Toxic polluters sue back
By CostBenefit on Mar 22, 2006 | In Contaminated Properties, Legal, Fines, Companies,CSR,Business,Finance, Real Estate Construction Housing, Economic Development and Green Jobs, New Jersey, Newspaper/Mag/TV/Media Story, Contamination Cost
Link: http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1143022329194710.xml&coll=3
A pair of companies fighting state orders to clean up toxic waste in Hudson and Essex counties has unveiled a new defense strategy: blame the government. Both Occidental Chemical Corp. and Honeywell International, facing separate state lawsuits over contamination in the Passaic River and Jersey City, have accused state and local agencies of contributing to the pollution. The state sued Honeywell and two other companies last year for failing to clean up 33 chromium sites in Hudson and Essex counties. In May, Jersey City filed a lawsuit against Honeywell seeking more than $10 million in reparations for property tax revenues lost at the contaminated Roosevelt drive-in site on Route 440. On Monday, Honeywell sued Jersey City, the city's Municipal Utilities and Incinerator authorities, and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in both state and federal court, alleging they helped spread toxic chromium waste by, for example, using it as fill when building sewers and roads like the Turnpike. The use of chromium waste as fill was common in Hudson County through the 1970s, as Honeywell's predecessors and other companies gave away millions of tons to construction contractors. Honeywell asked that the public agencies be required to share cleanup costs. By ALEXANDER LANE FOR FULL STORY GO TO: http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1143022329194710.xml&coll=3 The Jersey Journal www.nj.com/news/jjournal« Legal wrangles keep DuPont under fire | Shades of green: Cuts killed some environmental advances at new Lincoln school, but not all » |