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Noah Perch-Ahern, Environmental Partner, shared his insights with Bay Area News Group regarding how Walmart’s $7.5 million settlement over the company’s alleged dumping of toxic waste is just the latest in California’s push to address hazardous waste issues.

Excerpts:

The Walmart settlement shows how Bonta’s office has put some muscle into the push with “sting operations” to find violations and get compensation for California counties, said Noah Perch-Ahern, an environmental partner at the Los Angeles-based law firm Greenberg Glusker.

That involves significant field work, said Perch-Ahern, including some good old-fashioned dumpster diving.

“What I’m calling a sting operation, they call it an audit. They will actually go through the dumpster,” Perch-Ahern said, adding that each violation can cost up to $70,000. “$7.5 million may sound like a lot, but if you tallied every theoretical violation, the number may be orders of magnitude higher than that.”