Indiana Fish Kill Gets Political

ANDERSON, Ind.--Riverfront residents knew something was wrong when carp began leaping 7 feet out of the water and thrashing about on shore. Before long, dead carp and minnows were piling up on the banks.Hundreds of thousands of fish - more than 85 tons - have collected along a 50-mile stretch of the White River since the water was poisoned five weeks ago by what investigators suspect was an industrial polishing agent used at an auto parts plant."It is like someone dropped a nuclear bomb," said Josh McDermott, who lives near the river. "The fish had jumped 6 or 7 feet onto the shore. It was like they were jumping out of the water to try and get away from whatever it is."State and federal officials still are trying to pinpoint the source of what has become one of the worst fish kills ever in Indiana.While the full effects won't be known for months, federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation, environmentalists are condemning the state's response as too slow, and opponents of Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon are using it to try to undermine his re-election bid.Catfish, bass, sunfish and other game species all died between Anderson and Indianapolis along the White River, which supplies 60 percent of the drinking water to 800,000 people in and around Indianapolis.The water was polluted even before the fish kill. Industries line the banks upstream from Indianapolis. Swimming is not permitted, and though boating and fishing are popular, health officials issue warnings each year about the number and species of fish that are safe to eat.State environmental officials believe that dangerous amounts of sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate, or DMDK, entered Anderson's wastewater treatment plant about Dec. 11 and killed microbes that are needed to break down ammonia from raw sewage.Then, environmental officials said, the high levels of ammonia and carbon disulfide, a byproduct of DMDK, were released into the river. Both chemicals are dangerous to aquatic life.Ten industrial companies in Anderson filter their waste through the treatment plant. Only one - Guide Corp., which makes lights and other auto parts - uses DMDK, according to the Department of Environmental Management.Exactly how the DMDK got into the water is not clear, but Guide is supposed to pretreat its waste before releasing it to the city treatment plant, environmental officials said.Guide has denied responsibility for the contamination.Even if Guide is not responsible, it could be fined up to $50,000 for twice refusing to allow state environmental inspectors inside its plant. On Jan. 12, state officials obtained a search warrant and went inside to question employees and examine records.Guide spokesman Raquel Bahamonde said the company simply wants to "ensure it can reasonably and responsibly comply with the department's continued requests for information without disrupting its business."Last week, Guide hired a new chairman and chief executive. It said the change was unrelated to the investigation.Guide employees are not the only ones under fire. The Anderson wastewater treatment plant was criticized for allowing a week to pass before reporting elevated levels of ammonia in its discharge.And environmentalists have held news conferences in front of piles of dead fish, complaining that the state responded too slowly and failed to keep the public informed.The state said it acted on the information it had at the time. Environmental Management Commissioner Lori Kaplan said state officials contacted a wastewater treatment plant in Anderson and the Madison County Health Department immediately after authorities were notified that fish were dying in the river.In an election year, the controversy is also surfacing in Indiana's governor's race. The Republicans are accusing O'Bannon's administration of bungling the state's response to the fish kill.In his 1996 campaign, O'Bannon used TV commercials to attack his GOP opponent, former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, over a sewage release in the city that killed 500,000 fish in the White River.This time around, John Price, an Indianapolis lawyer seeking the GOP nomination for governor, stood by dead fish on the riverbank and filmed his own commercial, saying he wants to protect Indiana's rivers. He has also said he would have handled the fish kill better than O'Bannon.O'Bannon accused the GOP of playing politics. During his State of the State address last week, he proposed doubling the fines for criminal environmental violations."Make no mistake about it, any polluter that contaminates our rivers or befouls our air will be held accountable under the law," O'Bannon said.In the meantime, the Indianapolis Water Co. has increased chlorine treatment and is drawing more of its water from other sources as a precaution.The Department of Natural Resources said it is too soon to say how long it will take the river to recover."You cannot take away in a week what took so many years for nature to place there and expect that things will recover miraculously," spokesman Stephen Sellers said.SOURCE: The Associated Press