11/29/2006

State may settle suit with Williamsburg Receiving and Storage

Plant might have to pay $150,000 fine, submit plan

By Bill O'Brien

bobrien@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — The state is ready to settle its lawsuit with Williamsburg Receiving and Storage over the cherry processing plant's numerous environmental violations.

A 38-page consent order will be presented Dec. 4 in 13th Circuit Court, the result of months of negotiation between the state attorney general's office and the processing plant north of M-72 in Grand Traverse County's Whitewater Township.

The proposal includes a $150,000 fine paid to the state, with $25,000 payable in the first six months, followed by $25,000 every three months with interest added for late payments.

The company also has to reimburse the state $20,000 to cover the state's enforcement and monitoring costs and pay for future response costs incurred by the state. Wastewater must be kept in sealed tanks disposed of off-site until a groundwater discharge permit is issued by the Department of Environmental Quality.

WRS also must submit a closure plan for a wastewater lagoon that partially collapsed last November. The lagoon has been pumped dry over the past several months. Also required is a plan for containing "nuisance” odors and emissions.

Violations will result in daily fines of up to $1,500.

State officials said they'll be back in court if the company doesn't meet defined financial obligations. WRS still owes Grand Traverse County's Economic Development Corp. more than $167,000 for two loans made more than six years ago and has been delinquent with several payments.

"From our standpoint, we're entering a judgment in court and it's enforceable with the court,” said Rick Rusz, an enforcement specialist in the DEQ's water bureau.

The DEQ filed suit against the company in February. A group of neighbors and the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council joined the suit, and their attorney, Christopher Bzdok, said those parties will urge the court to reject what they contend is an agreement long on administrative process but short on results.

Their portion of the lawsuit is headed to a February trial.

"I don't want to beat up on the DEQ, but we're not going to accept an outcome that is just a process,” he said. "There needs to be a result.”

WRS' attorney defended the deal.

"I think it is, on balance, a fair agreement between the state and company that protects the public's interest and allows the company to stay in business,” WRS attorney Joseph Quandt said.

See related stories:

• Judge OKs adding company to lawsuit - Oct. 17, 2006
• Plant lawsuit nearing deal? - Oct. 7, 2006
• WRS drops suit against neighbors - Aug. 18, 2006
• Plant neighbors get warning - Aug. 16, 2006
• Processing plant odor lawsuit to get hearing - Aug. 13, 2006
• EPA studies emissions from WRS facility - July 4, 2006
• WRS may appeal ruling allowing neighbors to intervene - May 20, 2006
• Locals, groups join in WRS lawsuit - May 11, 2006
• Plant opposes neighbors' efforts - May 2, 2006
• Neighbors want to join plant lawsuit - April 18, 2006
• State approves cleanup plan at fruit processing plant - March 16, 2006
• Group issues report on WRS - Feburary 9, 2006
• State lawsuit targets WRS - Feburary 7, 2006
• Processing plant's environmental issues linger - January 29, 2006
• Sewer plant to accept 5 million gallons of waste - January 19, 2006
• County, WRS are in talks - January 13, 2006
• No decision on intervention - December 22, 2005
• Proposed legal action against WRS on agenda - December 20, 2005
• Industrial waste spews from storage lagoon - November 14, 2005
• Complaints of odors lead to DEQ inspection - July 23, 2005

See related editorials:

• Neighbors have right to demand fresh air - July 16, 2006
• It's time to put an end to a cherry plant mess - February 7, 2006