Our team was tasked with advising Alumina, Inc., the aluminum maker in the simulation that had one Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance violation in five years and is being threatened in a million-dollar personal injury lawsuit. The team is to recommend a strategy in the lawsuit defense and advise whether to settle the dispute or defend the company's position in court as if we were acting as the CEO of the company. We will also discuss the pitfalls of other areas of corporate government regulation in addition to environmental controls. The team recommends that the key decision-maker in this scenario take a multi-level approach at the onset of this problem. The first thing Alumina, Inc. should do is conduct an independent site study to check current compliance with the applicable EPA regulations. If the study results showed additional violations, the company should voluntarily disclose them to the EPA, and then take action to promptly correct them. By doing this, Alumina would be taking advantage of the EPA Audit Policy's incentive for self-policing (EPA's Audit Policy, 2000). By voluntarily discovering violations, companies can reduce their EPA penalties by 75%. If this type of self-policing were done by Alumina on a systematic basis, they would receive no penalty for the reported and corrected violation. Even though the independent site study is costly, due to the nature of the aluminum business, Alumina's potential for EPA penalties is very high. Systematic independent site studies would ensure no potential penalty liability and the public relations department could capitalize on the concept that Alumina was a highly responsible company that valued the environment of Lake Dira and the health and well-being of the citizens of Erehwon. If the study results showed compliance with EPA regulations, this fact could be highlighted in public relations releases to reassure the community that Alumina was a responsible, law-abiding company that was devoted to protecting human health and the environment. Regardless of the outcome of the independent site study, Alumina should release a news story stating the facts. Since accusations have been made public, they should discuss the violation discovered by the EPA five years ago, the prompt action by Alumina to correct this problem, their clean environmental regulation record for the past five years and their determination to continue protecting the citizen's of Erehwon by voluntarily monitoring their environmental discharge to guarantee compliance with EPA regulations.
Exxon/Mobil, one of the nation’s leading oil producers, has its main refinery located in Beaumont, Texas. Each year, the residents of Beaumont/Port Arthur have to contend with the 39,000 pounds of pollution spewed each year by the Exxon refinery. Exxon’s emissions are 385% above the state refinery average. In 1999, the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Committee (TNRCC) allowed the plant to increase their emissions, without allowing the public to have a say in the matter. Interestingly, 95% of the people living near the plant are of African American descent and are in the poverty range. Some believe that this, along with the lack of education in the area, allows Exxon to get away with such high emissions. Residents in nearby neighborhoods have been complaining of headaches, nausea, eye, and throat irritation for years. Since 1997, Mobil has repeatedly violated health standards in its emissions of two key air pollutants: sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, These “rotten egg” smells are so strong, one can smell it through a car driving past the refinery. After numerous complaints and one record of a refinery worker becoming unconscious because of the fumes, the EPA awarded Exxon with a $100,000 environmental justice grant in October of 1998. Hopefully, Exxon has put the money to good use and cleaned up their emissions.
Via compliance with the law. The expectation as a public servant/administrator in government, is that you will follow the instruction of those in authority and the laws governing your organization. However, they also had an obligation to their department (EPA) and its design, and to the best interest of the public, to the environment and their life long work and careers.
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
Rule: National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 establishes that it is necessary to take actions to review and protect the environment mitigating any potential damages. Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"),
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates air pollution through various policies passed through the Supreme Court. The scope of this paper is to investigate the Clean Air Act of 1970, and to analyze the impact it has on businesses and society. It provides a rationale for the policy, and contains a brief overview of governmental involvement in regulating air pollution. Further investigation identifies key stakeholders in business, government, and society, and assesses the pros and cons of regulating air pollution. Finally, the paper concludes with limitations of this analysis and recommendations for future action.
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.
The environment and the health of the surrounding population go hand in hand. The Environmental Protection Agency takes on this ever so important mission of protecting them both. The mission statement of the EPA states, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Small Business Programs is to support the protection of human health and the environment by advocating and advancing the business, regulatory, and environmental compliance concerns of small and socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, and minority academic institutions (US Enviromental Protection Agency, 2010).” The impact of its mission can be defined clearly as it examines the impact of contamination in the air, the water, and the land on human health.
ENVIRONMENT: Company emphasizes the importance of more responsible water management. As water is a basic supply for mining-metallurgic process, the scarcity of water can limit company’s ability to generate value. To avoid any effect of company operations on the water supply for the local communities and farmers, company participated in important water infrastructure projects such as dams and irrigation canals. Although all published reports suggest that the company exerts lot of effort to mitigate any negative environmental effect as a result of company’s operations, Southern Copper usually reacts aft...
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1995). Profile of the Iron and Steel Industry. Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Washingto, DC: Office of Compliance. Retrieved February 07, 2014, from http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe
Companies all over the nation are trying to become an environmental friendly during their day-today operations. Going green has become a significant trend within the United States. When a company goes green, the business will more than likely benefit from their actions. Going green makes perfect business sense although it can be costly (Crootof, 2014). Global warming damages a business because pollution can affect the price of product and services. A company that has followed the green transformation is AmerenUE's real power company. AmerenUE has officially been cleared by the Center for Resource Solution (CRS) to be green-e certified (“AmerenUE's Pure Power,” 2007). Ethically, a company should run a good, clean, and efficient business. Another company that displays great “green” attributes is New Belgium Brewery. New Belgium brewery focuses on cost effective ways of operating that cause no hard to the environment (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014).
[1] United States v. Ashland Oil and Transportation Company. Retrieved October 10, 2003 from the Environmental Law Reporter web site: http://www.elr.info/litigation/vol4/4.20185.htm
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".
The Criminal Process in Environmental Regulation. (n.d.). UH Law. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/thester/courses/Environmental-Practicum-2014/syllabus/chap6.pdf
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.
By refer to precaution principle in environmental management which is prudence and stewardship. Any development activities whether in infrastructures and economic activity. Peoples have to prudence in action. Must concerned about the effect of environment degradation. So, EIA is one of prudence action in avoiding neglecting environments. Depending on the type of government, an EIA administrative body can have one or more of the following functions and duties such as preparation of regulations and guidance, ensuring uniform and consistent EIA implementation, providing procedural advice and direction including on issue resolution registration of EIA reports and documentation, public notification and information related to the EIA process, issuing or approving terms of reference for EIAs, overseeing or facilitating stakeholder involvement, promoting EIA good practice, issuing an environmental approval or terms and conditions without which a project cannot proceed, supervision or inspection of EIA-derived environmental management plans for project implementation; and carrying out EIA audit and follow up