Main Causes of Water Pollution
What causes water pollution? The role of human agency may be understated, as this story shows.
Chemetco pumped process water through a secret pipe for ten years, contaminating these once-pristine wetlands.
Long Lake, Mississippi River tributary, Mitchell, nr. Hartford, Illlinois, USA.
Use with attribution: Picture, Alistair Siddons
Causes of water pollution: choosing to pollute
But this story is characterised by a surprisingly tough and protracted battle between enforcer and polluter, in the highly-regulated economy of the United States.
We don't often hear how companies that cause water pollution behave before, during and after their actions are investigated.
We just hear the size of the fine, and that encourages a relativistic approach to pollution stories.
These pages go under the surface of a serious environmental crime. I show that the story may be far from over when a company and its executives have been punished.
Causes of air pollution?
The Chemeto criminal case was all about water pollution.
But Chemetco caused grave air pollution problems, too, with surprisingly far-reaching consequences.
And most of all, Chemetco is a fascinating story of corporate ethics.
Copyright notice: unless otherwise stated, all text, artwork & photographs on this website are © Alistair Siddons. All rights reserved.
In the latest development related to this case, in mid-December 2008, the EPA launched a new website publishing names and details of environmental fugitives from justice. Among those listed is Denis L. Feron, the former owner of the Chemetco plant.
Within days of the federal EPA's publication of an FBI style 'most wanted' list, some 250,000 sources were indexed by Google under the search term 'EPA most wanted.'
©Alistair Siddons