The United States Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice cracked down on many major companies for violating environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Clean Air Act (CAA). Many companies were ordered to pay a hefty fine as well as spending additional money to clean up industrial sites and take preventative measures to ensure water and air safety.

Here's a list of the biggest EPA settlements from 2012.

10. Suzuki Motor Corporation and American Suzuki Motor Corporation Administrative Settlement

Amount: $885,000

The EPA announced a settlement with recreational vehicle manufacturer, American Suzuki Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation, to pay an $885,000 penalty for allegedly importing and selling 25,458 uncertified all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and off-road motorcycles in the U.S. ATVs and motorcycles that are not certified may be operating without proper emissions controls and can emit excess hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that can cause respiratory illnesses, aggravate asthma and contribute to the formation of smog.

(AP Photo/U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)

9. Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC Clean Water Act Settlement

Amount: $1.25 million, plus $3 million and $742,000

The EPA and the DOJ announced that Sterling Suffolk Racecourse LLC will pay a civil penalty of $1.25 million to resolve violations of the CWA at its Suffolk Downs racetrack facility in Revere and East Boston, Mass. The company is also spending more than $3 million to prevent polluted water from entering nearby waterways and will perform three environmental projects worth approximately $742,000 that will provide water quality monitoring and protection efforts for more than 123 square miles of watershed.

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

8. Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Settlement

Amount: $6 million, plus $2 million

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (Scotts) will pay over $6 million penalty and spend $2 million on environmental projects under a settlement that resolves violations under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Scotts distributed or sold unregistered, canceled, or misbranded pesticides, including products with inadequate warnings or cautions. This is the largest civil settlement under FIFRA to date.

(AP Photo/Mel Evans)

7. Hess Corporation Clean Air Act Settlement

Amount: $850,000, plus $45 million

Hess Corporation has agreed to pay an $850,000 civil penalty and spend more than $45 million in new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its Port Reading, N.J. refinery, the DOJ and EPA announced.

(AP Photo/CX Matiash)

6. Settlements Reached at B. F. Goodrich Superfund Site with Pyro Spectacular Industries and Emhart Industries

Amount: $50 million

EPA and DOJ announced that two settlements have been filed, one in October and the other in December 2012, with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. These settlements result in a combined total of nearly $50 million to clean up contamination at the B. F. Goodrich Superfund Site in San Bernardino County.

(Pure Water Gazette)

5. Hazardous Waste Generators Agree to $56.4 Million Cleanup of Former Texas Waste Disposal Site

Amount: $56.4 million, plus $900,000

The DOJ and EPA reached agreement with over three dozen companies and government agencies that will result in a $56.4 million cleanup of the Malone Services Company Superfund Site in Texas City, Texas, and recovery of an additional $900,000 in cleanup costs owed to EPA.

(NOAA)

4. MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC Settlement

Amount: $90 million

MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC has agreed to settle its liability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in a settlement with the U.S. valued at $90 million, announced the DOJ, U.S. Coast Guard and EPA. Approximately $45 million of the $90 million settlement is going directly to the Gulf in the form of penalties or expedited environmental projects.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

3. Dairyland Power Cooperative Settlement

Settlement: $150 million

The EPA and DOJ announced a CAA settlement with Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC) that will cover the utility's three power plants in Alma and Genoa, Wis. DPC has agreed to invest approximately $150 million in pollution control technology that will protect public health and resolve violations of the CAA.

2. BP Whiting Settlement

Amount: $8 million, plus $400 million

The EPA and DOJ announced that BP North America Inc. has agreed to pay an $8 million penalty and invest more than $400 million to install state-of-the-art pollution controls and cut emissions from BP's petroleum refinery in Whiting, Ind.

(AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

1. Transocean Settlement

Amount: $1 billion

According to the terms of the settlement, Transocean will pay a $1 billion civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) resulting from the discharge of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from the loss of the Deepwater Horizon and the April 20, 2010 blowout of the Macondo Well, and will additionally perform substantial injunctive relief to improve the safety of Transocean's oil drilling practices, as well as its oil spill response and preparedness.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Special Reports /

10 Giant EPA Settlements in 2012

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