8 June 16 - July 6, 2007
Community
www.SanTanSun.com
Covance from Page 1
Chandler, Gilbert
Chandler Airport near Gilbert and Queen Creek roads,
cooperate on clean water
and the fi nished facility will initially employ 300 to
Dignitaries from both Chandler and Gilbert recently
400 workers. Covance also announced it purchased broke ground on the fi rst phase of a joint $84-million
27 acres of undeveloped land directly east of its
surface water treatment plant, to be located in Gilbert
airpark property and sold a 38-acre parcel in the Price
near Higley and Ocotillo roads.
Corridor, which it obtained in 2005.
By partnering with Gilbert to construct and operate
“Most of the newly acquired land is zoned for
the plant, the City of Chandler will save an estimated
commercial use, and brings the total size of Covance’s
$22 million in capital costs and approximately $1 million
each year in operational costs.
property at the airpark to 77 acres,” states Covance
The facility will be built in two phases with the fi rst
spokesperson Camilla J. Strongin. “Covance has
phase expected to supply Chandler with 12 million
no current development plans for this additional
gallons per day of drinking water by April 2009. The
property.”
second phase of the project will double that projection
Covance’s presence in Chandler has been hotly
by April 2014. The water will be delivered to the plant
protested by many area residents who take exception from the Central Arizona Project canal through 13 miles
to the company’s animal-testing program and cite
of pipeline.
health, safety and environmental concerns.
“Most frustrating to residents is the company’s
CAC recently released the results of their study of
refusal to disclose how it will dispose of the 250,000
Covance-related correspondence sent to the City
animal carcasses per year it’s estimated to test on,”
by local residents. According to CAC, City Council
says Michael Boerman, a Southern Chandler resident
members and Mayor Boyd Dunn received nearly a
and member of Citizens Against Covance (CAC).
thousand emails since the controversy arose.
“I don’t want to live next to the only medical waste
“Only a few dozen of these have been in support
incinerator in Chandler, and I don’t want to live next
of the company building its proposed testing facility
to trucks carting away dead animals to an offsite
at the Chandler Airpark,” says Boerman. “The study
incinerator either,” adds Eleanor Weedon, who lives a
shows 87.1 percent of Chandler residents who weighed
Submitted photo
quarter-mile from Covance’s future facility.
in on the issue are opposed to Covance.
DIG IN: City offi cials from Chandler and Gilbert turn the earth at the
For its part, Covance refers to its 50-year history and
“I just don’t understand it,” adds Boerman. “The
site of the cities’ future joint water treatment plant. Pictured (L-R):
its “signifi cant contributions to the development of
overwhelming majority of Chandler residents are
Gilbert Town Manager George Pettit, Gilbert Councilperson Joan
Krueger, Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman, Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn,
life-saving and life-enhancing new medicines for HIV/
against Covance. Why would any company want to
Chandler Councilperson Martin Sepulveda, Gilbert Councilperson Don
AIDS, breast cancer, heart disease, leukemia, diabetes,
locate in a city where they are so clearly unwelcome?”
Skousen and Chandler City Manager Mark Pentz.
Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, cystic fi brosis, deadly
For more information on Covance’s Chandler
infections and many other disabling diseases.” The
facility, go to www.covancechandler.com. To learn
company operates in more than 20 countries and
more about Citizens Against Covance, visit www.
employs approximately 8,000 worldwide.
stopcovance.com.
With all that, and despite neighborhood meetings
and outreach attempts, Covance hasn’t managed to
Submitted image
win the hearts of its new neighbors, says Boerman.
COMING SOON: An artist’s rendering shows the future Chandler-
Gilbert joint water treatment plant.
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