Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030124
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The Kepone contamination of the James River and the Chesapeake Bay was a watershed event for environmental law, an attorney involved in the litigation said at a 20-year anniversary symposium Thursday.
The $5.25 million fine levied against Allied Chemical Corp. to settle environmental damage claims stemming from Kepone was a record criminal penalty against a U.S. corporation at the time. Kepone, a highly toxic chemical used in pesticides to kill rats and red ants and other insects, was produced at a plant in Hopewell until the contamination was discovered in 1975.
Manning Gasch Jr., a Richmond attorney who helped defend the company, said the case reflected the collision course between ``the wonders of modern chemicals'' and the potential for pollution problems.
``There was a great enthusiasm for this type of development,'' recalled Gasch, one of several key players in the Kepone litigation who appeared at the State of the Chesapeake Bay Symposium at the University of Richmond law school. ``At the same time, [there were] the dangers of these chemicals.''
Health officials closed the Kepone plant in July 1975 after 16 months of operation. Seventy-seven former plant employees and some of their relatives were diagnosed with pesticide poisoning.
Soon after the plant was shut down, state officials discovered that large amounts of the powdery chemical had been secretly and illegally dumped into the James River.
U.S. District Judge Robert Merhige originally had imposed a $13.2 million fine on Allied for violation of federal pollution laws, saying he was sending a warning to other companies. He reduced the fine to $5.25 million after Allied agreed to establish an environmental trust fund with a donation of $8 million.
``Allied had been a pretty good corporate citizen in Virginia,'' Merhige said. ``They were not bad people, but there were a couple of people there who took shortcuts.''
William Cummings, a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Allied, recalled evidence showing the plant's appalling lack of protective measures for dealing with Kepone.
``We did have a shock effect from it,'' Cummings said. He said he always fears that ``you have to wait for another Kepone for [additional] environmental regulation to go on.''
Earlier in the day, Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Peter Kostmayer said environmental regulations may need to be streamlined, but should not be abandoned.
He criticized Republican members of Congress who support the ``Contract With America'' for taking a ``bumper sticker'' approach to complex environmental problems.
Kostmayer said the GOP, led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, is trying to destroy years of progress in environmental protection and repeal important laws with little discussion.
``All of this is being done very quickly,'' said Kostmayer, a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania. ``Twenty-five years of law is being overturned in three months.''
by CNB