ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 TAG: 9703260047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Attorney General Jim Gilmore says the plant has "major problems." The meatpacker blames its woes on its former wastewater supervisor.
A combination of excessive pollution discharges and missing records form the core of Virginia's claims in its lawsuit against Smithfield Foods.
According to documents filed Monday in Isle of Wight Circuit Court, Smithfield Foods violated state water permits hundreds of times between 1991 and 1996.
Most of the complaints involve missing records that the company was required by law to keep. But some were for the alleged release of excessive amounts of fecal coliform bacteria, chlorine, nitrogen and other pollutants into the Pagan River, a Chesapeake Bay tributary.
The state also contends that Smithfield Foods employees were not adequately trained or qualified to run the company's wastewater treatment facilities.
``We believe the evidence at trial will show major problems at Smithfield's plant,'' Attorney General Jim Gilmore said in a statement.
Anthony Troy, an attorney for Smithfield Foods, said most of what the state filed Monday was expected.
``We always knew that we had missing documents in view of Mr. Rettig,'' said Troy.
The reference was to Terry Rettig, who ran the company's wastewater operations for several years until 1994. He was sentenced in January to 30 months in prison after admitting destroying and falsifying documents.
Smithfield Foods has blamed Rettig for most of the violations for which the company is being sued. The company also faces a federal lawsuit seeking up to $125million for 5,000 alleged pollution violations dating to 1991.
Gilmore said there is little overlap between the state and federal cases.
``Our suit is considerably broader than the federal action, which appears to focus mainly on Smithfield's phosphorus discharges,'' he said.
The state left phosphorus out of its suit because of a 1991 agreement between Smithfield Foods and the State Water Control Board. In exchange for the company's pledge to eventually send waste to a municipal sewage treatment plant, the state agreed to allow Smithfield Foods to discharge what otherwise would be illegal amounts of phosphorus.
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