Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has requested a temporary injunction against three Walmart and two Sam's Club stores for failing to obtain Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) wastewater discharge permits for vehicle maintenance centers and photo processing labs. The action, filed at the request of Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Arthur J. Rocque Jr., seeks to halt operation of the stores' vehicle maintenance centers and photo processing labs until they obtain the necessary DEP permits.

Lacking wastewater discharge permits are photo labs and vehicle maintenance centers at Walmart's North Windham and Waterbury stores, as well as vehicle maintenance centers at Sam's Clubs in Orange and Manchester and at the Walmart store in Newington.

"Walmart is recklessly and repeatedly disregarding and defying our environmental laws, and we will shut down facilities that threaten contamination," Blumenthal said. "We seek a court order to stop ongoing unpermitted wastewater discharges involving oil and silver with a high potential for harm. Message to Walmart: Big as you are, no one is above the law. Walmart cannot put profits over compliance. Low prices and high profits may mean shifting Walmart's environmental costs to taxpayers. Walmart will be held accountable in the courts for any purposeful policy of environmental lawbreaking."

"The Connecticut DEP has made repeated attempts to bring the chain of Walmart stores in Connecticut into compliance with the state's environmental laws," Rocque said. "Apparently, they are not as serious about environmental stewardship as we are. Walmart has consistently failed to adequately address their environmental shortcomings and they continue to create conditions that have the likely potential to adversely impact the state's natural resources. What makes this situation even more troubling is that this is a second referral to the Attorney General and includes multiple stores where environmental problems have been documented. There is a clear pattern of corporate disregard that rises above the management of individual stores. Such a callous disregard of their environmental responsibilities will not be tolerated."

The action amends a lawsuit against Walmart for violating storm water permits governing the potential discharge of chemicals from garden centers and other environmental laws.

DEP inspectors discovered the violations during inspections between June and September of this year.