IBM to settle toxic spill suit

Company and plaintiffs announce a settlement over TCE releases from the former plant

The settlement ends a six-year saga.

IBM Corp. will settle a lawsuit brought by 1,000 plaintiffs who alleged that toxic spills from the company's former Endicott manufacturing plant caused illnesses and deaths, damaged property values and hurt businesses.

Both sides announced the settlement without revealing details of the agreement.

"IBM and the plaintiffs' counsel have reached this agreement in an effort to resolve these cases without further burdensome and expensive litigation," said the joint statement from the litigants.

The settlement brings to a close a more-than six-year saga in which IBM and those who claim they were harmed by the toxic releases waged a fierce legal battle on monetary rewards.

Affected residents, in a multi-million-dollar liability lawsuit against IBM, claimed the company should pay for the damage caused to residents around what once was the company's main domestic manufacturing facility.

From 1935 to the mid-1980s, IBM used TCE (trichloroethylene) to clean metal parts in degreasers at its industrial campus in the Village of Endicott. In 1979, the company discovered some of the TCE had pooled in groundwater beneath the facility and appeared to be migrating.

Soil vapor intrusion

Contamination from soil vapor intrusion was detected by the late 1990s, and by 2002, IBM began testing the air at the request of state health and environmental agencies. Basement ventilation systems were eventually installed in more than 400 homes.

Settlement negotiations between the parties began last July, when state Supreme Court Justice Ferrous D. Lebous requested that representatives of both sides start meeting about an out-of-court settlement. Negotiations were apparently successful, culminating with Tuesday night's release that the parties agreed to a settlement that satisfied both sides.

Lawyers of those who brought the suit against IBM said they will conduct meetings with clients over the coming weeks to present terms of the settlement.

IBM representatives said the company will continue the environmental cleanup that has been ongoing since the widening toxic plume was discovered.

Pumps spread throughout Endicott pull pollution from the ground through structures called recovery wells.

Over time, these wells have grown in number from four to more than 22, and to date, they have recovered more than 815,000 pounds of trichloroethylene and other toxic chemicals, with an unknown amount remaining beneath the village.

Company officials have never publicly explained IBM's role in the disaster, and their legal position was that the company always handled chemicals responsibly and in accordance with standards of the day.

They have not denied their former operations were a primary contributor to the pollution. They have not admitted it, either, nor have they offered a detailed explanation of the source of the problem.

Cleaning up industrial solvents

Representatives of the company said it was cleaning up the solvents from multiple industries that have operated in the region's industrial corridor for generations. Endicott was also home to the vast shoe manufacturing empire of Endicott Johnson Corp., once the region's largest employer.

However, the toxic-liability suit named only IBM as the source of the chemicals that tainted parts of Endicott's commercial district and nearby residences.

IBM sold the 140-acre campus to Huron Real Estate Associates in 2002. Current tenants include i3 Electronics (formerly Endicott Interconnect), BAE Systems and Binghamton University, among others.

Lawyers for IBM have long contended it was following the responsible path, picking up the sizable costs for cleaning the spill and providing venting systems for properties designated at-risk for vapor intrusion.

Both sides scored initial victories as the case wound its way through the courts. Lower courts ruled against IBM's motion to have the case dismissed, and ruled in favor of a plaintiff's motion to have charges of negligence — the underpinnings of the case — tried before a jury.

But lower court rulings also eliminated or limited some aspects of the litigation, including the charge that the pollution constitutes a trespass in all cases, and the claim that IBM should be held accountable for monitoring the medical condition of all plaintiffs, including non-property owners.

IBM was also able to limit claims for medical monitoring to only people claiming other damages, such as illness or property loss. That eliminated claims for a potentially large group of plaintiffs — renters and children, for example — who may have been exposed but did not develop illnesses or suffer property damage.

Source: PressConnects

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Dangerous chemical in Southern California air

Polluted outdoor air can become a problem indoors.

