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3. Local Economy
On the valuation date, the local economy served by Peoples
was growing slowly. In Boonville, the largest employer was the
School Corporation. In Warrick County, the two largest
employers, Alcoa and Peabody Coal, were both significantly
downsizing. Alcoa, which previously employed 3,500 to 4,000
local workers, was reducing its local workforce by one-third,
while Peabody Coal was reducing its local workforce by two-
thirds, to fewer than 200 employees. Another coal mining
concern, Amax, had ceased local mining operations entirely. The
area served by Peoples also contained a Whirlpool manufacturing
plant and some farming activity. Despite the negative
developments in the Warrick County economy, many residents of
Warrick County worked in Evansville, which was experiencing
modest growth.
On April 16, 1987, the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Indiana entered a consent judgment in an action filed
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the
State of Indiana and the City of Boonville. EPA had initiated
the action because Boonville's sewage treatment facilities were
overloaded, resulting in the discharge of insufficiently treated
wastewater, in violation of the Clean Water Act11 and other
Federal laws. The consent judgement required Boonville to
11 Water Quality Act of 1987, Pub. L. 100-4, sec. 1(a), 101
Stat. 7, currently codified as 33 U.S.C. sec. 1251 (1994).
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