Walmart found guilty of dumping hazardous waste nationwide

[wordpix]

http://westcoastnativenews.com/walmart-found-guilty-of-dumping-hazardous-waste-nationwide/

July 30, 2013

America’s largest retailer and employer has been fined over $100 million for violating environmental regulations by disposing of fertilizer, pesticide and bleach in sewage systems across the country, among other violations.

Walmart pleaded guilty to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by disposing of hazardous chemicals in garbage receptacles and sewage systems at over 4,000 retail outlets across the United States in court cases filed by the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The US Justice Department said Walmart was also found guilty of violating federal law by mixing together pesticides at a Missouri recycling facility and then reselling them in a process that violated the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

The state of California opened an investigation into the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company in 2005 when a San Diego County Health Department inspector witnessed a Walmart employee discarding bleach down a sewer drain.

more....

This is infuriating Well glad to hear the DOJ is finally taking environmental violations seriously. Hoping it's onto the Koch violations next.

[hobbit709]

1. They'll write the fine off their taxes and keep going.

Some low level manager will get fired. The people that gave the orders will skate and probably get a bonus.

[Niceguy1]

2. it isn't just walmart..

Several local and national chains in my area were fined for the same thing...it appears to have been a common practice in the industry. I believe target was fined, too.

[wordpix]

3. We should boycott this chain & if Target et al are doing it, same for them

[Scuba]

4. Lemme see... $100 Million fine, divided by $400 billion in sales ....

That'll teach 'em!

[matt819]

11. 25 ten thousandths of a percent

Less than chump change.

Less than the value of the coins under your living room sofa cushions.

Not nearly enough to generate any attention by the Waltons.

[Thor_MN]

17. Not sure your math is correct...

It's chump change to Wallyworld no doubt, but it would be 25 thousandths of a percent of sales, not profit.

100 M / 400 B = 0.00025 = 0.025% = 25 thousandths of a percent. Assuming that the $400 Billion in sales is correct.

[matt819]

28. You're probably right

I knew I should have paid more attention in school.

Using your numbers, let's say you have annual income of $100,000, and you are fined, for some reason, .025%, for some transgression, say, illegal video streaming, you'd be out $25. As I said, sofa cushion change, or gas money you sock away in the glove compartment.

[Thor_MN]

29. Oh, you are totally right that they will not even notice it.

I just happened to see the minor math error... Didn't want anyone to accuse us of exaggerating.

[wordpix]

21. where are the repukes who cry "scandal" all the time? Here is a real scandal, repuglicons

Of course, they love to ignore real scandals and focus on fake ones they trump up.

[meow2u3]

5. $100M in fines? Is that all?

That's not going to force them to change their behavior for the better. No real deterrent; just the cost of doing business.

[wordpix]

6. for a "decades long investigation" no less - wonder what that cost US

Probably well over $100M. So it's a wash, and the people and environment lose again

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. Is there anything they haven't done? n/t

[Saviolo]

8. $100million in fines?

It's probably cheaper for them to keep dumping and pay the fines. Corporate governance is toothless, and maximum fines set decades ago are no longer in line with what is even remotely punitive in these cases. That's barely a blip in that company's bottom line.

[yesphan]

10. You can be sure that these corps

have done cost analyses and determined that it's cheaper to pay the fines.

Good thing they haven't figured out that if they got the fracking companies to pump the shit into the ground,
they would be exempt of the Clean Water Act.

[Bunnahabhain]

9. I thought this was going to be about runoff from their cafeterias

[BlueManFan]

12. I Am Shcked....Shocked....That Walmart Would Rather Take A Chance on Pulluting

and incurring the wrath of the EPA, the Justice Department, The FTC. Ooops, my bad. That must be another administration I'm thinking about. Sorry for wasting everyone's time.

[BlueManFan]

13. Bart....My Spriritual Anchor Over On Bartcop.com has a saying

If a "mistake" puts money in someone's pocket, rest assured they will make that "mistake" over and over and over again.

[bullwinkle428]

14. Particularly infuriating when you look at their "we're so green!" image

that they push in their commercials.

[malthaussen]

15. This is the question Elizabeth Warren asked in that first video

If the fine does not exceed the profits, who's gonna make a change?

-- Mal

[spanone]

16. deregulation works well, eh thugs?

[Safetykitten]

18. Home Depot, Lowe's, they do it too.

[wordpix]

19. how much training does it take to say "don't put hazmats down the drains?"

geesh, you could do it easily in 15 min. complete with PPT of dead fish and wildlife, as well as how to handle the stuff properly.

[Safetykitten]

20. You apparently have never worked retail.

[aggiesal]

22. OK, we really need to . . .

de-fund the Health Department so they don't have any more
inspectors witnessing Walmart employee's dumping bleach
down a sewer drain.

We have way too much government!

[valerief]

23. Another fine that barely puts a dent in their operations. nt

[livingwagenow]

24. Until there are Walmart execs sitting behind bars, this is near meaningless. But K&R anyway. nt

[Mosby]

25. Somebody better tell Clorox

Steps to a cleaner sink and drain:

Before you go to bed, clear out the dishes from the sink and place them in the dishwasher. You can hit the sheets knowing the dishes will be clean in the morning.

Clean and disinfect kitchen sinks in one easy step with Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes. You can also clean and disinfect sinks daily with Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner with Bleach.

To deodorize drains, flush with water. Pour 3/4 cup Clorox®Regular-Bleach₁, concentrated into the drain, then flush with hot water.

http://www.clorox.com/cleaning-and-laundry-tips/cleaning/bathroom/sink-and-drain/

[Atman]

26. Sadly, this is kind of common.

It's a cost-benefit analysis. How long can we get away with it before we get caught, then how long will we be in court before we actually have to pay a fine? The answers is literally DECADES.

In the old days, I worked for a certain obsolete camera manufacturer whose brand name still exists (making batteries and accessories), but whose cameras are relics to be found on eBay. I worked in their hi-tech lab, and we had a big room with a massive liquid freon tank for cleaning camera parts prior to assembly. All of the walls were stainless steel, perforated with a gazillion holes, which served as vacuums to suck the dust and freon vapors out of the room. We all wore Haz-mat style clean suits. If the freon wasn't kept at the exact temperature, this huge vat (the size of big hot tub), would boil over and spill onto the floor, at which point we'd have to evacuate. It happened fairly often.

Once ever week or so, they'd drain the dirty freon from the tanks into standard 55 gallon oil drums. We'd slap "hazardous waste" stickers on them and wheel them out to the loading dock, where they were loaded onto trucks.

On day we got bold and asked one of the white-shirt pointy-heads what was up with the freon barrels. He was leaving anyway, probably in part because of his conscience. The company was taking the 55 gallons drums of dirty liquid freon and driving them out to a remote location on Cape Code, where they just dumped them into the ocean. Apparently, liquid freon is quite toxic, but many times heavier than water. Their reasoning was, once dumped into the ocean, the freon would seek the lowest level. IOW, it would spread itself out over a massive area across the seabed and seep into cracks and virtually disappear, because it was so heavy. Cool, unless you're a clam or a lobster, I guess.

The dude was practically sweating when he was telling us this. He was probably in his late forties, I wasn't even in my twenties. It was like a confession. But this is standard practice. This company got fined every now and then, but the fines were far less than the cost of processing the waste.

That's why de-regulation is so awesome, right? Giant, for-profit corporations always do the right thing, right?

[wordpix]

27. really bad and if it's Eastman Kodak, good thing they went bankrupt

They deserved it