Green Daily

Between 1999 and 2006, the ConocoPhillips energy company dumped its toxic wastewater into several Texas bodies of water, causing large doses of selenium to seep into aquatic organisms, including the fatty tissue of many fish.

The company recently agreed to pay $1.2 million in a "civil penalty," as well as "minimize" its discharges and continuously monitor the water's selenium levels. In addition, they were ordered to take part in a project that limits the solids entering the water from storms.

Gee, how nice. But who actually trusts this company enough to think they will accurately measure the water and honestly report the findings to the proper authorities? This story reminds me of a Mother Jones article I read recently about Rick Ness, president of Newmont Mining, which piped 5 million tons of metal waste into Indonesia's Buyat Bay, resulting in hundreds of nearby villagers falling ill and developing lesions and cancerous tumors.
Babies were born deformed, and people complained of constant headaches. But yet, Ness still claims that the waste was "as clean as sand" and didn't harm anyone.

And, like ConocoPhillips, despite any amount of reparations paid to the communities in which the pollution took place, or orders from the government to monitor the bodies of water, the damaging effects have already occurred. And for decades more, the water - and the people who rely on it to live - will continue to experience the effects of years of pollution. And that's something no amount of money can take back.