Largest US fine awarded for water violations

Alpha Natural Resources Inc has received one of the largest fines ever granted in the US for violations of the Clean Water Act. On Wednesday (March 5th), the company agreed to pay fines totalling $27.5 million (£16.4 million) for violating water permits at 79 coal mines and 25 processing plants between the years 2006 and 2013. 

The fines come as result of the company allowing toxic discharges from the active sites to pollute waterways throughout five Appalachian states. As part of the settlement between the company, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Justice Department and three affected states, Alpha will also have to spend $200 million to reduce the number of toxic discharges coming from its sites, which have been polluting waterways.

The amount being paid by Alpha is the largest settlement that has ever been reached in relation to water pollution, according to the EPA. Discharges from the company's sites released contaminants and heavy metals into waterways throughout West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The toxins released can have a highly damaging effect on the environment, wildlife and marine life.

According to a statement from Alpha, it had agreed to pay the fines as a result of allegedly exceeding the discharges that were detailed its water permits for some of its mining affiliates. The statement went on to say that the complaint had not included any possible risks to human health.

The total fine amount will be divided between state agencies in West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, as well as the federal government. Alpha will also put in place an environmental management system to limit future releases, along with a new protocol for auditing and reporting.

Gene Kitts, senior vice president for environmental affairs at Alpha, said: "This consent decree provides a framework for our efforts to become fully compliant with our environmental permits, specifically under the Clean Water Act. Our combined total water quality compliance rate for 2013 was 99.8 per cent. 

"That's a strong record of compliance, particularly considering it's based on more than 665,000 chances to miss a daily or monthly average limit. But our goal is to do even better, and the consent decree provides an opportunity to proactively focus on improving on the less than one per cent of the time that permit limits were exceeded."