The documentary details the history of the TCE contamination from the Behr Dayton Thermal Plant in the the McCook Field neighborhood in Dayton, OH.

In today’s news, residents are asking EPA for new [...] No related posts.]]> Residents, organized as a group called the Behr VOC Area Leaders (BVOCAL), have released the following documentary on YouTube called “This our Neighborhood”:

The documentary details the history of the TCE contamination from the Behr Dayton Thermal Plant in the the McCook Field neighborhood in Dayton, OH.

In today’s news, residents are asking EPA for new widespread testing of indoor air in the neighborhood to rule out risks of exposure by vapor intrusion. So far, EPA has not agreed to the testing. In what appears to be yet another dubious, knee-jerk, party-line denial from federal agencies, Stacey Coburn, the U.S. EPA’s project manager for the site, has stated that “she doesn’t believe anyone’s health is at risk from the plume” despite reports of nearby groundwater contamination levels exceeding 900ppb of TCE and previous confirmation that dangerous levels of TCE have already poisoned indoor air in certain homes.

Meantime, a lawsuit has been filed on behalf of the contaminated community who apparently disagree with EPA’s empty reassurances.

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(UPDATE: Though we’ve not yet had a chance to review it, here is a PDF copy of the official complaint – not yet including exhibits.)

(UPDATE II: Complaint now also available for download with exhibits)

While we’re working to obtain a copy of the official complaint, here’s what we know so far:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — LAWSUIT TO BE FILED REGARDING CAMP LEJEUNE WATER CONTAMINATION

The law offices of Anderson Pangia & Associates, PLLC (offices in Washington, D.C. and Winston Salem, North Carolina) and Smorto, Persio, Webb & McGill (of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania), will file on Monday [...] No related posts.]]> This just in. We’re getting more details, will have update next week:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — LAWSUIT TO BE FILED REGARDING CAMP LEJEUNE WATER CONTAMINATION

The law offices of Anderson Pangia & Associates, PLLC (offices in Washington, D.C. and Winston Salem, North Carolina) and Smorto, Persio, Webb & McGill (of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania), will file on Monday July 6 a lawsuit arising from the toxic drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune. The lawsuit alleges that the United States Government, through agents within the Department of Defense, knowingly exposed hundreds of thousands of Marines, sailors, their family members, and civilian employees to highly contaminated drinking water on the base at Camp Lejeune, while at the same time actively disseminating disinformation to those exposed in an effort to minimize the significance of the exposure.

The complaint, to be filed in federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, attaches numerous documentary exhibits in support of its allegations that the government knowingly, recklessly and/or negligently violated its own standards, rules and regulations by permitting the exposure to continue after the government was specifically warned the drinking water was “highly contaminated with . . . solvents!” and advised that “these appear[] to be at high levels and hence more important from a health standpoint. . . ” The lawsuit will allege that the Department of the Navy had regulations in place as early as 1963 which prohibited the contamination and which would have averted it had those regulations been obeyed; subsequently in 1974 the Commanding General of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina put in place additional regulations governing the proper disposal of the very same chemicals which were discovered later to be contaminating the drinking water; had these regulations been obeyed, the contamination likewise would have been prevented. This same 1974 base order declared these “organic solvents” to be hazardous, the lawsuit states.

Many scientists have called the drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune the worst in the nation’s history. The contaminated drinking water was consumed by an estimated one million people.

The lawsuit will allege that exposure to the toxins caused numerous health problems including cancers, reproductive disorders and birth defects, among other maladies.

Joseph Anderson, Michael Pangia and Kevin Persio, the lawyers responsible for filing the suit, will answer questions of the media at a press conference to be held in front of the North Carolina State Capitol building, 1 East Edenton St. Raleigh, NC 27601 at 1:30 p.m. on Monday July 6, 2009. Call (336) 414-7958 for more information.

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The Walt Disney Co. has been sued by several groups of plaintiffs for dumping wastewater and contaminating Polliwog Park and the surrounding area with Chromium 6, TCE, and PCE.

As their attorneys shuffle between four similar lawsuits that allege the Walt Disney Co. has for decades contaminated groundwater with cancer-causing chromium 6 and other [...] No related posts.]]> View Larger Map

The Walt Disney Co. has been sued by several groups of plaintiffs for dumping wastewater and contaminating Polliwog Park and the surrounding area with Chromium 6, TCE, and PCE.

As their attorneys shuffle between four similar lawsuits that allege the Walt Disney Co. has for decades contaminated groundwater with cancer-causing chromium 6 and other toxic chemicals, stories of ill health from the plaintiffs are beginning to emerge.

In the latest lawsuit, filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Sacramento-based firm Kershaw Cutter & Ratinoff LLP on behalf of 16 people with strong ties to the Rancho District, the plaintiffs claim Disney dumped wastewater contaminated with hexavalent chromium from its on-site cooling systems down the centerline of Parkside Avenue, toward Parish Place and across Riverside Drive into the so-called Polliwog, an 11-acre parcel near the studio’s Imagineering facilities.

