WAL-MART ANNOUNCES “ACRES FOR AMERICA”
Today Wal-Mart and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced a “conservation partnership” called “Acres For America”. Today’s event, which featured Bush Interior Secretary Gale Norton, John Berry, executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and Wal-Mart U.S. Stores Division CEO Mike Duke, is being held at the National Geographic Society.
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
While we at the Center for Community and Corporate Ethics certainly support and applaud any improvement in Wal-Mart's environmental practices and sensitivities, please allow us to provide some context to Wal-Mart’s need for a glossy environmental public relations event and its new partner in this image enhancement project.
Said the Center’s Executive Director Andy Grossman, “The environmental record of Wal-Mart is a sorry one, rife with corporate decisions that have drawn community ire and massive fines. We present here some lowlights including the construction of a store on sacred Mayan grounds, multiple instances of construction on ancient Indian burial grounds, and instances of environmental fines. Given NFWF's partnership with Wal-Mart joining a line of other corporate partners like Anheuser-Busch, energy giant Southern Company, and ExxonMobil we also ask whether the group has become a public relations front group presenting huge corporations like Wal-Mart with the chance to try to absolve themselves of criticism and legal judgments by touting some level of care on environmental issues?”
Some Lowlights in Wal-Mart’s Environmental Record
Wal-Mart Built Store On Traditional 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… Last week, 63 prestigious artists and intellectuals, in a letter published in Mexican newspapers, asked President Vicente Fox to stop the structure. They see it as a battle pitting Mexico's heritage against encroaching U.S. influence. Wal-Mart is already Mexico's largest retailer, with 664 stores in 66 cities, with sales of $12 billion.” [Knight Ridder, 10/25/04]
Wal-Mart Built Atop Indian Burial Grounds. In 1993 in Southern California, Wal-Mart, faced with threats of a nationwide boycott if it proceeded with a development project that have destroyed Indian burial grounds, which Indians consider to be as holy as a church or synagogue. Wal-Mart was forced to compromise with the Indian activists by building a monument on store property to honor the grounds. [LAT, 10/16/93]
Wal-Mart Built Again On Indian Burial Grounds In 1997. In Nashville, Tenn., J. Donald Nichols Realty “sparked demonstrations and calls for a retail boycott in 1997 when it graded a site for Wal-Mart and Lowe's that included an Indian burial ground and Civil War fortifications, according to the Alliance for Native American Indian Rights in Tennessee.” [Fulton County Daily Report, 11/30/00]
WAL-MART’S ENVIRONMENTAL MALFEASANCE AND LEGAL WOES IN THE STATES
Wal-Mart Fined $3.1 Million In 2004 For Environmental Violations In Nine States. The U.S. Justice Department in 2004 levied $3.1 million in fines to Wal-Mart. The fines stemmed from environmental violations namely excessive storm water runoff at construction sites at 24 of its sites in nine states. In the federal settlement, the corporation is charged with failing to get required permits, not instituting a runoff control plan, and failing to install controls to prevent discharges. The nine states are California, Colorado, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. [Associated Press, 5/12/04]
Florida: Wal-Mart Fined $765,000 for Petroleum Storage Violations. Wal-Mart was levied $765,000 in fines for violating Florida’s petroleum storage tank laws at its automobile service centers. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection said that Wal-Mart failed to register its fuel tanks with the state and failed to install devices that prevent overflows, among other problems. As well, Wal-Mart also did not perform monthly monitoring, lacked current technologies to prevent overflows, blocked state inspectors from reviewing maintenance records, and failed to submit proper insurance documentation. [Associated Press, 11/18/04]
Georgia: Wal-Mart Levied With Fines For Water Contamination. “The violations included failure to maintain silt fencing around the construction sites, failure to install detention ponds to prevent runoff, and failure to keep records, according to the EPD. Mud from the sites ran into creeks in the Alcovy River basin. Construction site runoff is the biggest polluter of Georgia's waters. EPD [Environmental Protection Division ] Assistant Director David Word said the severity of the violations warranted the fines, which are some of the highest levied by EPD for violations of the federal Clean Water Act. EPD fined Wal-Mart $95,000 for a Monroe site and $65,000 for a Loganville site.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/10/05]
Headline: “EPA Takes Action Against Wal-Mart, Its Contractor for Clean Water Act Violations at Construction Site” [EPA release, 1/24/05]
Wal-Mart Settled Case Involving Clear Air Act Violations. “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. agreed Jan. 22 to pay $400,000 to settle claims that its Sam's Club stores violated federal air pollution regulations in 11 states, including Missouri. U.S. Attorney Todd Graves filed suit in Kansas City federal court, charging Wal-Mart with 20 Clean Air Act violations.” [The Business Journal, 1/30/04]
The National Fish & Wildlife Foundation’s Other Corporate “Partnerships”
- Power of Flight and Longleaf Legacy partnership program: partnership between Southern Company, one of the nation's largest energy producers, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation [Southern Company release, 12/14/04, 4/22/04, 8/27/02]
- Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program: partnership between Anheuser-Busch and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation [Anheuser-Busch release, 9/7/04, 5/27/03]
- Save The Tiger Fund: partnership between ExxonMobil Foundation and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) [Business Wire, 2/19/04]
