Troubled Little Island

Hilton Head Island is an unspoiled little Eden off the coast of South Carolina. Once renowned for its cotton crop, it has now been redeveloped as a green enclave of wealth and leisure. Most of the private homes have been built by retired corporate executives. They know about pollution--many of them have run polluting industries.

Now the dirty world has suddenly caught up with the citizens of Hilton Head. Last summer, the American subsidiary of Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik, West Germany's giant chemical company, quietly bought up 1,800 acres on the mainland near Beaufort, less than four miles away, and announced that it was going to build a $200 million petrochemical complex. It will be South Carolina's largest single industrial development. It also promises to be a big source of pollution.

Fighting Mad. State Senator James Waddell hailed the plant as a "noble experiment," and local businessmen foresee an economic boom. But the men on Hilton Head expect a pall of fumes and a flood of fouled water. Fighting mad, they have forged an alliance with fishermen and resort owners, who are equally worried--pollution could wipe out their livelihood. They argue that tourism alone will provide 40% of the county's income this year and that it is senseless to jeopardize an already thriving industry.

Though B.A.S.F. executives have promised to obey state anti-pollution laws, the islanders are skeptical. As retired Admiral Rufus Taylor explains: "We're not convinced that a chemical plant can control its effluents, or that any state agency or state laws can make it do so." One example that supports Taylor's claim is a small Tenneco chemical plant operating near Beaufort. A marine biologist recently sampled a downstream creek and found that the water was extremely acidic.

No Swimming. Well aware that corporations abhor bad publicity, the antiplant forces have hired a full-time publicist to trumpet the consequences of pollution. Recently they called in ecologists from the University of Georgia to chart the plant's potential effects on marine life. Three weeks ago, Ecologist Barry Commoner helped them to organize a symposium on conservation that was attended by representatives from the National Audubon Society. The cause also got a boost from vacationing college students who staged a protest in downtown Beaufort, chanting "Progress without pollution."

The pressure is beginning to pay off, and legal action is likely. Last week a bill was introduced in the South Carolina general assembly that is aimed at halting construction of the B.A.S.F. plant for at least six months. Governor Robert McNair has also ordered the state water resources commission to assess the effects of chemical wastes on the water and nearby marshes.

So far, the company has refused to say much about its plans, which include using 40,000 barrels of naphtha a day brought in by tankers--a prime source of dangerous spills. But the message is beginning to reach B.A.S.F.'s Manhattan headquarters. Says President Hans Lautenschlager: "I live in an unspoiled part of Connecticut and I would feel very bad if a plastic plant polluted that area--I have to feel the same way about Beaufort." Even so, B.A.S.F.'s record in Europe is hardly comforting. Its Ludwigshafen plant dumps 90 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the Rhine every day; its Antwerp plant has been blamed for helping to make the surrounding water unfit for fishing and swimming.

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