Environmental Law

Hot Motions

By Walter James

Several years ago, I had a USEPA CID investigator tell me that the USEPA did not use tape recorders because there was no training provided in their use.  At that time, the USEPA relied upon note-taking (and still does) to document the interview. 

Why is that important?  Most of the time, the notes are then transcribed in a question and answer format as though a court reporter actually transcribed the interview (which could not be further fro the truth).  So when you see the transcription like that in a matter, you need to consider filing a ?Motion to Preserve Rough Notes? which will require the USEPA CID to maintain the rough notes so that you can compare the rough notes to the transcription. 

More later.

As always, feel free to contact me via e-mail at walter.james@jamespllc.com.

Full post as published by Environmental Crimes Blog on February 26, 2010 (boomark / email).