Walmart plead guilt to charges of crimes against the environment, and more specifically admitted to violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and related legislation, on Tuesday and will pay $110 million in fines as a result.
In the cases filed in California and Missouri, prosecutors made complaints against Walmart indicating the multinational retail corporation violated the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and other environment protection laws.
"Prosecutors in San Fransisco said that through January 2006, the company did not have any program or training in place to show employees how to properly handle hazardous waste," Raw Story reported.
The fine comes less than a month after Walmart released a statement announcing its partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) called Walmart's Acres for America program to protect lands across the U.S. and ensure the safe treatment and preservation of recreational areas and animal habitats across America.
"Truckloads of hazardous products, including more than two million pounds of pesticides, were improperly handled under Wal-Mart's contracts," said U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri Tammy Dickinson.
The environmental violations are believed to have taken place over a decade and put the environment and the public at risk.
"This case is as big as Wal-Mart is," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe John in a statement to USA Today. "This conduct is alleged to have taken place at every single Walmart in the country."
The FBI issued a press release on Tuesday citing that the multinational retail corporation admitted to "violating criminal and civil laws designed to protect water quality and to ensure proper handling of hazardous waste and pesticides."
As of Wednesday, the American conglomerate will have to pay a total of $110 million in federal and state fines as a result of its admittance.
The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 and its mission is to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters by preventing point and non-point pollution sources, providing assistance to publicly owned treatment works for the improvement of wastewater treatment, and maintaining the integrity of wetlands."
