CreativeDominant
Posts: 11032
Joined: 3/11/2006
Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: MrRodgers
Well we know one thing, as long as such mining continues to be a real profit center and knowing the EPA can't hit us too hard...we'll be alright. Fuck the water. Cleaning it up it what taxpayers are for.
Shortest list in the world ? List of those sent to jail and/or fined for any such 'civil/criminal' convictions as described in the above.
Hmmmm...And yet:
(CNSNews.com) – The Environmental Protection Agency collected [bold]$252 million in civil and criminal penalties in fiscal year 2012 – an all-time record amount[/bold], and [bold]more than twice the $168 million assessed in fiscal 2011[/bold], according to the agency’s annual enforcement results.
The agency touted the fiscal 2012 fines and other enforcement actions in a Dec. 17 news release, calling them the result of “vigorous enforcement.”
“Enforcement plays a vital role in protecting communities from harmful pollution,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
“We are using vigorous enforcement, as well as innovations in monitoring and transparency, to reduce pollution violations, protect and empower communities and focus on the environmental problems that matter most,” she said.
The EPA said the $252 million in penalties was “assessed to deter pollution.” And it says 6.6 billion pounds of pollution and hazardous waste were “reduced, eliminated, properly disposed of or treated” as a result of its enforcement actions.
In addition to the fines, the EPA directed various environmental offenders to spend $44 million on remedial projects, such as installing pollution controls. That's up from an estimated $25 million in supplemental environmental projects in fiscal 2011.
Most of EPA’s enforcement actions stem from violations of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, but the agency also enforces thousands of lesser-known rules and regulations.
For example, in the past year, school bus contractors have been fined more than $400,000 for “excessive idling,” and landlords have been penalized more than $40,000 for failing to hand out “EPA-approved” pamphlets on the dangers of lead-based paint.
Among its accomplishments in fiscal 2012, the EPA also touted its advancement of “environmental justice,” which includes “fenceline monitors” to detect pollution that may drift into nearby neighborhoods. The EPA requires companies to make the data available online so the public can track the emissions.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/epa-levied-record-252-million-fines-2012
And in 2013:
Environmental Protection Agency investigations yielded more than $5.6 billion in criminal and civil penalties over the past year, the agency said Friday.
An annual report containing enforcement and compliance totals from fiscal 2013 shows roughly $4.5 billion worth of fines, restitution and court-ordered environmental projects linked to criminal cases.

Civil penalties surpassed $1.1 billion, according to the report.
“Our enforcement work over the past year reflects our focus on the biggest violators and the cases that make the most difference in protecting American communities from pollution,” assistant EPA Administrator Cynthia Giles said in a written statement accompanying the report.
The bulk of the money stems from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill off the Gulf Coast. Cases filed against BP and other defendants as a result of the spill generated more than $3.7 billion for impacted Gulf states and communities, according to the EPA.
Wal-Mart paid more than $80 million in fines and penalties for mishandling pesticides and hazardous waste. The company has also agreed to implement new waste handling systems and a new training program.
In the largest single-site pollution settlement in U.S. history, AVX Corp. committed to pay over $366 million to clean up contamination in Massachusetts’s New Bedford Harbor.
Other settlements involve toxic air from refineries and chemical plants, emissions from coal fired power plants and post-storm sewage discharged in cities around the country.
“Driving compliance and deterring violations in these sectors is a critical way EPA protects the air, water and land on which Americans depend, and creates a level playing field for companies that do the right thing,” said Giles, who heads the agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/197839-epa-touts-billions-in-fines
Finally, if you'd like to take a look:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/enforcement/cases/
|
EPA CREATED EMERGENCY - 
Profile
.gif){kind=avatar}
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread