As the new home of RIPIRG's environmental work, Environment Rhode Island can be contacted regarding this news release.
BRADFORD—Three environmental
groups and their local members announced on June 20 that the groups intend to sue
Bradford Dyeing Association, Inc. (BDA), which operates a large textile finishing
plant in southwestern Rhode Island, for emitting air pollutants that create
foul odors around the homes of nearby residents in the town of Bradford and
for years of illegal pollutant discharges into the Pawcatuck River.
In a formal notice letter
sent today to BDA President Michael R. Grills, the Rhode Island Public Interest
Research Group (RIPIRG), Toxics Action Center, and the Rhode Island Sierra Club
allege that BDA is in violation of its Clean Air Act operating permit and state
air pollution regulations by creating objectionable odors beyond its property
line and by generating emissions with excessive “opacity,” a measure of fine
particulates. The groups also allege that BDA is liable for over 2,500 days
of various violations of its Clean Water Act discharge permit over the past
five years.
“There are days when the
smell is so bad my eyes burn and I can taste it on the back of my tongue,” said
Gina D’Ambra, whose home is just yards from the BDA factory. “I worry about
what the chemicals in the air may be doing to me and my family, and what my
children are being exposed to when they go down by the river.”
The
groups’ notice letter contains a list of approximately 150 recent incidents
in which local residents reported foul odors and other air pollution problems
at the BDA plant to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
(DEM). These complaints resulted in just a handful of follow-up investigations.
An internal DEM memo, referred to in the notice letter, confirms that having
only two air inspectors for the entire state has limited the agency’s ability
to properly respond to citizen complaints about BDA. In May a fire broke out
at BDA, resulting in hazardous material teams being called to the plant and
the evacuation of area residents as a precautionary measure.
“Last winter BDA earned
Rhode Island’s first ever Dirty Dozen Award for their persistent pollution and
the adverse impact on nearby residents,” said Toxics Action Center field organizer
Johanna Neumann. “DEM has failed to adequately address citizen complaints and
permit violations, forcing citizens to step up now and enforce the law themselves.”
Both the Clean Air Act
and Clean Water Act contain “citizen suit” provisions that allow private citizens
affected by violations of these laws to bring an enforcement suit in federal
court after providing 60 days prior notice to the violator and to state and
federal environmental agencies. Citizens can seek a court order requiring compliance
with the law and a monetary penalty of up to $32,500 per day for each violation
of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
“Our environmental laws
are meaningless if polluters can violate them without having to suffer the consequences
of breaking the law,” said RIPIRG Advocate Matt Auten. “This lawsuit will be
about clean air, clean water, and protecting public health. When persistent
environmental violations occur because state agencies lack either the funding
or political will to enforce the law, our federal environmental laws allow affected
citizens to take matters into their own hands and become private attorneys general,
and that is a role RIPIRG is willing to play,” Auten added.
The groups are concerned
that BDA has pressed DEM to weaken its wastewater discharge permit limits for
copper and toxicity. “The general approach of the Clean Water Act is to ratchet
down pollutant discharge limits over time,” said Jennifer Tuttle, program coordinator
for the Rhode Island chapter of the Sierra Club. “The last thing the citizens
who live near or use the Pawcatuck River want is for DEM to allow more contaminants
in the water.”
Prominent among BDA’s many
alleged water pollution violations, which are based on records the company itself
filed with DEM, the groups’ notice letter alleges that BDA has violated permit
limits for discharges of copper, a toxic metal, roughly three out of every four
months for the past five years, and has consistently failed to meet permits
limits governing the overall toxicity of its wastewater. The letter also alleges
that BDA’s wastewater frequently contains illegal amounts of fecal coliform
bacteria, sometimes at levels more than 50,000 times that allowed by its permit
limit.
The Pawcatuck River downstream
of the BDA factory is on the state’s list of impaired water bodies because of
biodiversity problems.
Toxics Action Center
helps citizens in Rhode Island and across New England clean up and prevent pollution.
RIPIRG is a non-profit,
non-partisan, public interest advocacy organization that advocates for clean
air, clean water, and consumer protection on behalf of more than 3,000 citizen
members from across the state of Rhode Island.
The Sierra Club is the
nation’s oldest and largest conservation organization. The Rhode Island chapter
has approximately 3,000 members who are dedicated to exploring, enjoying, and
protecting the Ocean State’s natural resources and wild places.
The groups’ notice letter
was sent by Josh Kratka, a Senior Attorney at the Boston-based, non-profit National
Environmental Law Center. The groups are also represented by attorney David
Nicholas of Newton, Massachusetts, and attorney Kevin McAllister of Providence.
Johanna
Neumann, Toxics Action Center (617) 747-4374
Jennifer Tuttle, Sierra Club (401) 521-4734
Josh Kratka, Natl. Envtl. Law Center (617) 747-4333
