By Timothy B. Wheeler , tim.wheeler@baltsun.com|July 24, 2009
A year after the state announced a legal settlement requiring cleanup of long-standing pollution problems at a chemical plant near Chestertown on the Eastern Shore, the work remains stalled by disputes with the plant's owner.
Genovique Specialties Corp. has balked at demands from the state Department of the Environment that it do more testing of soil and groundwater for toxic and potentially cancer-causing chemicals at its manufacturing facility, which sits beside an unnamed stream that ultimately flows to the Chesapeake Bay. The company, based in Rosemont, Ill., first submitted a plan last August for investigating contamination at its Kent County plant, which manufactures "plasticizers" - substances that make plastics flexible. But the state found the original plan riddled with "data and information gaps" and has insisted on more sampling to ascertain how far contaminants may have spread.
"We've reviewed the cleanup plan, and we don't agree with it," said Dawn Stoltzfus, state environment agency spokeswoman. "We have requested revisions, and the party does not agree with us."
Stoltzfus said the problems at the plant pose no immediate threat to neighboring residents. But some environmental activists are not so sure, and they fault state regulators for not pressing harder to clean up a facility that has been the source of complaints for decades.
"I don't know the reason why it's taken so long," said Tom Leigh, the Chester Riverkeeper, who noted that groundwater contamination was first detected at the plant 20 years ago. While the facility's current and previous owners have taken some steps to remedy problems, he said, members of the community are frustrated by the apparent lack of progress since the consent decree was signed last July.
"They certainly deserve better from the state as well as the business owners that run the plant," said Leigh, who monitors the condition of the river for the Chester River Association.
The consent decree had settled a lawsuit filed by the state in 2007 that accused the plant of discharging polluted wastewater and of contaminating soil and groundwater beneath its facility. Under the decree filed in Kent County Circuit Court, the company, previously known as Velsicol Chemical Co., agreed to a timetable for investigating and cleaning up the problems within two years. The company also agreed to pay a $200,000 fine in 18 monthly installments. The deal had been billed by officials as the final resolution of chronic pollution problems at the plant, which has been in operation since the 1950s.
