Alpha Natural Resources to Pay $27.5-million Fine

Bloomberg reported that under a proposed settlement with the US government regarding “toxic discharges from its mines in five states,” Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:ANR) has agreed to pay a $27.5-million fine and spend around $200 million on implementing wastewater treatment systems.

The US Environmental Protection Agency notes that the company violated permit limits for pollutants at least 6,289 times from 2006 to 2013.

As quoted in the market news:

Alpha and 66 subsidiaries will install and operate treatment systems and implement systemwide upgrades to reduce discharges of pollution from coal mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania,Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, under the accord filed today in federal court in Charleston, West Virginia.

‘The unprecedented size of the civil penalty in this settlement sends a strong deterrent message to others in this industry that such egregious violations of the nation’s Clean Water Act will not be tolerated,’ Robert G. Dreher, acting assistant attorney general for the U.S. Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in an e-mailed statement.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.