General Motors paid only $507,000 for 25 years of PCB dumping

Evidence

In October of 1983, after 25 years of dumping toxics, General Motors was fined $507,000 by the EPA for unlawful disposal of PCBs —in total, 21 violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA. Among the charges, General Motors was cited for ten counts of unlawful disposal of PCBs and 11 counts of unlawfully using PCBladen oil in a pumphouse with no warning sign. At that time, GM received what was the highest EPA fine levied against a U.S. company for violations of the TSCA. — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations, 111

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the law/institutions thread: the pittance-scale penalty against a corporate giant echoes the legal-system course’s critique of how institutions price environmental harm against Indigenous land. — connects to: EPA rule redesigns quietly cut GM’s cleanup obligation by millions — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 112; Monsanto knew decades early its PCB dumping was lethally toxic and hid it — Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste, 561; Officials sited toxic PCB dumping in a black county despite contrary scientific criteria — Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste, 1198
• SHARE: A stark number showing how poorly TSCA enforcement priced corporate toxics — good for someone studying environmental law enforcement.

Broader Connections

• Monsanto knew decades early its PCB dumping was lethally toxic and hid it #exemplifies (0.80) — Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste, 561
• Officials sited toxic PCB dumping in a black county despite contrary scientific criteria #exemplifies (0.75) — Harriet A. Washington, A Terrible Thing to Waste, 1198