Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz declined to discuss details but said the allegations concern procedures, not actual pollution. He said contractors are told to obey all rules. Federal inspections resulted in allegations of violations at Wal-Mart construction sites in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The company has 411 stores under various brands in those states and 3,128 nationwide. Runoff from construction sites can bury streams and ponds under tons of silt.
Rules limit runoff from sites of five or more acres.
Many Wal-Mart sites are about 30 acres. Instead of battling in court over the allegations of pollution, lawyers for the government and Wal-Mart negotiated a settlement requiring a reduced monetary penalty and improvements on future construction projects. But the settlement also put unusual limits on EPA inspectors. One former federal enforcement lawyer said it's unusual for a settlement, which is meant to correct a company's behavior, to restrict government inspectors. Restrictions opposed Mr. Graham, the EPA enforcement supervisor in Dallas, wrote that he opposed the restrictions on inspectors for several reasons.