Oregon Public Broadcasting

Last week, on Earth Day, Oregon’s Attorney General announced the creation of an environmental crime reporting system. 

He said these types of crimes could now be reported through the Oregon Department of Justice website for investigation.

Turns out, though, the link on the DOJ site actually goes to a form hosted on the state Department of Environmental Quality's website.

On OPB’s Think Out Loud radio show Tuesday, Attorney General John Kroger explained he did this because he was worried his office would be swamped with environmental crime complaints.

John Kroger: “And so at the last minute, we really defaulted back to the DEQ reporting system.  We actually have an online form ready to go, but we’re gonna make sure to have a staff to man it properly before it goes up.”

Kroger says his goal was to publicize the fact that environmental crimes can be reported on the web.  He continues to push for legislation to fund an Environmental Crimes Unit to investigate environmental crimes through his office.