Regional air-quality officials are trying to find the source of a cancer-causing chemical discovered recently in Jurupa Valley at levels about four times higher than the average for urban Southern California.

“There is no cause for alarm, but we are looking into it because it is a bit unusual,” said Philip Fine, an assistant deputy executive officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The chemical is methylene chloride, a common industrial solvent used as a degreaser and paint stripper. It is very volatile, so it’s also used as an aerosol spray propellant and as a blowing agent for polyurethane foams.

Jean Ospital, the air district’s heath-effects officer, said the levels found in Jurupa Valley are too low to have short-term health effects.

But the long-term effect is a concern, Ospital said. The cancer risk is estimated at 7 cases per 1 million people over a 70-year lifetime, and the air district wants to eliminate that risk, he said.

“This risk is high for just one chemical, and it’s higher than the other communities in the air basin,” Ospital said.

In Jurupa Valley, the total cancer risk for all other sources of air pollution, including diesel soot, is 385 cases per 1 million people.

Fine said the air district first noted methylene chloride spikes in outdoor air samples taken at the district’s air monitoring station in the Rubidoux area of Jurupa Valley in late 2012 when collecting data for an air toxics study.

He said the district also found elevated levels in recent samples, as well as in samples collected separately by the state Air Resources Board, which monitors air quality for California’s Environmental Protection Agency.

The source, however, remains a mystery.

METHYLENE CHLORIDE
What: A volatile industrial chemical with a chloroform-like odor.
Uses: Paint stripping, paint remover, metal cleaning, degreasing, resin production, solvent distribution.
Industries: Pharmaceutical, adhesive and film base manufacturing.
Health effects: Cancer potential with long-term exposure. Short-term exposure to high concentrations may cause mental confusion, light-headedness, nausea, vomiting and headaches.

 
Air district officials have examined wind directions and other meteorological data, but they have been unable to trace the pollution to a residence or business, Fine said.

In 2004 and 2005, air quality officials found similar spikes in methylene chloride in Long Beach, and never were able to find the source.

Fine said the chemical is found in paint-stripping products readily available at retail stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. The air district, he said, may re-evaluate how it regulates such products, he said. It already has rules limiting the volatility of paints and varnishes because fumes contribute to the formation of smog.

While regional air quality is improving, Jurupa Valley has pockets of people living near freeways, railroads and warehouses who are exposed to higher levels of pollution.

Penny Newman, executive director of Jurupa Valley-based Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, said several industries in the area may be using industrial solvents.

“It is disturbing that they don’t know where it is coming from,” Newman said.

Methylene chloride isn’t the first unusual type of pollution in Jurupa Valley.

In 2008, the air district disclosed that it had found elevated levels of cancer-causing hexavalent chromium in the Rubidoux area.

District officials later traced the pollution to the TXI Riverside Cement plant, which was found to be releasing chromium-tainted cement dust into the community.

TXI was cited for dust violations and agreed to pay $1 million in penalties and to make changes to its operations in ways that greatly reduced dust emissions.

Source: The Press Enterprise

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Former Power Plant Worker Says "Liquid Wrench" Gave Him Cancer

A former power utility plant worker has filed a benzene complaint against Radiator Specialty of North Carolina. Homer A. Lindsay says the defendant’s "Liquid Wrench" product caused his multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in the plasma cells and collects in the bone marrow.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Lindsay, says that as an employee of the New Orleans Public Services Inc., a power utility plant, he was exposed to benzene-containing products, specifically, Radiator Specialty’s Liquid Wrench. He used the product to perform maintenance, repairs, and the installation of instruments, controls and piping.

Benzene, a known carcinogen, enters the body through the skin, lungs, or digestive tract. 

A number of medical studies have indicated that long-term exposure to benzene and other industrial solvents may increase the risk of developing multiple myeloma.

(Source: www.harrismartin.com)