NevilleChemical

BACKGROUND

The Good Neighbor Committee and Clean Water Action held a public meeting in May 2005, the third in an ongoing series of meetings started by these community groups to create an ongoing dialogue between local residents, Neville Chemical, PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). The Good Neighbor Committee and CWA are troubled by the ongoing air and water pollution problems at Neville Chemical, and residents are upset about the recent settlement of litigation between DEP and Neville Chemical.

Jack Ferguson, Tom McKnight, and Zygmunt Osiecki, Neville Chemical Company; Helen Humpreys Short, John Matviya, and Sam Harper, DEP; Roger Westman and James Thompson, ACHD, spoke at the meeting. Over 35 local residents and members of the Good Neighbor Committee attended, and WTAE-TV, the Tribune-Review, and several radio stations covered the event. Click here for more coverage of the event.

Many attendees were upset about the settlement of litigation between DEP and Neville in April 2005, which essentially did not penalize the company for its 25 years of water pollution violations. Originally, DEP filed a fine of $17 million against Neville, but during negotiations DEP dropped the fine and settled for a requirement that Neville invest $2 million into their plant for improvements. DEP stated that the settlement was the best option thy had to guarantee that Neville Chemical would have to do at least something to clean up the plant.

Overall, DEP reported that Neville Chemical has been complying with a 2004 Consent Order & Agreement and is meeting all the required milestones for cleanup. Since our meeting in October 2004, Nevile Chemical has paid $10,000 in penalties for the oil sheen on the river that occasionally seeps from the toxic waste under their property. Year-to-date, they paid $21,000 in penalties under the 2004 Consent Order & Agreement.

ACHD is not quite as pleased with Neville's performance, asserting that the company is dragging its feet in implementing their odor-reduction plan. Last October, Neville was going to replace one of its wastewater tanks, but then decided to keep the tank and repair the large leak in it. This delayed Neville's plans to put a roof on their older wastewater tank that will help control malodors. Now Neville will complete this project by the Fall. Neville will also finish installing new pollution control equipment that will use thermal oxidation or incineration to destroy chemical emissions and hopefully reduce odors. Since our last meeting, Neville paid a $3,575 fine to ACHD for an odor violation. ACHD claimed that there was only one complaint about Neville in 2005, which several residents disputed. We plan to follow up on this issue to make sure that ACHD hotline operators are properly recording air pollution complaints.