The awfully named Federal-Mogul agreed to pay a $11,600 fine
for hazardous waste violations at its auto parts plant in Blacksburg after
being cited by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ).
The VDEQ cited Federal-Mogul for noncompliance with proper
procedures for storing hazardous waste.
According to Robert Steele, of the
VDEQ, none of the hazardous waste at the auto parts plant was released into the
environment.[1]
Lucky for us!
The majority of the violations were related to monitoring
and record-keeping. Some of the violations include a lack of weekly logs and
inspections as well as deficiencies in training for employees who supervise
some of the plant’s waste storage areas.
While these deficiencies may seem minor on their face, they
demonstrate a much deeper problem at Federal-Mogul, a business environment that
does not sufficiently stress environmental compliance, if environmental
compliance is stressed at all.
As a result, Federal-Mogul runs the risk of actually releasing
hazardous waste into the environment if it does not take this most recent round
of citations to heart.
The burden of state and federal environmental regulations
can admittedly be burdensome, most particularly for small and medium-sized
businesses, but these regulations are instituted for very good reasons: they
protect our environment for present and future generations.
Federal-Mogul is not, however, a small or medium-sized
business. Its revenues totaled $6.910 billion in 2011.[2]
Thus, the “state and federal environmental regulations are too costly” argument
won’t work.
Large companies like Federal-Mogul not only have the capital
to establish an effective environmental training program across their company,
they also have an economic interest in doing so.
Not only would an environmental training program reduce the
risks of environmental fines, it also adds shareholder value by reducing the
waste that is generated in the first place. In other words, environmental
training can facilitate cost reductions in supplies.
It’s inexcusable, therefore, if Federal-Mogul disregards
this most recent round of environmental fines in
Blacksburg, Virginia.
Companies have the right to make money but they also have an obligation to leave
the properties they inhabit habitable for future generations.
No comments:
Post a Comment