Honeywell Must Clean Up Toxic Mess

Court upholds $400 million cleanup order

 

By Hugh M. Carola

In a stunning, precedent-setting decision on February 18 in Philadelphia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed Honeywell International a stinging defeat. The three-judge panel let stand federal Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh's 2003 ruling that held Honeywell responsible for removing chromium contamination from a 34-acre tract of land the transnational corporation owns on the banks of the Hackensack River in Jersey City. By all accounts, it is an incredible legal victory for the recovery of the river and the citizens of its watershed.

“We had a good case two years ago, we got a landmark ruling from Judge Cavanaugh and we expected it to be upheld on appeal,” said Captain Bill Sheehan, Hackensack Riverkeeper's executive director. “What we didn't expect was the slam dunk we got from the appellate court.”

The earlier ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought against Honeywell by Hackensack Riverkeeper and the Jersey City-based Interfaith Community Organization (ICO). The plaintiffs successfully argued that the health and safety of Society Hill condominium residents were in danger as long as the contamination was allowed to remain. The suit was prompted by over 20 years of foot-dragging by the corporation, which had maintained that simply capping the contamination was sufficient and that removal was unnecessary.

From 1895 through 1954, the Mutual Chemical Company of America operated a chromate chemical plant on the site. In addition to its refined products, the company also produced approximately 1.5 million tons of toxic waste containing hexavalent chromium (as in the film Erin Brockovitch) that was dumped onsite. In 1954, Mutual sold the property to the Allied Corporation (later AlliedSignal, Inc.). Honeywell took title to the site (and assumed its liabilities) after its merger with AlliedSignal.

While all that was going on, a known human carcinogen was freely leaching into the Hackensack River. A 1982 NJ Department of Environmental Protection report cited a “green stream” and “yellowish-green plumes” in surface water on the property. Even a Honeywell official noted at the time “there's something terribly not right with the site.”

In its appeal, Honeywell attempted to prove that the District Court erred in granting Hackensack Riverkeeper and the ICO standing to sue them, was wrong to determine that the site provided an “imminent and substantial endangerment,” and overstepped its bounds in ordering a complete cleanup of the site. The justices responded with 23 pages of point-by-point refutations backed by citations spanning 31 years before concluding, “Accordingly, the District Court ruling will be affirmed.” Case closed. Again.

Washington DC-based law firm of Terris, Pravlik and Milian represented the plaintiffs. “This is a great thing for the environment, and dealing with the chromium in Jersey City,” said Kathleen L. Milian to an Associated Press reporter after the ruling.

“I'm glad that the court agreed that Honeywell must accept responsibility for its property and the toxic poisons oozing from it," said Captain Bill. “Why shouldn't they have to? Everyone knows that when you buy a house you buy it 'as is' and if you wind up with a bad oil tank, you're liable for its cleanup.

“What's fair for John & Jane Q. Public and their 300-gallon oil tank should be fair enough for Honeywell and its 1.5 million tons of chromium waste.”