Battelle has agreed to pay a fine of $96,800 after hundreds of bank swallow nests and thousands of eggs were destroyed during construction of a new laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The money will go to the nonprofit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for purchasing or restoring shrub-steppe habitat in Eastern Washington, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington. Destroying the nests and eggs during the construction of PNNL’s new Physical Sciences Facility was a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, but Battelle was able to reach a nonprosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “Where corporations, especially those which depend largely on taxpayer dollars, commit criminal violations they must accept responsibility for their actions and attempt to make things right,” said Michael Ormsby, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. “We are pleased that Battelle has chosen to do just that in this case.”
Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor Vol. 22 No. 09
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Morning Briefing
Article of 13
March 17, 2014
BATTELLE TO PAY FINE FOR ENVIRO. DAMAGE DURING PNNL CONSTRUCTION
Battelle signed a nonprosecution agreement with the Department of Justice that limits what it can say without prior approval from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. But it has taken several steps to prevent another similar problem from occurring, according to the agreement. It has added language to the Contractor Environment, Safety and Health Manual that makes biological review mandatory before actions that could harm plants and animals. It also has taken steps to improve internal communication and require periodic reviews of changing site conditions. It has distributed information to staff on the presence and activities of migratory birds on the PNNL campus over the two years since the incident. The information has included who to contact if potentially protected species are discovered.
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