Jessika Ziglar/1-18-2008 10:34am/Pollution/#1
On Thursday, Massey Energy Company was fined $20 million for repeatedly violating the Clean Water Act by the EPA. Massey Energy Company is the fourth largest coal producer in the United States and operates over 40 mines in West Virginia, Virginia, and Kentucky.
Massey is accused of some 4,500 Clean Water Act violations, such as dumping mine slurry that contains sediment to clog waterways along with acid mine drainage and metals that harm wildlife, spanning from January 2000 to December 2006. Charges were brought against the company in May 2007, not by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, but by the federal EPA.
In addition to the $20 million fine, Massey Energy Company has agreed to invest $10 million in pollution control at its 44 mines. The company will also immediately stop dumping over 380 million pounds of mine wastes into rivers and streams and will install a new system to monitor and maintain slurry pipes. If the company doesn’t clean up its act, Massey will be fined an escalating set of fines starting at $1,000.
This is not the first trouble the company has faced. The Massey Energy Company was fined $1.5 million concerning the death of two miners back in January of 2007, and a criminal investigation of the accident is still underway.
This article showcases some of the problems created by what has been pushed as America’s best alternative source for energy. Coal mining is dirty, dangerous business and if the coal companies are not obligated either out of duty or by careful monitoring by environmental agencies, not only could the emissions from burning coal its self, but also the by-products of its mining, have the potential to cause terrible pollution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/us/18mine.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=us&adxnnlx=1200668552-jIPqiHee7yNYjRTAhtK2Hw
5 comments:
We studied the effects of Corporate Crime last semester in my deviance class and this seems like a prime example of what we talked about. While Massey Energy is facing some pretty hefty fines, I can only wonder how much this company actually makes and if these fines will cause them to clean up their act, or it will just be another warning label slapped on them by the government. The pollution of our earth and the death of their employees should be enough for them to enact new policies without having the government have to fine them, but all too much companies ignore these problems. Good post.
We studied the effects of Corporate Crime last semester in my deviance class and this seems like a prime example of what we talked about. While Massey Energy is facing some pretty hefty fines, I can only wonder how much this company actually makes and if these fines will cause them to clean up their act, or it will just be another warning label slapped on them by the government. The pollution of our earth and the death of their employees should be enough for them to enact new policies without having the government have to fine them, but all too much companies ignore these problems. Good post.
Coal is a major problem as far as pollution goes. I also find that many of the "green" energies aren't really that green due to needing to use coal to produce them such as biodiesel and solar (what powers the plants that build the panels?) It's a terrible situation with no easy solutions. However, more onto your article, do you feel that fines actually do anything as far as forcing large corporations to clean up their act?
12:08 PM / 01.18.2008
Like one of you said, the fines probably aren't that big of a deal to such a large corporation when one looks at the percentage of their total income they actual have to pay out. All that the legal dealings and fines probably do is serve as a minor annoyance that the companies deal with and have very little effect on their profit margins. In the article, it said that the CEO announced the reason for this settlement was to spare the stock-holders from potentially losing money.
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