Walmart Asks Chicago For $18 Million. In 2002, Wal-Mart began talking to Chicago officials about building a supercenter within the city limits; however, talks faltered after the city balked at the cost. When Walmart asked for $18 million in subsidies, Mayor Richard M. Daley rejected them and quipped, "Am I buying the company?" [Chicago Sun-Times, 7/29/03]

Widespread Water Pollution. In 2001, the EPA and United States Justice Department for the first time fined a company, Walmart, for violating newly adopted standards for storm-water runoff. Walmart paid $5.5 million in fines for violations at construction sites in four states: Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Four years later, however, Walmart signed an agreement with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection over storm water violations occurring over seven years at 20 stores, and agreed to pay $1,550,000 in penalties. [Underground Construction, 8/1/01; Forbes, 8/15/05]

Study shows Walmart's Negative Impact on Small Business. Kenneth Stone, an emeritus professor of economics at Iowa State University, first coined the term "Walmart phenomenon" in his 1995 study, "Competing with the Discount Mass Merchants.'' Stone found that when Wal-Mart came to a town, stores selling different products than Walmart were fine, but those selling the same products struggled. Further, Stone found that the stores that bore the brunt of Walmart's competition were in towns with populations of less than 5,000 within 20 miles of a Walmart. [Jackson Citizen-Patriot, 7/11/08]

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