THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609050010
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 60 lines
Virginia's civil lawsuit against meatpacking giant Smithfield Foods Inc. is a political surprise, though justified on the merits.
The suit, filed Friday in Isle of Wight County Circuit Court, alleges that the pork processor, a Fortune 500 company worth an estimated $3 billion, violated water-quality permits dozens of times in the past two years. The suit seeks to fine the company as much as $1.3 million for repeatedly polluting the Pagan River, which feeds into the James River, which, of course, feeds into the environmentally sensitive Chesapeake Bay.
The suit is unsurprising when one considers that Virginia, since 1977, has taken Smithfield Foods to court twice, threatened to sue four other times and issued eight consent orders. ``These guys have had a pattern of noncompliance,'' said Michael McKenna, director of policy and planning for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. ``It's obviously in order to get civil penalities for these latest violations.''
The suit is surprising on three counts:
1. The Allen administration has shown little enthusiasm for punishing polluters. In dealing with companies, it has favored cooperation over coercion, jobs over environmental protection. Roy A. Hoagland, staff attorney for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Virginia, said, ``We're hoping that this is the beginning of an aggressive environmental enforcement program, as Virginia has been atrociously lax in this arena.''
2. In the waning weeks of last year's legislative races, with Gov. George F. Allen attempting to gain the first Republican legislative majority in modern times, Smithfield Foods CEO Joe Luter donated $125,000 to Allen's political-action committee. Cynics expected that Luter's kindness would be returned. They predicted that Smithfield Foods, in exchange for its contributions, would escape fines. So far, they've been right.
3. After 19 years of haggling with state regulators and in compliance with a 1991 consent order, Smithfield recently took the first step toward fixing its long-standing pollution problem. In July it stopped discharging waste from its Gwaltney plant into the Pagan River. And early in 1997 the Smithfield Packing plans to begin piping its wastes, up to 3 million gallons a day, to a sewage-treatment plant in Suffolk. Smithfield Foods officials seemed surprised that the suit was filed now.
Here the plot thickens.
The suit was filed on behalf of Attorney General James S. Gilmore III, who is virtually certain to be the Republican nominee to succeed Governor Allen. Although elected in his own right, Gilmore is part of the Allen administration that environmentalists pummel. It is in Gilmore's political interest to be viewed as a protector of the environment - not a menace.
The serious business of environmental protection should be free of politics, though of course it isn't. Virginians will watch to see what becomes of the suit against Smithfield Foods.
No one expects Allen to suddenly embrace nature, but many voters are curious about Gilmore's stand on environmental issues.
One thing seems clear: When a high Virginia Department of Environmental Quality official like McKenna, who is savvy enough to know which way the political winds are blowing, suddenly refers to a Fortune 500 company's officials as ``these guys,'' something new is brewing.
Look for the attorney general to bring more suits onMother Nature's behalf. by CNB