Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 29, 1990 TAG: 9005290025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SELMA LENGTH: Medium
But when Terry drove up to the Kim-Stan garbage dump in Alleghany County last week, she found a swarm of local activists who were more outraged than grateful. Those who live near the privately owned dump are angry their warnings went unheeded in Richmond before this year.
Aggie Vint of Selma, a leader of Citizens For a Cleaner Environment, told Terry at the landfill last week, "It's beyond comprehension that they [Kim-Stan] broke the law for so long and didn't get fined or nothing."
Terry was also Attorney General under former Gov. Gerald Baliles, when Kim-Stan's neighbors began their long battle to close the dump's gates.
David Bailey, director of the Environmental Defense Fund in Virginia said the attorney general did not get the credit she was due "for what really were major actions in the history of Virginia.
"In both cases, Kim-Stan and Avtex, the man on the street would tell you, `Too little too late,' " Bailey said. "What they see is violators who continue to violate and it seems to take forever to do something about it."
Terry said a law going into effect July 1 will quicken the process of closing businesses like Avtex and Kim-Stan for violating pollution standards.
Terry is the first attorney general to put a viable company out of business for violating environmental regulations, and she's done it twice now, Bailey said.
"The state is taking a more active role in the egregious cases," said David Carr of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville. "We would encourage the attorney general to continue enforcing laws more aggressively than they have in the past."
Carr's associate, Deborah Wassenaar, said Terry has put a greater emphasis on the environment in the past year in part because of the growing consciousness people have about the quality of water and air.
Terry said she agreed that citizen awareness is playing a role in what her deputy in charge of natural resources, Claire Guthrie, called "a gradual evolution" toward environmental activism.
"It's clear there is a growing concern among Virginians about the environment," Terry said.
While laws passed this year will make it easier for the state to crack down on polluters, Bailey said the attorney general's office is understaffed and the case backlog may grow.
For example, the groundwater contamination case against Alliance Fertilizer Co., of Richmond County was referred to Terry's office in March 1988 and "has gone nowhere."
"What we know is happening is the environmental section of the attorney general's office is overworked," he said.
Terry said she has increased the resources allocated to the environmental section "almost 100 percent" despite budget constraints. The office also is in the process of hiring two more attorneys who will be assigned to environmental cases.
Guthrie also said the tougher laws are expected to increase the number of companies that agree to stop violating pollution standards and pay fines rather than try to delay the process with legal appeals than end up in the attorney general's office.
"We are the last step in the process," Guthrie said. "We only get the cases when there are no other means to resolve them."
by CNB