Amount of Unpaid Federal Fines Up Sharply

[NVMojo]

(I am sure no one will make the corporations pay up under this current administration.)

March 18, 2006

When a gasoline spill and fiery explosion killed three young people in Washington state, officials announced a record penalty against a gas pipeline company: $3 million to send the message that such tragedies "must never happen again."

When nuclear labs around the country were found exposing workers to radiation and breaking other safety rules, assessments totaling $2.5 million were quickly ordered.

When coal firms' violations were blamed for deaths, injuries and risks to miners from Alabama to West Virginia, they were slapped with more than $1.3 million in penalties.

What happened next with these no-nonsense enforcement efforts? Not much. The pipeline tab was eventually reduced by 92 percent, the labs' assessments were waived as soon as they were issued, and the mine penalties largely went unpaid.

The amount of unpaid federal fines has risen sharply in the last decade. Individuals and corporations regularly avoid large, highly publicized penalties for wrongdoing - sometimes through negotiations, sometimes because companies go bankrupt, sometimes due to officials' failure to keep close track of who owes what under a decentralized collection system.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UNPAID_FINES?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Jamison]

1. Yahoo/AP: More Corporations Stiffing Government on Fines.

By MARTHA MENDOZA and CHRISTOPHER SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writers 24 minutes ago

When a gasoline spill and fiery explosion killed three young people in Washington state, officials announced a record penalty against a gas pipeline company: $3 million to send the message that such tragedies "must never happen again."

When nuclear labs around the country were found exposing workers to radiation and breaking other safety rules, assessments totaling $2.5 million were quickly ordered.

When coal firms' violations were blamed for deaths, injuries and risks to miners from Alabama to West Virginia, they were slapped with more than $1.3 million in penalties.

What happened next with these no-nonsense enforcement efforts? Not much. The pipeline tab was eventually reduced by 92 percent, the labs' assessments were waived as soon as they were issued, and the mine penalties largely went unpaid.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060319/ap_on_bi_ge/unpaid_fines

[phusion]

2. no surprise here...

the justice department is much more interested in the occasional medical marijuana smoker in California. They apparently don't have a utilitarian philosophy...

recommended.

[depakid]

3. So much for deterrence

Bean counter know that companies will either get away with violations- or that whatever paltry fines there are won't outweigh their profits (usually by a long shot).

[salin]

4. Wonder how many folks now recognize

that republican govts serve corporations, not people.

[kurth]

5. When corporations own the White House

and the little chimp in the Oval Office.

[cantstandbush]

6. They know that Bush and his Justice Department will do nothing.

The AG is joke...a pathetic puppet of the RW fascists.