Paradise and Aventis agree to settlement

PARADISE VALLEY — The years-long dispute between Paradise Township and Aventis Pasteur over water quality in Swiftwater Creek appears to be settled.

The Paradise Township Board of Supervisors held a special public meeting Thursday to formally approve a settlement agreement that promises to end years of litigation between the township and the giant vaccine-maker.

Debate, at times contentious, has raged for years in Paradise Township over the question of how much, if any, responsibility Aventis bears for pollution that Paradise supervisors maintain has been detected in township waters downstream from Aventis' facility in Swiftwater, Pocono Township.

An almost palpable sense of relief and satisfaction filled the Paradise Township municipal building Thursday, as supervisors voted unanimously to approve the settlement.

"Aventis has addressed our concerns and shown themselves to be the good neighbors we knew they could be," said Paradise Township Supervisor Chairperson Theresa Merli.

The agreement brings to a close two actions Paradise Township initiated against Aventis last year.

Paradise had appealed Aventis' National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit, issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection, to the state Environmental Hearing Board.

Paradise Township and Lake Swiftwater Club Inc., or LSC, also filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Scranton, seeking sanctions against Aventis over alleged violations of the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law, specifically citing unsafe levels of mercury found in fish taken from Swiftwater Creek and Lake Swiftwater.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Paradise Township agrees to stay its appeal of Aventis' NPDES permit, and Paradise and LSC both agree to stay their suit for a period of up to 180 days to allow Aventis time to submit an amended NPDES permit application to DEP.

In return, Aventis agrees to reduce its requested daily wastewater discharge limit to 350,000 gallons, a decrease of 100,000 gallons per day from the level requested in the permit application that Paradise appealed.

Aventis also agrees to revise its wastewater discharge procedures to reduce levels of phosphorous and total dissolved solids, or TDS; to use an alternate water supply that is lower in TDS than the current supply; and to allow "continuous or real-time monitoring for mercury" in its wastewater.

Specifics of the mercury monitoring procedures are not defined in the agreement, but all three Paradise supervisors expressed confidence that the monitoring process will not be a problem.

"We will sit down with representatives of Aventis and work out the testing process," said Supervisor John H. Bowman, Jr.

Positive thinking was the theme expressed Thursday among all parties involved in the seemingly-resolved dispute.

"Hopefully, we can be a happy, close-knit neighborhood again," stated Supervisor Charles DePue, after the meeting.

DePue's sentiments were echoed by Aventis Pasteur US President Damian Braga.

"This settlement is a major accomplishment, for all three parties," noted Braga in a prepared statement.

"I'm glad all parties have worked out their differences," noted Pocono Township Supervisor Chairman Pat Ross. "I'm glad to have Aventis here in Pocono Township."

Pocono Township was not a party to either action.

The settlement agreement will not be finalized until the LSC board of directors approves it at their next meeting on Saturday. That approval seems to be a mere formality, however, as Peter Salmon, LSC president, and other LSC board members attended Thursday's meeting and spoke in support of the agreement.

Salmon read aloud a statement of support on behalf of the LSC board.

"Our board members have pledged to ratify the agreement at our meeting this Saturday. We appreciate the cooperative spirit and the concern for the environment shown by everyone involved. ... By this principled agreement, Aventis Pasteur and Paradise have affirmed that, indeed, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," the statement read in part.

The final phase of the months-long negotiating process to reach the settlement began last Friday, when Aventis faxed a proposed settlement agreement to Paradise supervisors.

The supervisors, along with LSC board members, held an executive session on Monday to discuss the proposal, and invited representatives of Aventis to attend another executive session on Tuesday.

Tuesday's session, which Merli described as "one of the most productive meetings I've ever attended," lasted seven hours, and resulted in the agreement that Paradise supervisors approved on Thursday.

Aventis officials have already signed the agreement, Merli added.

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