It's just an analogy: The EPA's approach to enforcement is like the way the Romans used crucifixion.

"EPA’s 'philosophy of enforcement,' said EPA’s Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz, is 'kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean: they’d go into little Turkish towns somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they’d run into, and they’d crucify them.'"

Then everybody else complies.

What? Can't you handle analogies?