Issues | Community Impact

Whether it is accepting unnecessary subsidies, driving local stores out of business, pressuring local town officials or encouraging workers to join state health care rolls, Wal-Mart has a negative impact on local communities. When local communities stand up Wal-Mart’s expansion plans, local activists and officials are often met with threats and false promises. The growth of supercenters around the country has also meant more traffic, the destruction of prime farmland, and increased criminal activity.

Squeezing Local Governments

Low-price mecca asks high prices of local taxpayers:

• Wal-Mart Asks Chicago For $18 Million. In 2002, Wal-Mart began talking to Chicago officials about building a supercenter within the city limits; however, talks faltered after the city balked at the cost. When Wal-Mart asked for $18 million in subsidies, Mayor Richard M. Daley rejected them and quipped, "Am I buying the company?" [Chicago Sun-Times, 7/29/03]
• Threatens Georgia County Over Rezoning. Wal-Mart's Real Estate Manager for Georgia and South Carolina told Clarke County Commissioners to rezone land for a superstore in Athens, Ga. -- and added that Wal-Mart had "identified several sites in [neighboring] Oconee County that meet Wal-Mart's site selection requirements." In an Online Athens editorial, Wal-Mart lawyer Mike Morris wrote, "The relocation of Wal-Mart to an adjoining county would be the worst of all worlds ... Customers would still use our roads to get to and from the store, but all tax generated would go to the county where it is located." [Athens Banner-Herald, 3/26/00; Athens Banner-Herald, 12/22/99; Athens Banner-Herald, 1/2/00] 
• Threatened Maine Community Over Superstore. In 1992, Wal-Mart opened a 100,000 square foot store in Rockland, Maine. Seven years later, the company decided to close it in favor of building a new Supercenter across the street -- and to muscle the project through, a Wal-Mart real-estate agent said that although Wal-Mart would like to stay in Rockland, the company had a "Plan B" if zoning permissions were denied. [Bangor Daily News, 12/4/99]
• Threatened Wisconsin Town That Worked to Stop a Store. Stoughton -- a suburb of Madison, Wis. -- decided to resist attempts to build a store on the edge of its city limits. The Stoughton city council approved an ordinance capping the size of any potential big-box stores -- and in response, Wal-Mart's corporate response immediately suggested it would build a store in the nearby town of Oregon. [Wisconsin State Journal, 1/28/04; Capital Times, 1/28/04]

Breaking Environmental Laws

Enforcement agencies agree: when it comes to following rules, Wal-Mart can do better:

• Slapped with Fines Across the Country. In 2004, Wal-Mart  faced fines for violations of environmental laws in nine states: California, Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. [Associated Press, 5/12/04; New York Times, 4/13/05]
• Forced to Settle Air Pollution Claims. In 2004, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $400,000 to the government to settle claims that Sam's Club had flouted federal air pollution regulations in eleven states. [The Business Journal, 1/30/04]
• Widespread Water Pollution. In 2001, the EPA and Justice Department for the first time fined a company -- Wal-Mart -- for violating newly adopted standards for stormwater runoff. Wal-Mart paid $5.5 million in fines for violations at construction sites in four states: Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Four years later, however, Wal-Mart signed an agreement with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection over storm water violations occurring over seven years at 20 stores, and agreed to pay $1,550,000 in penalties. [Underground Construction, 8/1/01; Forbes, 8/15/05]
• Contaminating Water in Georgia. Georgia's Environmental Protection Division (EPD) fined Wal-Mart for letting polluted storm water run free into state waters -- resulting in $170,000 in penalties for pollution at two sites. Wal-Mart failed to take basic steps to help clean storm runoff, such as maintaining silt fencing around construction zones, installing ponds to catch storm water, and failure to keep records. The fines ranked among the highest paid in Georgia for violations of the Clean Water Act. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/10/05]
• In Florida, Oil Storage Problems. Florida forced Wal-Mart to pay $765,000 in fines for operating outside safety restrictions on petroleum storage at its auto service centers. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection flagged the company for failing to register its fuel tanks with the state or install devices that prevent gasoline overflows. According to the state, Wal-Mart also failed to perform monthly safety checks, lacked current technologies to prevent overflows, blocked state inspectors from reviewing records and failed to show proper insurance documentation. [Associated Press, 11/18/04]

Shifting Burdens to Taxpayers

As employees fall through the Wal-Mart safety net, taxpayers catch them -- and end up with the bill:

• Letting Workers and Families Rely on Public Programs. A memo written by Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart Executive Vice President for Benefits, for the Wal-Mart Board of Directors, said: "We also have a significant number of Associates and their children who receive health insurance through public-assistance programs. Five percent of our Associates are on Medicaid compared to an average for national employers of 4 percent. Twenty-seven percent of Associates' children are on such programs, compared to a national average of 22 percent (Exhibit 5). In total, 46 percent of Associates' children are either on Medicaid or are uninsured." Chambers wrote, "Wal-Mart's critics an easily exploit some aspects of our benefits offering to make their case; in other words, our critics are correct in some of their observations. Specifically, our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance.'' [Susan Chambers Memo to the Wal-Mart Board of Directors; New York Times, 10/26/05]
• Topping State Rankings of Employees on Public Care. In 21 states, Wal-Mart leads the list of companies with the most employees and dependents enrolled in state-funded health care programs. In all states that have released such data -- Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin -- Wal-Mart tops the list. In Arkansas, where Wal-Mart's own headquarters is located, 3,971 of Wal-Mart's 45,106 employees are on public assistance. [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/17/05; Federal Register Source; Associated Press, 3/3/05; St. Petersburg Times, 3/25/05; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/27/04; Associated Press, 3/4/05; Great Falls Tribune, 6/26/05; Omaha World-Herald, 10/19/05; Associated Press, 5/12/05; Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/2/06; Chattanooga Times Free Press, 1/20/05; Salt Lake Tribune, 2/5/06; Vermont Guardian, 4/18/05; Seattle Times, 1/24/06; Charleston Gazette, 12/26/04; The Capital Times, 11/4/04; Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 5/24/05; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/17/05]
• Forcing Higher Medicaid Spending. Michael Hicks, an economist at the Air Force Institute of Technology at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, conducted a study analyzing state Medicaid data from 1978 to 2003 and found that Wal-Mart causes an increase in state Medicaid spending by as much as $898 per person. [Business Week, 10/26/05]

What You Can Do

Want Wal-Mart to respect our communities?

• Join thousands in signing the Handshake with Sam agreement and calling on Wal-Mart to wean itself from public dollars
• Tell friends and family about Wal-Mart's pursuit of public dollars -- and how that affects our communities