All News Releases By Date

U.S. Reaches Water Pollution Settlement with Wal-Mart; Retailer to Pay $1 Million Fine, Establish Environmental Management Plan

Release Date: 06/07/01
Contact Information: Cristine Romano, U.S. Department of Justice, (202-514-2007) Mark Merchant, EPA Press Office (617-918-1013)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today reached an environmental agreement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to resolve claims the retailer violated the Clean Water Act at 17 locations in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Massachusetts. This is the first federal enforcement action against a company for multi-state violations of the Act's storm water provisions.

The settlement commits Wal-Mart to establish a $4.5 million environmental management plan to improve compliance with environmental laws at each of the retailer's construction sites. Conforming to environmental standards will minimize the impact of construction activities on streams and watersheds near Wal-Mart store sites. The settlement also compels the company to pay a $1 million civil penalty.

The Massachusetts store cited by EPA and the Justice Department is in Hadley. In 1999 and 2000, Bowdoin Construction, a Wal-Mart contractor, was making improvements to the Mountain Farms Mall. Since the work involved disturbance of more than five acres of soil, the Wal-Mart and Bowdoin were required by law to comply with stormwater regulations.

Both Wal-Mart and Bowdoin failed to do so. In an inspection on Sept. 1, 1999, EPA found silt fences in disrepair and a visible trail of silt into an adjacent wetland. Wal-Mart and Bowdoin also failed to make periodic checks to make sure the stormwater controls were functioning.

"We must be vigilant in protecting our drinking water. We must be equally protective of streams and lakes enjoyed by American families. Those responsible for construction sites must control hazardous pollutants from flowing into drinking waster sources and waterways," said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.

The United States alleges that Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart and 10 of its contractors failed to comply with storm water regulations and illegally discharged pollution from several construction sites. The Clean Water Act requires the owners and operators of large construction sites to have permits, which generally require site operators to create and carry out pollution prevention plans to minimize the discharge of pollutants into storm water runoff.

"We expect the retail and construction industries to comply with federal clean water requirements, " said John Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Environment Division. "With this settlement, we are taking an important step to protect streams and lakes across the country."

In its 1998 National Water Quality Inventory to Congress, EPA identifies urban runoff and storm sewers as leading causes of impaired water quality in the United States. Storm water runoff from construction sites can cause silt and sediments to build up in lakes and streams and kill aquatic life. Runoff also can transport pollutants like oil and pesticides into nearby storm drains, into sewer systems, and ultimately into streams and waterways. These discharges may drastically affect the health and quality of a waterway, and untreated storm water runoff may contaminate drinking water and pollute recreational waters.

"Protecting water sources and wetlands, whether close by or miles away, is imperative. Streams and lakes are also at risk from hazardous pollutants that can flow from construction sites. We must be vigilant in protecting our drinking water and waterways," said Ira Leighton, acting regional administrator of EPA New England.

The environmental management plan that Wal-Mart will establish aims to avert construction-related pollution. Wal-Mart will require its contractors to certify that all appropriate storm water control measures are in place before construction begins at new stores. The plan also requires Wal-Mart to improve its oversight of environmental compliance at its construction sites, conduct sampling at the sites to monitor the level of pollutants in storm water, and report these findings to the EPA.

The settlement, filed today in federal court in Fayetteville, Ark., will undergo a 30-day period of public comment.