Honeywell, PPG Environmental Suit by New Jersey Residents to Go Forward
Honeywell International Inc. and PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) failed to win dismissal of an environmental lawsuit by Jersey City, New Jersey residents as a federal judge rejected claims the suit had been filed too late.
U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark, New Jersey, ruled yesterday that it wasn’t clear when the six-year period for bringing a lawsuit began, according to court papers.
Residents of Jersey City sued Honeywell and PPG in May, claiming the companies dumped more than 1 million tons of cancer-causing hexavalent chromium and should pay for medical tests. The suit also seeks compensation for the owners of properties around the city where the companies dumped hexavalent chromium.
“This court cannot say that a reasonable person would have been aware that they were entitled to relief when the information available to the public denounced hexavalent chromimum as toxic while at the same time denying its carcinogenic effects when introduced into the environment,” Wigenton said in the ruling.
A Honeywell predecessor company owned a plant that generated 969,500 tons of chromium ore processing residue from 1895 to 1954, and a predecessor of PPG’s produced 300,000 tons of the byproduct from 1924 to 1963, according to the complaint. The residents also seek punitive damages, claiming the companies failed to remediate properties where the waste was deposited.
Site Cleanup
Honeywell is working with the state’s Environmental Protection Department to clean up chromium sites in Jersey City and finished remediating two locations last year, Victoria Streitfeld, a spokeswoman for the Morris Township, New Jersey- based company, said in an e-mail.
“We are committed to continuing to work with -- and listen to -- the Jersey City community while we safely remediate those sites for which we are responsible,” Streitfeld said.
Jeremy Neuhart, a spokesman for Pittsburgh-based PPG, didn’t immediately return a voice-mail message seeking comment.
The case is Smith v. Honeywell International Inc. (HON) and PPG Industries Inc., 2:10-cv-03345, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net.
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