For the past few years, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been feverishly trying - in vain - to convince the city of Chandler, Arizona, to turn away Covance, the clinical research organization, which wants to build a facility in the town. PETA, as you know, objects to animal testing in pharmaceutical development and is trying to convince Chandler officials that the Covance building will spew unwanted medicines into the water supply.

Lo and behold, the Associated Press just ran a five-month investigation that found eye-opening traces of a large number of meds in water supplies around the country, prompting vows from congressional, state and local officials to take action to curb the problem (take a look). So PETA seized on this report to redouble its efforts and fired off an e-mail to Chandler’s mayor, Boyd Dunn, to halt construction. The facility is scheduled to open next year.

“While PETA’s primary objection to Covance is the abusive, illegal treatment of animals that we documented in the company’s laboratories, it is now clear that there are also serious health and economic issues at stake for Chandler’s residents, ” write Alka Chandna, a PETA senior researcher. “We urge you to reconsider, as the damage unleashed by a Convance facility pumping massive quantities of experimental drugs every single day into Chandler’s wastewater system will have a far more profound and lasting effect on your city than reversing your earlier decision.”

But it doesn’t seem that city hall is budging. A mayoral spokesman, Dave Bigos, tells us that “we’re certainly concerned. We’ve known for some time about trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water. But we’re waiting for the EPA to tell us at what rates it may be harmful…But I think they understand the plant will be built. But we have ongoing conversations with Covance and we’ll certainly look at everything we can do.”