—The Daily Collegian Friday, March 9, 1979
Pollution hearing delayed
Spring Creek
By TOM DEMEO
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Prosecution of the Reutgers-Nease
Chemical Co. of State College, for
allegedly contaminating Spring Creek
with the insecticides Kepone and Mirex,
has been delayed by a ruling of the
Environmental Hearing Board.
The board granted both the state
Department of Environmental
Resources the prosecutor and
Reutgers-Nease extensions of their
deadlines to submit pre-hearing
memoranda. Reutgers-Nease received
an extension to March 31; DER's is to
April 30. The development is the latest in
a senes of deadline extensions.
"Action as far as getting a court order
to Wee Nease to clean up the con
tamination is pretty far down the road,"
I )Elt Attorney Jack Krill said.
"Litigation is a slow and time
consuming process," he said. "We have
to organize all of the evidence to be
presented before the hearing."
The memoranda will state the case of
each side and the witnesses and
evidence each intends to submit, Krill
The Kepone and Mirex were produced
by lieutgers-Nease in 1959 and 1963.
Waste material from the manufacturing
was stored in earthen lagoons on the
company's property east of the Benner
Pike. DER contends the chemicals
leaped into nearby Thornton Spring and
eventually into Spring Creek.
Theodore Clista, Susquehanna River
basin engineer for DER, said cleanup of
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the chemicals could involve incineration
of the contaminated soil and rock.
An article in the Harrisburg Patriot-
News said it would be "technically and
financially impractical" for Reutgers-
Nease to clean up the contamination.
But Krill said it was the opinion of
DER's technical staff that the pollution
could be cleaned up.
"We don't want to underestimate the
difficulty involved, but we are optimistic
that the problem (of contamination) can
be solved," he said.
In a separate development, the
Pennsylvania Fish Commission will
continue stocking a portion of Spring
Creek. The stocking will be conducted in
preparation for the opening of trout
season April 14.
Paul F. Swanson, supervisor of the
commission's Lock Haven office, said
trout stocking would be continued up
stream from the point where Route 26
(Benner Pike) crosses the stream near
the village of Lethont.
Downstream of Route 26 the corn
mission has posted signs warning that
the stream is contaminated and that fish
taken from it should not be eaten.
A recent sample of fish taken from the
contaminated part of Spring Creek
contained Mirex far in excess of the safe
level set by the FDA, according to the
Harrisburg ' Patriot-News. However,
Kepone was "non-detectable," a fish
commission source said.
Swanson said that it was the com
mission's position that the stream was
safe upstream from Route 26.
This sign was posted near Spring Creek after the Reutgers-Nease Chemical Co.
of State College was charged with allegedly contaminating the creek with the
insecticides Kepone and Mirex. Prosecution against the company was delayed
because the state EnvirOnmental Hearing Board granted the state Depart
ment of Environmental Resources and Reutgers-Nease extensions on their
deadlines to submit pre-hearing memoranda.
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Photo by Joe Tort
Photo by Joe Too