{"id":15484,"date":"2010-04-08T15:58:42","date_gmt":"2010-04-08T21:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=15484"},"modified":"2010-04-08T21:42:39","modified_gmt":"2010-04-09T03:42:39","slug":"chemical-company-ordered-to-provide-groundwater-monitoring-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/04\/chemical-company-ordered-to-provide-groundwater-monitoring-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemical company ordered to provide groundwater monitoring plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A day after a jury ordered a Mesquite activist to pay Helena Chemical Company<\/a> $75,000 for harming its reputation<\/a> with claims that the company\u2019s pollution had led to health problems in the community, the New Mexico Environment Department is announcing that it has issued a new notice of violation<\/a> to Helena for \u201cfailing to correct deficiencies in its groundwater cleanup plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January 2005 the department required Helena to clean up groundwater contamination at its Mesquite facility because contaminants there exceed state groundwater quality standards for nitrate, sulfate, fluoride, chloride and total dissolved solids, according to a news release from the environment department.<\/p>\n

The problem? Helena, according to the release, has failed to submit a required plan to monitor all of those except nitrates to ensure the contamination doesn\u2019t continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are disappointed in Helena\u2019s refusal to monitor groundwater contaminants underneath its facility that exceed water quality standards,\u201d Environment Department\u00a0Water and\u00a0Waste Management Division Director\u00a0Marcy Leavitt said in the release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company\u2026 must immediately address this issue to protect groundwater underneath and around the Helena facility and to meet its responsibilities to the surrounding community,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

Helena has 30 days to submit the plan. Though it wasn\u2019t announced until today, the notice of violation was issued March 31, the release states.<\/p>\n

Helena could face additional fines if it doesn\u2019t comply. The company has already been fined almost half a million dollars in recent years for environmental violations, most relating to air quality.<\/p>\n

Update, 9:45 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Helena provided me with a second March 31 letter<\/a> that the environment department failed to mention in today\u2019s news release. In that second letter, the environment department informed Helena that was denying the company\u2019s request to operate without an air quality permit. Helena had argued that one was no longer necessary.<\/p>\n

In addition, Helena provided this response to both the denial of the request to operate without an air quality permit and the notice of violation related to the groundwater cleanup issue, from Louis Rodrigue, vice president of Helena\u2019s southern business unit:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn September 2008,\u00a0Helena submitted\u00a0a Notice of Intent\u00a0application,\u00a0asking NMED for approval to operate without an air quality permit. NMED did not respond\u00a0until March 31, 2010. Helena will appeal NMED\u2019s decision. Helena\u2019s air quality permit only regulates dust, and air modeling data indicates Helena does not exceed dust emission thresholds. NMED monitored the air quality across the street from Helena\u2019s Mesquite warehouse for four years and three months – from 2005 to 2009. NMED\u2019s air monitoring data revealed the air quality in Mesquite is good according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn March 31, 2010, NMED also issued a Notice of Deficiency to Helena regarding its abatement plan. Shallow groundwater monitoring revealed elevated levels of fluoride, chloride and total dissolved solids (TDS). NMED agrees that none of these substances are components of fertilizer or any other products\u00a0that Helena carries. As a result, in December 2009, Helena\u00a0proposed to\u00a0NMED to cease monitoring for these substances.\u00a0NMED did not respond.\u00a0Instead, on\u00a0March 31, 2010, NMED\u00a0issued a Notice of Deficiency. Notably, Helena never ceased monitoring\u00a0for these substances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing of NMED\u2019s decisions and press releases\u00a0coincided with Helena\u00a0\u2019s defamation trial against Arturo Uribe. NMED had Helena\u2019s Notice of Intent Application since September 2008 and Helena\u2019s request to cease monitoring for fluoride, chloride and\u00a0TDSsince December 2009.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATED: The New Mexico Environment Department has issued a new notice of violation to Helena Chemical Company for \u201cfailing to correct deficiencies in its groundwater cleanup plan\u201d and also rejected the company\u2019s request to operate without an air quality permit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[115,147,107],"class_list":["post-15484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-environment","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}