Residents of a Pasadena neighborhood are speaking out against what was supposed to have been a routine permit renewal for a local company to continue disposing of manganese on its site along Curtis Creek.
Erachem Comilog Inc., which refines raw manganese into products used in fertilizers, electronics, water filtration and pet food, has been disposing its treated wastewater into local waterways for more than 30 years.
Every five years, the company renews its permit application with the Maryland Department of the Environment, usually attracting little attention from neighbors or activists. But this time, some environmental activists in the strip of beaches near Fort Smallwood Road known as the Marley Neck Peninsula have said enough is enough.
"It's ludicrous," said Lester A. Ettlinger, a resident and environmental consultant who requested a public hearing on the permit, which was held last week. "They've been doing it for 30 years, and they're going to continue to do it."
Erachem officials and environmental regulators say the company has improved its waste disposal practices greatly over the years and that renewing its permit won't harm the environment.
The permit is just the latest rallying point for the community. In the past three years, area residents have fought the Maryland Port Administration over plans to build a dredge island, battled Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. over fly ash and anhydrous ammonia, and fended off wealthy developers who wanted to build a racetrack.
Residents were supportive this year when the Coast Guard Yard, which is adjacent to Erachem in the highly industrial area hugging Fort Smallwood Road, was placed on the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund list of the nation's most hazardous sites. Now some worry that Erachem and other companies' disposal of waste into the creek will erode the Coast Guard's cleanup progress.
Recent Coast Guard Yard studies indicate traces of pollutants in the sediment around Arundel Cove, including pesticides, degreasers, metals and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
The studies also have shown high levels of the metallic element manganese in Arundel Cove, where Erachem funneled its wastewater in the early 1990s. It now uses Curtis Creek.
When inhaled in high concentrations, manganese can cause central nervous system disorders. The EPA doesn't have a standard for the acceptable levels of manganese in discharge water, leaving states to determine what's appropriate for permits using guidelines such as the Clean Water Act. Maryland hasn't set a standard.
Edward F. Stone, chief of MDE's Industrial Discharge Permits Division, said that while he's concerned about the levels and wants to further study the creek, the manganese poses no threat to humans. But, he said, it could harm aquatic life -- a concern in the popular fishing community.
Residents also are concerned about other chemical discharge from the company. Statewide, Erachem is the largest discharger of EPA-listed chemicals into surface water, according to the agency's toxics release index. In 2000, Erachem discharged 1.8 million pounds of nitrate compounds into Curtis Creek -- far more than any of the other 18 companies and government agencies on the EPA database's list.
But Stone said Erachem has become more ecologically conscious over the years. He noted a water-recycling program the company developed in the early 1990s, which reduced the amount of its wastewater from 1 million gallons a day in 1990 to 60,000 gallons a day now.
"They have an entirely new treatment system. It's like night and day," Stone said.
Coast Guard Yard environmental engineer Howard Galliford agreed, calling his Erachem neighbors "very cooperative" and adding that the permit's approval won't harm the cleanup.
Because of that progress, officials at MDE and Erachem said they were surprised when the normally routine permit renewal process became an issue.
Terry Lawrence, Erachem's environmental engineer, said the community seemed more concerned about what had been done in the past, not about the cleaner procedures the company follows now.
"Yes, the manganese that was in the effluent, some of it tended to settle into the sediment," Lawrence said. "But the question is, what's there now and what are the environmental risks, if any?"
The Coast Guard is continuing to study the area around the creek, and Lawrence said his company would like to review the results to decide what, if anything, it should do next in terms of cleanup.
MDE is accepting public comments until Dec. 16 and likely will make its decision early next year. Stone said MDE would not deny the permit application, and would most likely not amend it.
"At this point," he said, "it's a strong permit."