COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann announced last week that during his first six months in office he has filed nearly 60 cases against alleged violators of environmental laws.

The rush seems to be in order to beat deadlines set by the General Assembly five years ago. Had he not put the cases in courts, it would have kept the State from collecting the maximum civil penalties available.

In making the announcement, he told Ohioans that they can count on him.

"Getting these cases into the courts where they belong dramatically reduces the backlog of environmental cases," Dann said. "The people of Ohio can trust me to aggressively enforce laws in a timely manner and hold polluters responsible for their actions.

"Now that we have moved forward with addressing the older abuses that have occurred, I have charged my staff to continue this vigilance on behalf of Ohio's precious natural resources and address violations happening right now."

Dann added that many of the cases had been sitting around for years until he showed up.

"Many of these cases had been accumulating for years without any real action being taken on behalf of the people, yet significant violations of the law kept occurring and those violations needed to be addressed," Dann said. "The defendants had more than enough time to correct themselves, but chose to ignore those orders."

Of the cases, nine allege air pollution, six complain of air pollution, 11 concern alleged hazardous waste and improperly operated landfills, three charge asbestos removal violations and approximately 12 deal with leaking underground storage tanks.

For a complete list of the defendants and a summary of the allegations facing them, click here.