Pay up, Walmart

Butte County is among the dozens of California agencies getting a payday from Walmart in a settlement for environmental violations.

The Division of Environmental Health helped in an investigation of Walmart’s Chico store and discovered several violations, including the improper storage of chemicals and failure to train employees on health and safety responses to spills of hazardous materials, according to a press release from District Attorney Mike Ramsey.

Environmental Health and the District Attorney’s Office will split $80,000 from the retailer. The money is just a small portion of the $27.6 million settlement a San Diego-based Superior Court judge agreed to on Tuesday (May 4).

An investigation by federal, state and local agencies began in 2005, after an employee of San Diego County’s Department of Environmental Health witnessed a Walmart employee dumping bleach down a sink drain.