By Scott Harper
The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia regulators want to more than double a fine against Omega Protein Inc., one of the state's biggest fish processors, for environmental violations at its factory in Reedville, on the remote Northern Neck peninsula.
The move seeking a $27,900 civil penalty comes months after the State Water Control Board rejected a lighter fine for ammonia and toxicity violations at Omega Protein's factory on the Chesapeake Bay.
The board wanted "to send a message" to Texas-based Omega, which has been in trouble six times in the past eight years for environmental problems at the Reedville plant, said Frank Lupini, an enforcement officer overseeing the case for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The regulatory board will consider the beefier fine, up from a previously proposed $12,600, at its meeting later this month in Richmond.
Toby Gascon, a spokesman for Omega Protein, said Tuesday that the company already has improved a wastewater treatment system where the latest problems occurred.
Power outages in 2005, combined with a lack of spare parts, caused excessive amounts of untreated wastewater high in ammonia to escape into Cockrell's Creek, a small creek just off the Chesapeake Bay, according to Gascon and state records.
The company also plans to invest about $8 million to upgrade its entire treatment process over the next two years so "this kind of thing never happens again," Gascon said.
The factory each year processes millions of pounds of menhaden, a small silver bait caught in the Chesapeake Bay. Workers convert the oily fish into pet food, health supplements, fish oil and meal.
As part of the process, wastewater containing ammonia, nutrients and cyanide also are produced. They are supposed to be treated and neutralized before being released into Cockrell's Creek, all in compliance with a state environmental permit.
Too often, though, that has not happened, leading to a $16,500 fine in 2006, a $5,500 fine in 2005 and other infractions dating to 1998, records show.
Virginia is one of the last states on the East Coast to allow industrialized menhaden harvests, performed with spotter airplanes and boats.
Omega Protein has been a staple in tiny Reedville for more than 150 years and continues to be a vital economic engine in this rural part of the state.
Environmentalists have long urged stricter regulation of the menhaden industry, saying its enormous catches have slowly eroded a fish species that filters algae in the Bay and is a key foodstuff for sport fish such as striped bass.
Pushed by environmentalists and coastal regulators, Omega Protein and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced a first-ever cap last year on menhaden harvests in the Bay. The annual quota, of 109,020 metric tons, took effect this fishing season.
Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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