Environmental group plans to sue chemical firm

SEARSPORT – A environmental legal group has announced its intention to file a lawsuit against General Alum & Chemical Corp. for violations of its federal wastewater discharge permit.

The Conservation Law Foundation claimed Wednesday that GAC has been in violation of its federal permit for years. The company manufactures sulfuric acid and other products at its Searsport plant.

Foundation attorney Roger Fleming accused GAC of allowing a “continuous flow of highly acidic process wastewater and contaminated storm water” to flow unchecked into Stockton Harbor.

Fleming said that after a careful examination of the situation, the foundation’s Maine Advocacy Center in Rockland decided to file a “citizen suit” against the firm under the federal Clean Water Act. The notice of intent gives the company 60 days to correct the measure. If the problems are not addressed within that time frame, the suit will be filed in U.S. District Court, according to Fleming.

“This is a company that fails to take its environmental responsibilities seriously,” Fleming said Wednesday. “While CLF undertakes litigation only as a last resort, it appears the company has had every opportunity to take the steps necessary to prevent environmental harm to the harbor, but has chosen not to.”

Besides the alleged problems with discharges of storm water and wastewater, the foundation also cited the 1998 removal by the company of a large quantity of oil sludge that had accumulated in the harbor and an 800-gallon spill of sulfuric acid in April as causes for concern.

The foundation also charged GAC with having “ignored” federal requirements that would have helped it “prevent and respond” to potential oil and hazardous waste leaks and spills before they happened.

GAC owner James Poure, when contacted Wednesday at corporate headquarters in Ohio, said he was unaware of the foundation or its intent to bring its citizen lawsuit. “It would have been nice if they would have come to us first,” Poure said.

Poure said that while he could not comment on the notice until it was reviewed by GAC’s legal department, he emphasized that his company holds current federal and state discharge permits and has worked with both agencies on environmental issues since it purchased the Searsport facility seven years ago.

“We have and will continue to work with the DEP in Maine and other agencies on the environment,” Poure said. “It has always been our position to be good stewards of the environment and be a good neighbor.”

Poure said many of the company’s products are used to treat waste and water and the firm was committed to environmental causes. He said company plants in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin had received awards for protecting the environment.

The company owner noted that a chemical facility had been in operation at the GAC site in Searsport since the early 1900s and insisted that his firm had made great strides in correcting problems left behind by earlier owners.

“We’re very much cognizant of what needs to be done and have spent millions correcting issues since we purchased the plant in 1994,” Poure said. “We have a steady track record, year to year, of making environmental improvements.”

Fleming said the law foundation began monitoring GAC’s activities as part of its Coastal Defense Project and at the urging of its members and environmental groups such as Penobscot Bay Watch and Coastal Waters Project. He said a review of GAC records on file with state and federal agencies indicated the company showed a continuous disregard of the requirement of its discharge permits. He said state and federal agencies repeatedly had overlooked those alleged violations.