March 21, 1983

The following article is based on reporting by Ralph Blumenthal and Raymond Bonner and was written by Mr. Bonner. The country's largest handler of chemical wastes for private industry and the Defense Department has violated state and Federal laws in disposing of dangerous chemical wastes at half a dozen or more of its sites around the country, according to government documents, court records and former employees. The company, Waste Management Inc., a billion-dollar public corporation with about 20 hazardous waste treatment sites, has within the last two years been cited by state and Federal authorities at at least seven of its toxic waste sites. In addition, three former company chemists and a former office manager say that they alerted their superiors to what they considered illegal dumpings at four separate sites and that they were ignored or in some cases told to cover up what was happening. Two of these former employees have lawsuits pending against the company.

The battle between the GAF Corporation and insurgent shareholders seeking control of the company intensified over the weekend, and the insurgents got some support from an investment analysis group. The insurgents, led by Samuel Heyman, a Connecticut real estate developer, proposed a plan yesterday that they said would pay all of GAF's long-term debt. The plan involves selling the company's chemicals business and WNCN, a radio station in New York, while keeping GAF's roofing materials business. Mr. Heyman said the moves would generate pre-tax cash proceeds of $16 to $18.25 a share.

International An effort to redefine currency values failed again at a meeting of Common Market finance ministers in Brussels. The ministers of the eight countries that maintain fixed exchange rates between their currencies also did not take other steps to turn back a wave of speculation that has engulfed their financial markets. Their inaction means that the central banks of the eight countries will not buy or sell currencies on the financial markets today to defend the fixed exchange rates they are required to maintain under the terms of the European Monetary System. Negotiations, however, will continue. (Page A1, Column 6.) A member of France's Cabinet quit, the first of President Francois Mitterrand's Socialist Government to depart. The Minister of Foreign Trade, Michel Jobert, resigned, saying that he had not been given enough authority to carry out his assignment to close France's foreign trade deficit. His resignation was announced during hectic Government consultations on economic policy and the flagging negotiations in Brussels on the Common Market's monetary system. (A1:5.)

Eight Common Market finance ministers failed today to agree on new values for their currencies or on other steps to fend off the wave of speculation that has engulfed their financial markets in recent days. In light of the failure, the central banks of the eight countries making up the European Monetary System said they would not buy or sell currencies on the financial markets Monday to defend the fixed exchange rates they are required to maintain under terms of the system's rules. Such a hands-off approach by the central banks would leave the markets free to carry out a de facto realignment of the eight currencies. Without support measures, the French franc could be expected to decline further while the West German mark would strengthen.

France's Minister of Foreign Trade, Michel Jobert, resigned today, saying he had not been given enough authority to carry out his assignment to close France's foreign trade deficit. Mr. Jobert is the first key minister to quit President Francois Mitterrand's Government. The development came as Mr. Mitterrand and top Government officials held a hectic round of meetings on economic policy and the flagging negotiations in Brussels on the Common Market's monetary system. On Monday, European heads of government are to gather in Brussels for a regular two-day summit meeting that is expected to be dominated by discussions of the currency crisis.