Issues | Environment

Environment

Wal-Mart has made a name for itself over the past year by highlighting various environmental initiatives, which is sees as an easy way to improve its image. While reducing packaging on food products and selling more energy efficient light bulbs are important steps that Wal-Mart should be applauded for, they must do much more to make amends for an environmentally unfriendly past. In the past, Wal-Mart has been guilty of air pollution, storm water violations, and improper storage of hazardous materials. With millions in fines resulting from these violations, Wal-Mart’s environmental record has been blemished.

For more on how you can help hold Wal-Mart responsible for its environmental promises, visit our Environmental Activists page.

Examining Wal-Mart's Environmental Promises

    
Is Wal-Mart Really a "Green" Company?  

Is Wal-Mart Really a "Green" Company?
While Wal-Mart has taken some commendable steps forward during the past year, the company has a long way to go to reverse the damage it has inflicted and show it is serious about its environmental efforts.  (PDF)

Wal-Mart 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]

Wal-Mart Watch In Depth: Sustaining Wal-Mart

    
Sustainability In Depth  

Sustaining Wal-Mart

The March/April issue of Wal-Mart Watch In Depth examines Wal-Mart's sustainability: not only their environmental efforts, but their business model as a whole. Articles examine Wal-Mart's land use strategies, exhaustive labor practices and ways the company can improve its prospects. (PDF)

   

Cutting Corners

For considerations aside from expense or convenience, the company can have a tin ear.

  • Building on Wetlands. Wal-Mart has a poor record of locating stores on environmentally sensitive sites, especially wetlands. In Illinois, Wal-Mart paid $80,000 in fines to the state and Lake County after a lake and nearby wetland were damaged in the community of Antioch. The state and county officials sued Wal-Mart in 2004 after storm water runoff from construction of a Supercenter polluted the area. [Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 7/21/05; Chicago Tribune, 2/25/06]
  • Paving Mayan Grounds. "A Wal-Mart store rising near the 2,000-year-old pyramids of the Teotihuacan Empire has ignited the wrath of Mexican conservationists and nationalists, who say the U.S. retailer is destroying their culture at the foot of one of Mexico's greatest treasures ... 63 prestigious artists and intellectuals, in a letter published in Mexican newspapers, [have] asked President Vicente Fox to stop the structure. They see it as a battle pitting Mexico's heritage against encroaching U.S. influence." [Knight Ridder, 10/25/04]
  • Feeding Blight. Constant expansion, conversion, replacement and relocation of stores has left vacant buildings all over the country. According to Wal-Mart Realty's website, the company has 309 listed buildings for lease, and an additional 68 buildings currently up for sale. [http://www.walmartrealty.com]
  • Spurring Sprawl. In the United States, Wal-Mart has 529,835,000 square feet (or approximately 12,163 acres) of retail space -- not counting the parking lots. [SEC form 10-K, filed March 31, 2005]
  • Using Polluting Suppliers. According to the Capital Times, "Murphy Oil USA Corp." -- which operates Wal-Mart branded gas stations -- "violated Federal Environmental Laws and withheld information from the government on changes to its Superior refinery ... [by] emitting more than 20 times the allowable level of sulfur dioxide for the last decade than what would have been allowed had the required pollution control equipment been installed." [Capital Times, 8/2/01]

What You Can Do: