Court let stand a penalty of at least $2.7 million against Westinghouse Electric Corp., for groundwater pollution at its elevator plant in Adams County.

The case establishes an important Pennsylvania legal precedent which will permit the government to begin the statute of limitations in penalty cases on the date pollution is first discovered -- regardless of when the pollutant was actually released. This is referred to as the "discovery rule."

In cases involving the release of pollutants to the ground or groundwater, it can sometimes be years before a contamination problem below the surface is discovered. This is true in the case of other kinds of pollution releases as well. Pennsylvania originally filed its case against Westinghouse in August 1988 for violations of the State's water pollution laws. Westinghouse had argued that the statute of limitations should begin to run from the date of release. In this recent court decision, the court sided with the State.

While the court sent a portion of the civil penalty back to the State for recalculation, it let stand $2.77 million of the penalty. This suggests that the final penalty for ground water contamination may even be higher.

Westinghouse operated an elevator-manufacturing plant near Gettysburg from 1969 until 1989. The solvents trichloroethylene and 1,1,1,-trichloroethane were used in various operations at the facility until 1984. These solvents are suspected of causing cancer when ingested. According to the government, Westinghouse had released solvents to the ground and groundwater on various occasions over a 14-year period.

In 1997, New Jersey amended its statute of limitations for certain environmental criminal offenses from five years to ten years. Consistent with Pennsylvania's view, the New Jersey statute begins to run from the date the release is discovered, not from the date it occurs.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.