This article is from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette October 3, 2018
By Brian Lee
Citing a lack of jurisdiction, a federal judge recently dismissed a lawsuit alleging Southbridge landfill operator Casella Waste Systems contaminated drinking water and a nearby stream and wetlands.
The lawsuit was filed in June 2017 by two nonprofit environmental organizations – Toxics Action Center and Environmental Massachusetts - and 99 residents who live near the Southbridge landfill.
The civil complaint said Casella posed an imminent and substantial danger to human health and the environment. It said the waste management company discharged pollutants to waters without a federal permit for a pollutant discharge elimination system.
In granting Casella’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman cited a litany of previous enforcement actions by the state Department of Environmental Protection against Casella, which does business as the 51-acre Southbridge Recycling & Disposal Park on Barefoot Road.
The prior actions include an agreement in principle between the DEP and Casella to each pay up to $5 million for the construction of a water line in Charlton, in the neighborhood of contaminated private wells.
Citing Casella’s self-reporting to regulatory agencies, the lawsuit said 88 private wells had been contaminated with one or more pollutants, 45 of them in Charlton and 43 in Sturbridge. The pollutants included lead, 1,4-dioxane, a suspected carcinogen, trichloroethylene, another carcinogen, other chlorinated volatile organic compounds, and arsenic.
The environmental groups issued a statement Wednesday.
“We think the judge got this 100 percent wrong,” said Claire Miller of Toxics Action Center. “We are currently exploring our options for challenging what we believe is the unjust dismissal of a case that is critical to protecting the health of local residents and the integrity of our local environment.” “Casella’s own reports to the Massachusetts Department of Environment Protection show that the landfill has for many years been discharging high levels of these pollutants into groundwater,” said Ben Hellerstein, director of Environment Massachusetts. “The idea that previous state enforcement actions have fully addressed the many health and environmental threats created by this landfill, as the judge’s opinion suggests, is simply wrong.”
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