Elkton, Va. – Accidentally dumping nearly 2000-gallons of chemicals into the South Fork of the Shenandoah River has run Merck afoul of the State Water Control Board.
Documents from the Department of Environmental Quality show that nearly 13-hundred gallons of ethylene glycol spilled into the river from the Elkton plant between May and June of last year and then another 500-gallons of propylene glycol found its way into the waterway in June as well.
An agreement between the state and Merck has the drugmaker paying a 17-thousand dollar fine.
Merck has been fined by DEQ in the past, including a half million dollar penalty in 2005 for violating Hazardous Air Pollutant Emission regulations.
