Mearl Oil Company Case

Mearl oil company case review The case is about a manager environmental support system of Mearl Oil Company named Leslie Milne which noticed that there are serious potential environmental and health hazard problems in areas which industrial facilities were discharging wastewater into open ditches. According to this discovery, company made a memorandum of wastewater discharge, environment and health standard to all Mearl subsidiaries which were then called by Environmental Impact Targets (EITs).

The EITs provide very detailed and specific manufacturing standards down to the process and controls that facility had to apply to its operation related to health and environment. Then the protest came from MearlCan, Mearl Canada subsidiaries. Maya Stevenson, Mearl Canada senior environmental manager said that EITs just added a level unnecessary bureaucracy with little positive improvement to MearlCan performance. She stated that in developing country like Canada, the local regulation is already high so then EITs would be redundant and often be ignored in reality.

The objection of EITs implementation by MearlCan is also because the swelling of expenses which will reached $ 2 million will occur as a result of Secondary treatment plant for sanitary waste system that required by EITs. Based on the above reasons, Maya Stevenson was going to request deviation from the EITs requirements that could be covered under MearlCan Memoranda and also consideration of possibility EITs equalization with MearlCan Memoranda which is regulation that already applied in Canada.

In this case, there are conflict between Milne and Stevenson. Milne embraced absolutism understanding in EITs implementation which that policy needs to be implemented without exception in all Mearl subsidiaries. While Stevenson embrace relativism and teleological understanding that related to local custom, belief, necessities and consideration to the outcome and result of EITs implementation impacts in MearlCan. And also and ethical problem in this case is “Would it be ethical, when ompany good willingness of environmental enforcement by policies initiation compromised by the interest of financial issues and local situations? ” The intention of EITs requirements compromise came from MearlCan. MearlCan see that EITs implementation will costly, and unnecessary due to existed standard which already high. In my point of view, we can take utilitarian action to address different perception among Milne and Stevenson.

Both perceptions have logical different perspective that needs to be accommodated. The compromise of EITs implementation to be applicable and suitable by local situation is still acceptable, as long as not reducing standard level and deviate the initial goal of EITs as the realization of Mearl’s company environmental awareness. The principle of environmental enforcement should be placed at the top and should not be compromised by other thing such as money.