Alpha Natural Resources Inc., the second-largest coal producer in the U.S., agreed on Wednesday to pay a $27.5 million fine for violating the Clean Water Act.
Alpha will also spend $200 million on reducing toxic discharges into waterways in five states, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The settlement is the biggest civil settlement over water-pollution permits under the Clean Water Act in history, the Wall Street Journal reported. The five states affected by the discharges are West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Robert G. Dreher, acting assistant attorney general for the U.S. Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in an email that the fine serves as a warning to other companies of the consequences of pollution, Bloomberg reported.
"The unprecedented size of the civil penalty in this settlement sends a strong deterrent message to others in this industry that egregious violations of the Clean Water Act will not be tolerated," Dreher said.
At least 6,289 violations of permit limits from Alpha for pollutants from 2006 to 2013 were reported, according to Bloomberg. These pollutants include selenium, aluminum, iron and manganese. Prosecutors said that most of these violations come from Alpha's inability to correctly operate existing treatment systems, install functional systems and implement appropriate water handling and management plans.
Alpha agreed to build treatment plants and increase its audits for following environmental permits at 25 coal-processing plants and 79 active coal mines, according to Trib Live. The company said it started many of these objectives before signing the agreement.
Gene Kitts, Alpha's senior vice president of environmental affairs, talked about the company's mission to improve water quality, Trib Live reported.
"This consent decree provides a framework for our efforts to become fully compliant with our environmental permits, specifically under the Clean Water Act," Kitts said.
Kitts added that Alpha had a total water quality compliance rate of 99.8 percent last year, Bloomberg reported.
"This settlement will provide a consistent structure to our efforts to become even better in preventing incidents and in responding quickly to situations where permit limits are exceeded," Kitts said.
