Though it is nowhere mentioned, HoltraChem Manufacturing Co. is entirely the target of a governor’s bill circulating this week in the Legislature. After the company’s safety foulups, that’s understandable. The bill takes the sensible step of giving the Orrington plant a timetable for coming into compliance with current pollution laws and outlines penalties if it fails to comply.

HoltraChem, which uses the toxin mercury in the production of chlorine and caustic soda, has been grandfathered from meeting 1971 pollution laws, which prohibit mercury discharge above background levels. The bill would reduce the allowable level of water and air releases and then remove the exemption to lead the company into compliance with the law.

HoltraChem discharges 4 pounds to 6 pounds of mercury into the Penobscot River each year. Under the bill, it would reduce that amount to 1 pound by Jan. 2000, one-one hundredth of a pound by 2002 and background by 2004. The company would be required to cut its air discharges approximately in half by 2000, to 100 pounds, and to 50 pounds by 2004. The requirement essentially tells HoltraChem to install the best available control technology for pollution, just as trash incinerators around Maine are doing now. If anything, the bill’s timetables are too generous.

As important as these reductions is a clause that was placed in the bill after HoltraChem’s mercury spill last month. It would establish a process to review whether a company has been generally in compliance with health and safety laws and to prevent it from operating if is found not to be in compliance. The clause offers Maine a powerful method for reviewing the use and handling of toxins statewide.

The governor’s bill was crafted and has support not only because HoltraChem is the largest mercury polluter in Maine, but because of a series of leaks, spills, collisions and releases involving deadly chemicals make it one of the more dangerous spots in the state. No surprise that the Department of Environmental Protection filed a lawsuit last week to force HoltraChem to stop work while it conducts rigorous safety training for its employees, hires an environmental monitor and has an audit conducted for the safety of its operations. The suit is expected to be heard March 18.

The lawsuit is extreme but understandable. It is not clear that HoltraChem can operate safely; the state’s responsibility is to make sure that it does. If the company aggresively pursues the requirements in the suit, instead of protesting as it did late last year when it signed a consent agreement with DEP, its closure time will be minimal and the company will be stronger for it.

Both the bill and the lawsuit are needed protections for the people and environment of Maine. The bill gives plenty of time to allow any company serious about making changes to meet the new requirements. In supporting it, legislators could view it as a test to see whether the company is sincere about protecting the environment.