greenlink%gn@cdp.uucp (09/18/89)
Via GreenLink:
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HOUSTON (UPI) -- A $25 billion lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf
of dozens of Crosby residents blames some 80 oil and chemical
companies for the dumping of toxic waste in two east Harris
County dump sites.
Those sites are the French Limited and Sikes Disposal Pits.
Residents claim exposure to toxic substances has affected their
health and lowered property values. The suit claims chemical
companies using the sites should have known the materials exposed
the residents to health hazards.
"These companies have screwed people around for years and then
they turn around and act like they haven't done anything wrong,"
said Tom Pearson, the residents' attorney. "I'm serious about the
money, I'm going to try and wipe them out."
The lawsuit requests $5 billion in actual damages and $20
billion in punitive damages.
Residents of communities adjacent to the two sites claim they
have suffered unusually high incidences of cancer, heart trouble,
respiratory disease and birth defects.
The Sikes site is on one side of U.S. 90 and the French Ltd.
site is on the other side. Both sites now are in the process of
being cleaned up under the Environmental Protection Agency's
Superfund program.
The Environmental Protection Agency in 1982 added the French
Limited pits to the superfund list of hazardous waste sites,
saying dozens of companies dumped potentially hazardous waste
there between 1967 and 1972.
The abandoned French Ltd. dump includes a 7.3-acre waste lagoon
containing PCBs and other hazardous materials, the EPA found.
The lawsuit said the Sikes Disposal Pit contains about 12
million gallons of contaminated surface water. Located adjacent
to the San Jacinto River, the Sikes pit has flooded several times
and carried potentially deadly materials to surrounding areas,
Pearson said.
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Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726
patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733
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