This study analyses the controversy that has existed within general electric (GE). This is a company that has been running the electrical equipment plants. The company has been dumping wastes into Hudson River. The case involves recovery battle and the plight of dumping the Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River in New York, which had accumulated to more than 1.3 million pounds into a 40 mile stretch of the Hudson River. The cleanup programs supported by EPA, most of the environmental groups and some government agencies led to a lot of controversies since GE was not ready to take responsibility for the dredging expenses and even after their little cooperation, the dredging process is never complete. Therefore, General Electric was bound to spend a lot of money during the cleanup of the river and the process has been named as the biggest environmental dredging ever. However, the entire process of the clean up was not liked by many people. Actually, political heat began to steam up with this situation and this political debate led to issues like how the political environmentalists accused GE of using …show more content…
Political instability is another ethical issue that arose as the PCBs removal dredging plan became charged politically with debate beginning in the fall of 2001. Destruction is another ethical issue observed from the Greens claimed that the GE and EPA used the terrorist attacks on the world's trade center and Pentagon through the incorporation of the priority of the cleanup plan. Incorporation was also observed as the Environmentalists who met with the EPA claimed that it was talking to a brick wall as their arguments were brushed
The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA is the result of a 1970 executive order by President Richard Nixon for the purpose of protecting the environment of the United States through regulation on business and citizens. Public opinion on the Environmental Protection Agency has been divided fairly evenly across the population of the United States as of recently, as compared to the widespread public concern of the 50’s and 60’s that led to the agency’s creation. Recently the agency has come under scrutiny for its contributions of millions of dollars in grants to researchers in order to hide the potential trade off of its actions in order to further the agency’s agenda. The EPA’s ever-expanding regulation could end up harming more than it actually
the Environmental Protection Agency ordered General Electric Co. to spend $460 million to dredge PCBs it had dumped into the Hudson River in the past, perhaps the Bush administration's boldest environmental action to date. The decision was bitterly opposed by the company, but hailed by national conservation groups and many prominent and prosperous residents of the picturesque Hudson River Valley.
We discovered that the history of the oil industry along the Delaware River dates back to 1892. Since then, water port facilities, public transportation, and other forms of infrastructure have benefitted from this industry and undergone important development. More recently, however, due to the rising cost of importing and refining crude oil, a couple of refineries along the Delaware River are on the verge of shutting down. According to the report, the cessation of operations at these facilities has resulted in a direct loss of 1,800 jobs and an indirect loss of 15,000 jobs. In this situation, however, Delta Airlines spent 180 million dollars purchasing Trainer Refinery, for the purpose of lowering the cost of jet fuel. This purchase...
This is not the first time that BP is at fault. They have had criminal convictions in places such as Endicott Bay in Alaska, Texas City and Prudhoe Bay. Jeanne Pascal was a part of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and was assigned to watch over BP. Pascal was watching over companies such as BP that were facing debarment. Under her watch, BP was charged with four federal crimes. Over the past twelve years, Pascal’s seen BP patterns as misconducts. She attempted to warn the government about BP’s safety and environmental issues that would most likely lead to another disaster. While she was watching over BP, the company misinformed and misled her about things that resulted to the felonies that they have committed. Sensing that some things were not right about the company, she presented a case of their unsafe working environments.
At the four year mark of the Deep Water Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows British Petroleum (BP) to drill for oil in the gulf once again. Many consumer advocate groups, chiefly Public Citizens, have voiced concerns over this decision. The lack of corporate accountability and oversight makes this decision seem unethical to these advocates groups. However, the company agrees to follow the agency’s ethic and safety procedure given the new leases. Yet, a series of accidents on its infrastructure makes reform seem doubtful for the company.
The problem with pollution prevention is that it requires people to understand more than the intimate details of the production process; they must also understand the technical possibilities. Many corporations have environmental managers, which are generally responsible for helping corporations comply with the law. According to the case study, the work of environmental managers often expose them to many pollution prevention solutions, but they often have trouble getting access to production areas. Production often sees Environmental Managers as "the compliance police".
In 1995, an important event marked a victory for the national GreenPeace organization, and for humans alike. The Brent Spar oil installation was not allowed to be dumped into the ocean. The importance of this decision lied in the fact that there were over 600 oil installations that would someday expire just as the Brent Spar had. When the decision was made to not allow the dumping, it set a precident that the other installations would not be allowed to be dumped, either.
3-1. What global issues do you see here? What ethical/social responsibility issues do you see here?
