THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090384
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: 21 lines
The Pagan River, at the center of a state pollution lawsuit against Smithfield Foods, failed to make Virginia's official list of polluted rivers.
The omission has made environmental groups suspicious about the list.
The Pagan met all state water quality standards for the two years ending March 31, 1995, according to a state draft report.
But Aug. 30, the state filed a lawsuit against Smithfield Foods, charging that the company was illegally dumping slaughterhouse waste into the Pagan River.
State records indicate Smithfield Foods has violated its pollution permit more than 50 times in the last two years, said Kay Slaughter of the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charlottesville.
KEYWORDS: POLLUTION LAWSUIT SMITHFIELD FOODS by CNB