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In court

Settlement with Naveda: The US Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a US $60.7 million Clean Air Act settlement with a Las Vegas-based company Nevada Power. As per the settlement, the company will improve air quality at its Clark power generating station by reducing air pollutants by 2,300 tonnes annually. The federal government had accused Nevada Power of violating the Clean Air Act by undertaking modifications of combustion turbines and increasing emissions of NOx without installing the required air pollution controls. Nevada Power will also install pollution controls on four of its units at Clark station, worth US $60 million, pay a US $300,000 civil penalty and fund a US $400,000 environmental mitigation project. This is the first such settlement in the US with an electric utility concerning alleged violations at a gas-fired power plant.

Cargill fined: Cargill Australia, an agrifood industry, has been fined Aus $37,500 (US $31,669) and ordered to compensate Aus $30 000 (US $25,336) for causing an effluent spill in New South Wales in early 2006. The spill was caused after a pipe burst at the company's abattoir in the town of Wagga Wagga. The effluent, made up of cattle wash water, wastes from killing floors and fats from wastes, spurted out and flowed to a stormwater drain. It had also contaminated a nearby wetland. Since the incident Cargill has spent Aus $270,000 (US $228,021) on cleaning up the spill, replacing burst pipelines and installing stormwater controls.

Illegal fishing: The Jing Chuen 68, a Taiwan fishing vessel caught fishing illegally in the exclusive economic zone of France's New Caledonia island in May has been freed to leave the French Pacific territory after its skipper agreed to pay a fine of some eight million French Pacific Francs (CFP, around US $91,370).

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