long Beach Prosecutor Doug Haubert said.

The city prosecutor’s office handles more than 15,000 misdemeanor cases each year, but the number of environmental cases has dropped in recent years. Over the last three years, the environmental prosecution unit saw a 65% drop in fish-and-game cases.

Last year, the unit handled just 21 cases compared with 60 the year before, Haubert said.

The funds may be used only to reimburse the city prosecutor’s office for attorney time spent reviewing and prosecuting cases that are presented to the office by the California Department of Fish & Game.

The grant, the result of a federal plea agreement, is part of a larger sum set aside for enforcement of environmental and public safety regulations. It is administered by the California District Attorneys Assn.

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-- Ruben Vives