THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611020304
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: 37 lines
Smithfield Foods Inc. has received an additional month to decide whether to pay the federal government $3.5 million for polluting the Pagan River or face a lawsuit seeking more money.
Leanne Nurse, a federal Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman in Philadelphia, said Friday that EPA and Justice Department officials agreed to Smithfield's request for a 30-day extension. The meatpacking company originally was given a Nov. 1 deadline.
Neither Nurse nor Aaron Trub, a Smithfield vice president, would elaborate on the reasons for the extension.
``What we're permitted to tell you all is that we met with them and that we are continuing to discuss the situation with them,'' Trub said.
The federal government's threatened suit is unusual because the state already is suing Smithfield for nearly $3 million, citing an unspecified number of state pollution law violations. Federal law prevents the government from suing a suspected polluter if a state already is ``diligently prosecuting'' a case under a comparable state law.
Some environmentalists have claimed the state took action only to block a bigger lawsuit by the federal government. Gov. George Allen and other state officials have denied the allegation.
``It doesn't matter what you do, they're going to complain,'' Allen told reporters this week.
Smithfield Foods produces up to 3 million gallons of wastewater a day at its two meatpacking plants in Smithfield.
KEYWORDS: POLLUTION LAWSUIT by CNB