EPA Fines Merck $1.5 Million Dollars for PA Air and Water Violations

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

September 28, 2011 | 4:49 PM

The Environmental Protection Agency has fined the pharmaceutical company for violating both the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. Merck has plants in Montgomery and Northumberland counties. The violations stem from inspections that took place in 2006. According to an EPA press release, Merck did not keep adequate records or submit the necessary air emissions reports. A complaint filed in federal district court also says violated the Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants in excess of federal limits, and failed to notify local authorities.