Toxic Dumping
Ethics, by definition are systematic statements of right and wrong together with a philosophical system that both justifies and necessitates rules of conduct. Strong ethical values are a must for any corporation to succeed in any of its endeavors. The sharing of values in business life is as important as it is in other aspects of life. Businesses should try to foster shared moral and ethical values in its employees (Corley, et al., 2001).
There are major ethical rules that must be followed on a daily basis by business owners and operators. Dumping toxic waste into the holding pond located on the company's property, the company would show blatant disregard for the liberty and rights of others, maliciously acting in bad faith, not exercising due care, creating conflicts of interests, not displaying fundamental honesty and adherence to the law, and failing to protect the environment (Corley, et al., 2001).
From a legal prospective, dumping various toxic production wastes into a holding pond on the company's property puts the company in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Under RCRA, the generator of wastes has two primary obligations. First, determine whether the waste qualifies as hazardous material under the RCRA guidelines and second, to see that such wastes are properly transported to a disposal facility that is licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Criminal fines and imprisonment can be brought up against offenders that fail to comply with the regulations of RCRA. Another regulation imposed by the Superfund Act requires anyone that releases unauthorized amounts of hazardous substances into the environment to notify the government. Refusal to ...