Archive

October 22, 2015

Virginia-based hardwood flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators Inc. pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act through its illegal importation of hardwood flooring manufactured in China from timber illegally logged in far eastern Russia, in the habitat of the last remaining Siberian tigers and Amur leopards in the world.  Under the plea agreement, Lumber Liquidators will pay $13.15 million, the largest financial penalty ever for timber trafficking under the Lacey Act and one of the largest Lacey Act penalties ever.  DOJ

October 5, 2015

BP agreed to a settlement with the US and the five Gulf states worth $20.8 billion to resolve civil claims arising from the April 2010 Macondo well blowout and the massive oil spill that followed in the Gulf of Mexico.  The global settlement resolves the governments’ civil claims under the Clean Water Act and natural resources damage claims under the Oil Pollution Act, as well as economic damage claims of the five Gulf states and local governments.  It is the largest settlement with a single entity in the DOJ’s history.  The destruction of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sent more than three million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a 3 month period, resulting in oil slicks that extended across more than 43,000 square miles, affecting water quality and exposing aquatic plants and wildlife to harmful chemicals.  Oil was deposited onto at least 400 square miles of the sea floor and washed up onto more than 1,300 miles of shoreline from Texas to Florida.  DOJ

September 30, 2015

Tractor Supply Company Inc. and Tractor Supply Company of Texas L.P. agreed to pay a $775,000 penalty and implement a compliance program to resolves EPA allegations they imported and sold more than 28,000 all-terrain vehicles, off-highway motorcycles and engines that did not comply with federal Clean Air Act certification and emission information labeling requirements.  DOJ

September 29, 2015

Guardian Industries Corp. agreed to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at Guardian’s flat glass manufacturing facilities throughout the US.  Under the proposed settlement, Guardian will invest more than $70 million to control hazardous emissions from all its flat glass manufacturing facilities and fund an environmental mitigation project valued at $150,000 to reduce particulate matter pollution in the San Joaquin Valley in California.  It also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $312,000.  DOJ

September 29, 2015

Wyeth Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of the Pfizer Corporation, agreed to perform nearly $194 million worth of cleanup work at the American Cyanamid Superfund Site in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey.  The cleanup work the company has agreed to perform includes work to address six disposal areas at the site where chemicals were manufactured for nearly 100 years.  In addition, the company will pay $1 million for EPA’s past costs of overseeing cleanup work at the site.  The American Cyanamid Superfund Site has a history of industrial pollution dating back to 1915.  DOJ

September 21, 2015

Bayer CropScience LP agreed to resolve violations of federal chemical accident prevention laws at its facility in Institute, West Virginia, where an explosion killed two people in 2008.  Under the settlement, the company committed to spending $4.23 million to improve emergency preparedness and response in Institute and protect the Kanawha River, paying a $975,000 penalty, and spending approximately $452,000 to implement a series of measures to improve safety at chemical storage facilities across the US.  DOJ

July 15, 2015

Interstate Power and Light, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy, agreed to install pollution control technology and meet stringent emission rates to reduce harmful air pollution from the company’s seven coal-fired power plants in Iowa.  The settlement also requires the company to spend $6 million on environmental mitigation projects and pay a civil penalty of $1.1 million to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.  DOJ

July 2, 2015

BP disclosed it has reached agreements in principle with the United States, state, and local governments for a settlement of civil claims arising from the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The total value of the settlement would top $18.7 billion and be the largest settlement with a single company in American history.  DOJ

June 26, 2015

Calumite Company LLC, a manufacturer of an additive used in the production of glass, was sentenced in connection with its September 2014 guilty plea to two Clean Air Act false statement violations.  The company was sentenced to pay a $325,000 fine, serve a two year term of probation and implement an environmental compliance plan that includes an annual environmental compliance training program.  DOJ

June 17, 2015

Norbulk Shipping UK Ltd, operator of the M/V Murcia Carrier, pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an accurate oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and providing false statements to the US Coast Guard concerning the vessel’s garbage record book.  The company was sentenced to pay a criminal penalty of $750,000 and placed on three years of probation.  DOJ