Wal-Mart is trying super hard to make you believe they are great for the environment. It's a great PR campaign for them, but what does it really amount to? It is fair to say that Wal-Mart's main focus is on cutting costs from their supply chain, and selling lots and lots of stuff. Now there are some environmental initiatives that fit in to their model, like reducing packaging so that things cost less for them to buy (so they can make more money) or selling as many Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs as they can (so they can make more money). But mostly, Wal-Mart, and it's fundamental focus, is not good for the environment. Recently the EPA fined a construction company $300,000 for polluting storm water at 16 sites in 4 states. The stores being built are Wal-Marts and Home Depots. Building massive stores and focusing on selling as much as you possibly can is simply not good for the environment, and here is yet another example.

Here's the story from the Colorado Springs Gazette:

A Colorado Springs construction firm has been fined $300,000 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for stormwater violations at 16 big-box store construction sites in four states.

Colorado Structures Inc. had runoff management and permit inadequacies at construction sites for 13 Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores in Colorado, including one in Colorado Springs, and one each in Nevada, South Dakota and California, according to court documents.

In a settlement with the EPA and the Justice Department, Colorado Structures agreed to reduce stormwater pollution at its sites, comply with permit requirements, inspect sites regularly and report the findings to the EPA, and provide stormwater training for employees, in addition to paying the fine.

"Stormwater runoff from construction sites poses a threat to the environment by washing sediment, debris and other pollutants into surrounding waterways and degrading water quality," said Ronald J. Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, in a news release issued Friday.

Calls to Colorado Structures were not returned Tuesday.

It was unclear how the fine ranks in terms of others given to construction companies for stormwater violations. While fines at single construction sites can be in the tens of thousands of dollars, multiple violations or large projects have drawn larger fines.

According to a complaint filed in Denver federal court, EPA inspectors visited the Wal-Mart under construction on Space Center Drive in May 2002. Inspectors found inadequate measures to prevent rain from washing dirt and other materials into storm drains, including a silt fence with gaps, another fence that had been knocked down and a dirt pile upstream from a storm drain.

Inspectors found a pattern of inadequate stormwater management, planning and inspections going back to 1999 at Wal-Mart construction sites run by Colorado Structures at three locations in Aurora, as well as sites in Castle Rock; Commerce City; Cortez; Pueblo; Fort Morgan; Littleton; Carson City, Nev.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Roseville, Calif.

Violations were also found at two Home Depot sites in Aurora and one in Evergreen.

The federal Clean Water Act requires builders to have measures in place to prevent pollution from reaching waterways and storm sewers.

Both big-box retailers have been fined in connection with these and other storm water violations around the country. Wal-Mart paid $3.1 million in 2005 and Home Depot paid $1.3 million earlier this year.