Business Regulation
The government places a high level of importance on preservation of the environment and its means of enforcing environmental regulation. Environmental regulation is the most stringent area of government’s regulation of business. The government imposes technology investment demands on industry for regulatory compliance. The penalty for a single act of recklessness can be far greater. A four billion dollar, USA-based aluminum maker, Alumina, Inc. (70% of whose are in the sales USA), operates in eight countries around the world. Alumina is located on the surface of Lake Dira in Erehwon. Alumina has business interests in automotive components and in the manufacture of packaging materials, bauxite mining, alumina refining and aluminum smelting. Alumina, Inc. falls under the jurisdiction of region six of the EPA.The EPA is the federal agency that enforces environmental regulation.
Alumina, Inc.’s five years ago, was reported to be in violation of environmental discharge norms in a routine EPA compliance evaluation. The PAH concentration, in test samples, was above the prescribed limit. A clean up was ordered by the EPA and Alumina completed it promptly. The environmental audit reported the violation corrected that led to Alumina to having a good overall environment regulation compliance record. Kelly Bates, a local resident, threatens to destroy Alumina, Inc.’s good compliance record. Kelly Bates alleged that the repeated contamination of the waters of Lake Dira with carcinogenic effluents, was the proximate cause of her 10 year old daughter’s leukemia. Kelly Bates also alleges that the consumption of the contaminated water and her daughter’s disease may be as old Alumina’s instance of environmental law violation. Alumina responded to these allegations by releasing an immediate press release news story to show that the company has the best technology for pollutant clean up in compliance with the Clean Water Act that the company’s systems are...
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