unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/06/89)
PFIZER PLANT LISTED AMONG "TERRIBLE TEN"
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October 2, 1989
By MARK A. DUPUIS
HARTFORD, Conn. (UPI) -- A coalition of citizen groups Thursday
listed a Groton pharmaceutical plant among the worst polluters of
coastal waters in New England.
Pfizer Inc. was the third target of the New England Coastal
Campaign's "terrible ten" listing of the companies and government
agencies whose actions the group claims damage the region's
coastal waters.
The citizen groups said Pfizer has a chronic problem with
chemical spills and is the state's largest discharger of
chemicals, sending 7 million pounds into the Thames River in 1987
alone.
"Pfizer is a prime example of a company whose actions have
threatened our coastal waters," James Leahy, executive director
of the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group, said at a news
conference.
He said ConnPIRG representatives were scheduled to meet
Wednesday with officials from Pfizer, which manufactures
pharmaceuticals and "fine" chemicals used in food production.
Pfizer spokesman Brian McGlynn said the company had initiated
the meeting and had wished ConnPIRG would have waited until after
the session to hold the news conference.
"We are well within our permit levels, there's no violation of
the law here," McGlynn said, adding that discharges from the
Groton plant are highly biodegradable.
Chemicals released from the plant are diluted by a factor of
100-to-1 at the edge of the Pfizer property, McGlynn said, adding
the water would meet standards for drinking if it were not salt
water.
McGlynn said Pfizer had reduced discharges from 7 million pounds
in 1987 to slightly more than 5 million pounds last year, a
reduction of about 30 percent.
Leahy said ConnPIRG also planned to meet with the state attorney
general's office to urge action to enforce a Department of
Environmental pollution abatement order issued against Pfizer
earlier this year.
McGlynn, however, said the company had developed the required
engineering plan in response to the DEP order and the state
agency had accepted that plan.
Pfizer was the third target of the New England Coastal
Campaign's "terrible ten" program. Named earlier were the
Scituate, Mass., wastewater treatment plant and town of Seabrook,
N.H.
The group will continue adding names to the list in coming
months, said Kevin Brubaker, spokesman for the campaign and water
quality coordinator of the Save the Bay group in Rhode Island.
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