Q&A on the News

By Lori Johnston

For the AJC

Q: The AJC reported recently that Imperial Sugar in Savannah would have to pay a fine of $6 million for the 2008 blast that killed 14 workers. Does OSHA use the money it receives from fines for its operating expenses?

-- Nancy Sibly, Atlanta

A: Civil penalties collected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are forwarded to the U.S. Treasury and go into the Treasury’s general fund, as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Penalties are not used as a source of funding for agency activities, U.S. Department of Labor spokesman Michael Wald told Q&A on the News.

Q: Eggs, hatchlings and mature turtles are being relocated away from the oil impact area to Florida and Texas beaches. When it is time for the adult females to return to lay their eggs, will they come back to the places from where they were released or to their original homes along the Gulf shores?

-- J.B. Rogers, Blairsville

A: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and partner biologists with NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have acknowledged that the late-term translocation of nests/eggs has a number of risks. Among those are whether the hatchlings will have completed enough imprinting within the nest to guide them back to the northern Gulf coast when they reach sexual maturity in 25 to 30 years, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Chuck Underwood told Q&A on the News. “They simply do not know if that will occur,” he said in an e-mail. Adult sea turtles that are released back into the Gulf have already imprinted on the northern Gulf beaches, so scientists expect those turtles to return to those beaches for nesting, Underwood said.

Lori Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).