“The water, without warning, would rush down like a flood,” said resident Bob Bell, who in 1945 paid $25,000 for his home at the corner of Parkside Avenue. “Water hopped the curb and flooded the streets for hours on end.”

The contamination was recently brought to light by Environmental World Watch, a party to one of the lawsuits. EWW claims that Disney has dumped air cooling water and the chemicals into curbside drains every day for the past 21 years.

Plaintiffs are seeking compensation for property damage caused by the contamination. No word yet whether any personal injury claims have been filed.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council and two residents of Dickson, Tennessee have filed a lawsuit against the Dickson County and city governments. They allege that trichloroethylene, TCE, an industrial chemical disposed at the Dickson Landfill that has been linked to neurological and developmental harm and cancer, [...] No related posts.]]> We learn this by way of the Environment News Service:

The Natural Resources Defense Council and two residents of Dickson, Tennessee have filed a lawsuit against the Dickson County and city governments. They allege that trichloroethylene, TCE, an industrial chemical disposed at the Dickson Landfill that has been linked to neurological and developmental harm and cancer, poses an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment.

Dickson, a town of some 12,000 people is located about 35 miles west of Nashville. [map]

The Dickson County Landfill, 74 acres off Eno Road, sits within 500 to 2,000 feet of approximately 40 homes, most owned by blacks.
This community group is fighting to rid their area of contamination from the Dickson County landfill.

One African American family in particular, the Holts, a family of black landowners, has been especially harmed by the chemical. Many Holt family members are struggling with cancer and other illnesses, and two of its members are plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

The environmental group and Sheila Holt-Orsted and Beatrice Holt allege that TCE pollution has seeped beneath the landfill to underlying groundwater and has spread through a large area of Dickson County.

TCE contamination has rendered water from wells and springs as far as two to three miles from the landfill unfit for human consumption, the plaintiffs claim.

Polluted spring water is flowing directly into the West Piney River, a fishing stream and a major source of drinking water for the Water Authority of Dickson County. Several square miles of Dickson County have been recognized as an ‘imminent threat’ area by the county.

TCE contamination above drinking water limits, and orders of magnitude above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency screening levels for drinking water, has been found in at least one well even beyond that threat area.

In some areas, this TCE contamination may be growing worse, the plaintiffs claim, but the city and county have not done anything to remove the contamination.

“Some two decades after TCE was first detected in nearby drinking water sources, those responsible have not even fully characterized the present extent and likely future spread of the contamination. Defendants have, in effect, surrendered the ground and surface water of Dickson County to the slow spread of an invisible and toxic chemical,” the complainants said in a statement.

The complaint asks the Court to require the defendants to investigate the present extent and future spread of TCE contamination from the landfill in the soil, surface water, and groundwater of Dickson County; to remediate and abate TCE contamination.

Holt-Orsted has undergone six surgeries and chemotherapy for breast cancer. The Holts originally filed lawsuits in 2003 and 2004, naming the city and county of Dickson and the state of Tennessee, and claiming the family was a victim of negligence that resulted in their cancers and other health problems.

Attorneys for the county and state deny the claims in the earlier lawsuits.

An article [entitled Deadly Tenessee Two-Step Pushes Leaky Landfill Away from Officials' Homes] by Robert Bullard, director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, gives background and detailed water test information.

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Costly taxpayer-financed plans to address toxic-chemical contamination in residential pockets of northeast Rochester and central Brighton will be detailed at separate public meetings this [...] No related posts.]]> Though the meetings announced in this article have since passed (the article was originally dated March 10), this Rochester Democrat & Chronicle article highlights 3 separate site clean-ups that are under way:

Costly taxpayer-financed plans to address toxic-chemical contamination in residential pockets of northeast Rochester and central Brighton will be detailed at separate public meetings this week.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday evening to discuss a $1 million proposal to remove tainted soil and take other steps to address contamination at a now-closed business at Fernwood and Portland avenues in northeast Rochester.

The DEC first learned in 2000 that Preferred Electric Motors had spilled solvents and other potentially harmful materials in the course of its work refurbishing electric motors. Trichloroethene (TCE), tetrachloroethene (PCE) and other solvents are contaminating groundwater near the former business, prompting the state to install ventilation systems in two homes to guard against the build-up of toxic vapors.

(read more)

The proposed cleanup would remove about 450 cubic yards of contaminated soil and include steps to speed the degradation of solvents in the groundwater. The floor of the building, which is contaminated with cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), would be cleaned and sealed.

The building was purchased three years ago by a Greece carpet company that stores product there, according to the DEC.

On Thursday, another group of state officials will convene a meeting in Brighton to discuss a proposed $3.7 million plan to address a complicated PCE contamination problem underneath a section of Brighton just southeast of the Twelve Corners.

The solvent contamination there first came to light during investigation of a 2003 petroleum spill at a service station at the corner of Brooklawn Drive and Monroe Avenue. Officials first pointed the finger at Carriage Cleaners, at that same intersection, as the source of the PCE, a common dry-cleaning solvent.

