N.M. officials, Helena at odds over resolving fine

Albuquerque, N.M.-The state’s environmental officials and Helena Chemical Co. are at odds again, this time over the way Helena prefers to resolve fines resulting from violations at the company’s fertilizer plant in Mesquite. Last month Helena went public with its offer to donate as much as $150,000 for central air conditioning at an elementary school as a supplemental environmental project, settling the matter with the state. State Environmental Secretary Ron Curry responded that he was disappointed to see that offer in the paper, which he called “disingenuous,” and insisted that “they never spoke to us, we never gave them any approval. This is a case of misleading the public. We told them very clearly this wasn’t going to happen.” Louis Rodrigue, vice president of Helena’s southern business unit New Mexico, declared the offer is genuine and stated, “Helena is very fortunate to have found a great partner in Hatch Valley Public Schools to develop a supplemental environmental project that will directly improve air quality and provide more comfortable conditions for the students.” Environmental department spokeswoman Marissa Stone Bardino told Green Markets that Helena’s offer was rejected because the department specifically required the company to pay a cash penalty that did not involve supplemental environmental projects during settlement negotiations in May and June. However, she added that rejecting this proposal should not stop Helena from going out on its own and making good on its offer to upgrade the school’s classrooms. “(But) we are dismayed that the company continues to mislead the schools, the community and state legislators on this issue,” Bardino asserted. “We will continue to take a hard line with this company until its serious air and groundwater pollution issues are resolved. The local community expects nothing less.” According to the company, Helena and the state discussed a potential project as recently as July 8 and Helena continued to move forward with the effort, which according to NMED documents is “encouraged in lieu of a civil penalty.” Rodrigue noted, “It is unfortunate that Secretary Curry has continued to use the media to misrepresent the facts behind Helena’s settlement offer. As a corporate citizen of the state of New Mexico, Helena has a right to submit a project as part of any settlement offer it makes to NMED. We have exercised that right in the past and did so again because we want the communities we serve to benefit.”