In the community of Chester, Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh investment company, Russell, Rea & Zappala (RR&Z), was built four hazardous waste treatment facilities since the 1960’s. Chester has approximately 45,000 residents in which most are African American and of low income (“Toxic Waste in Chester”, Pennsylvania). Residents of Chester blamed the four toxic waste treatment facilities for their reoccurring health problems. Unfortunately, the state government stands behind that there isn’t proof that the waste facilities are making them ill. Resulting from the state government’s ignorance, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) still allows the construction of more toxic waste facilities in Chester. But Chester didn’t give up so
Regulating the toxic waste emissions of polluting organizations has been a costly and time-consuming element of environmental policy for as long as there have been restrictions on these emissions. However, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), signed into law in late 1986, set forth a number of standards that required polluters to disclose information about their emissions levels to the public and started a chain of events that has led to the creation of numerous information disclosure policies. One of the main thoughts behind these laws, aside from the benefit of increased public awareness of pollution in the community and the ability to plan for emergencies involving the wastes from polluters, was that with firms’ toxics use information available to the public, polluting firms would be motivated to regulate their own emissions in an effort to maintain positive public images. Many other laws were later passed with the same ideas in mind, so that there now are a number of different laws requiring information disclosure and encouraging self-regulation by polluting firms and facilities.
Over the last few years, the world has seen a growing movement that aims to save the Earth from one problem that threatens to kill all life on it: pollution. Pollution is a problem that continues to plague humanity today in the forms of plastics, greenhouse gases, and many more, which threatens today’s living beings. Even though the problem has been linked as the cause of drastic climate changes and several mass extinctions, several groups, most notably oil companies, still do not acknowledge it or attempt to prevent further pollution and avoid more destruction.
There are many ethical issues in the movie Erin Brockovich. This movie is about a mother of three who uncovers a water poisoning case by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in southern California. Once it was proved that the company had knowingly dumped hexavalent chromium into the ground water, the utility company was found liable for a $330 million dollar verdict.
BP spent millions of dollars per day to clean up the oil spill. It was estimated that BP was spending “$6 million a day on fixing the mess (Grant, J.K. 2011). In 2005, an explosion at BP’s Texas City oil refinery killed 15 people and injured more than180 people. The accident cost the firm US $2 billion in damages and lawsuits (Murry, B. 2010). According to the OSHA (United States Occupational safety and Health Administration) Citations 760 and 761 BP was responsible for wilful and flagrant violations of safety standards. It happened intentionally and showing indifference to its employees and are yet to pay the fines from Texas City explosion. CSR review BP Green washing Tulane Law review Dodd-Frank act whose role is to evaluate the company fraudulent claims of CSR (Cherry, M. A., & Sneirson, J. F. 2010). An approximated $134 million BP plans spend to address the damage it caused for the Deepwater Horizon Resource Damage Assessment Trustees that include to restore habitats for ospreys and other birds, protect sea turtles and rebuild fish populations ( Thompson, A. 2010). Explosion of BP refinery in Texas that caused 100 injuries and 15 deaths in 2005.Criminal charges due to spread of 270,000 gallons of crude oil in Alaskan tundra in 2006.Toxic spill of 2,000 gallons of methanol in the oil
The United States government has generally had a hands off approach regarding business environmental corporate ethics. Up until the year 1970, the government rarely accounted for the amount of pollution and the effect it had on the American population. This year, 1970, the movement enacted the largest Environmental Protection Agency otherwise known as EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency has several branches across the United States to help enforce and institute laws and regulations, regarding the government (EPA). The reason “EPA” was established was to police these code infract...
The worst imaginable environmental catastrophe that could occur in Maryland has just become a reality. The lifeblood of Southern Maryland's Watermen has been forever affected. The ecosystems of the Patuxtent River and Chesapeake Bay have been irreversibly contaminated. The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl Nuclear Accidents have affected the world ecosystems; but the Chalk Point oil spill has reached us here in Southern Maryland. The ethical considerations with generating electricity from fossil fuels, specifically oil, has a profound impact on us all. We all use electricity to make our lives easier and more productive. By using this electricity have we given our permission for the oil companies free reign in order to provide us with the service we demand?? Are we just as responsible for the oil spill as the corporate leaders who run the companies? As citizens we are in a position to develop and enforce regulations to protect ourselves. Do we also protect the environment; or is the environment just something for us to use? These and many other moral dilemmas exist for modern man.