Then last year, DEC said they had found high levels of PCE in soil and groundwater near a former Speedy’s Cleaners just across Monroe Avenue from the other two businesses. It also was identified as a likely source of the solvents. Vapor ventilation systems had been installed in at least 11 structures to address petroleum vapors. PCE vapors prompted installation of systems in three residential and one commercial building.

As part of its long-term cleanup plan, the environmental agency now proposes to install systems that would extract both air and groundwater from below the surface for treatment to remove any solvents. About 720 cubic yards of tainted soil also would be excavated.

Both central Brighton and northeast Rochester are served by public water, meaning no one should be drinking the contaminated groundwater. But in recent years, officials have recognized that solvents can evaporate underground and rise through the soil — and can, in some cases, the vapors can accumulate inside homes or businesses above.

Both TCE and PCE may cause cancer or other serious health problems in people exposed to high levels. The affects of low-level exposure are less clear — but the DEC and the state Department of Health have given special attention in recent years to possible intrusion of solvent vapors.

Both cleanup projects would be paid for with money from New York’s Superfund, which finances work at hazardous waste disposal sites when the responsible parties do not step in. The DEC’s written cleanup proposals, provided by the agency Friday, indicated that companies judged responsible for the Rochester and Brighton contamination have declined to pay for the work. The DEC may pursue legal action against them to recover its costs, the proposals said.

Residents of the neighborhood affected by the petroleum and PCE spills in Brighton filed a civil suit in 2004 against the companies that owned the service station and the two dry cleaners, as well as the town of Brighton.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Alan Knauf, could not be reached for comment late Friday. But a January letter from Knauf in the case file in U.S. District Court said the plaintiffs had reached a settlement agreement with all the defendants except for Speedy’s.

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Anderson Pangia & Associates, together with liason counsel Kevin Persio, continues to aggressively prosecute cases on behalf of those injured [...] No related posts.]]> Several readers have informed us of difficulties they have had in reaching the Camp Lejeune plaintiffs’ lawyers that we mentioned in previous posts. We have recently learned why. According to the Anderson Pangia website:

Anderson Pangia & Associates, together with liason counsel Kevin Persio, continues to aggressively prosecute cases on behalf of those injured as a result of the water contamination at Camp Lejeune. However, due to limited resources and the need to focus on cases best positioned to test the legal and scientific issues in the litigation, please note that NEITHER ANDERSON, PANGIA NOR MR. PERSIO ARE ACCEPTING NEW CAMP LEJEUNE CASES AT THIS TIME. Please check this website periodically as this status may change. Thank you for your patience.

At this time, we are not aware of any other firms who have agreed to represent Camp Lejeune plaintiffs. We are, however, keeping our ear to the ground. We will provide an update here if we learn of any other firms getting involved. If you would like to be alerted directly when we learn more, drop us a quick note with your email address via the contact link above or send an email to tceblog [at] gmail.com.

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A second wave of legal claims seeking damages from IBM Corp. related to pollution in Endicott has been filed in state Supreme Court in Binghamton, bringing the total to more than 240 plaintiffs, with more on the way.

The 82-page document representing 151 property owners and residents was filed electronically [...] No related posts.]]> According to the Press & Sun-Bulletin (NY):

A second wave of legal claims seeking damages from IBM Corp. related to pollution in Endicott has been filed in state Supreme Court in Binghamton, bringing the total to more than 240 plaintiffs, with more on the way.

The 82-page document representing 151 property owners and residents was filed electronically late Friday afternoon by Philip Johnson, an attorney with the Vestal law firm of Levene Gouldin & Thompson. Johnson is part of a team of seven law firms representing more than 1,000 clients in the massive toxic tort case against IBM seeking more than $100 million in damages for a range of hardships related to the pollution. They include cancer and other illnesses, property devaluation, loss of business, medical expenses and related monitoring, and hassles of dealing with the pollution.

The first wave of claims, representing 94 plaintiffs, was filed early last month.

Read the full story here.

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Given the inability or unwillingness of the nation’s regulatory apparatus to address workplace hazards, litigation by [...] workers is a logical alternative. In fact, it may be the only means of compelling employers to protect their workers.

Not only is this true of workers, but it is [...] No related posts.]]> According to Brooklyn Law School’s Journal of Law and Policy:

Given the inability or unwillingness of the nation’s regulatory apparatus to address workplace hazards, litigation by [...] workers is a logical alternative. In fact, it may be the only means of compelling employers to protect their workers.

Not only is this true of workers, but it is true of communities as well.

Given the inability or unwillingness of the nation’s regulatory apparatus to address residential contamination and exposure hazards, litigation by TCE-impacted residents is a logical alternative. In fact, it may be the only means of keeping people safe from future harm.

In that spirit, and in support of TCE-impacted workers and residents nationwide, we have added a new feature to our right-hand sidebar: the names of (and links to) law firms that represent plaintiffs in TCE cases. Please note: The cities indicate where their practice is based, however many of these firms handle cases nationwide.

If you have questions about finding a TCE attorney, please fee free to contact us.

If you are an attorney who handles TCE cases (including toxic torts) and would like your firm listed, please let us know.

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