Three days before Christmas, a barrier broke and toxic sludge spilled across 300 acres in Roane County, Tennessee. Now much of this land is under six feet of sludge. This Tennessee coal plant created, for the United States, the largest environmental disaster.
2.6 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled out of the retention pond, burying homes and roads. The sludge has flowed into the Emory River, a tributary of the Tennessee River, which provides drinking water to millions of people downstream in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky.
Fed up with years of inaction by city and state, residents seek justice. Lead is one of the contaminates leaking from the landfill, which children generally absorb a higher percentage than adults do. This is particularly alarming considering there are four schools close by. One of the side effects is reduced cognitive abilities.
Staten Island residents are going to court to force the cleanup of an abandoned toxic waste dump in the Great Kills section of the borough.
The public interest law firm Earthjustice filed a lawsuit today in federal district court in Manhattan on behalf of the Northern Great Kills Civic Association. The association represents residents living near the 272-acre Brookfield landfill.
Between 1974 and 1980, tens of thousands of gallons of toxic industrial waste were dumped illegally at the landfill, intended only for municipal solid waste. It was one of five city landfills involved in a 1982 federal investigation into illegal dumping which sent a city Department of Sanitation official and a hauling operator to prison.
“Those convicted of dumping this toxic waste have long ago served their time. But 30 years later, their poisonous legacy remains,” said Earthjustice attorney Keri Powell. “We’re filing this lawsuit to make sure this mess is cleaned up and the residents of Great Kills can reclaim their community from contamination.”
Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro, who has long called for the landfill’s cleanup, expressed support for the litigation.