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Mercury Rising
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Business New Haven
4/19/1999
By: BNH
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Judge orders Orange firms to see
the light on contamination
A Superior Court judge has issued a wide-ranging injunction requiring Light Sources Inc., LCD Lighting Inc. and LS Neon Inc. to clean up three sites polluted by illegal discharge of mercury.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and state Environmental Protection Commissioner Arthur J. LaRocque Jr. jointly announced the injunction April 6.
The order by Judge Norris L. O'Neill requires the companies to cease all discharges of wastewater polluted by mercury, and to quickly investigate and them properly mitigate or remediate the soil, groundwater and surface water pollution.
The O'Neill injunction came after the state filed a lawsuit to halt water pollution and hazardous waste violations at the related companies' sites in Orange and Milford, and to require cleanup of the sites. The firms manufacture fluorescent light bulbs, which contain mercury.
“These companies have done serious harm to the environment,” said Blumenthal. “The court order was urgently needed to stop continued contamination and assure that the sites are cleaned up.”
“Light Sources, through its lack of compliance with Connecticut's environmental laws, has failed to ensure the environment, the public and its employees are safe,” Rocque added. “We are pleased that the court recognized the seriousness of the company's past action and is holding it responsible to immediately address the mercury contamination.”
To comply with the injunction the companies must locate and clean up all areas of mercury contamination of sediment and soil in excess of one part per million.
The state's lawsuit was filed last July after an investigation by the Department of Environmental Protection found that the three companies violated environmental laws at their facilities at 11 and 70 Cascade Boulevard in Milford, and 37 Robinson Boulevard in Orange.
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