EPA Fines Luzerne County Battery Plant for Violating the Clean Water Act

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.

November 22, 2011 | 4:26 PM

Koehler-Bright Star Inc., a battery manufacturer in Hanover Township settled a case with the Environmental Protection Agency by agreeing to pay $60,000 dollars. Federal environmental regulators say Koehler-Bright Star dumped wastewater containing high levels of lead and copper to the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Sewer Authority facility in Hanover for five years, from 2005 to 2010. The amounts of lead and copper in the wastewater exceeded limits permitted by the EPA.
Short-term exposure to copper can lead to gastrointestinal illnesses, but longterm exposure could cause liver and kidney damage. Lead can cause developmental delays in children. Koehler-Bright Star is best known for the manufacturing of industrial flashlights and fire alarms used by industry and first responders.