Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), August 5, 2014
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
A $6.8 million class action settlement for residents who live closest to the smoldering Bridgeton Landfill is fair, reasonable and adequate, a federal judge has ruled.
About three-quarters of residents in the 400 homes closest to the landfill agreed to the settlement reached in April for enduring foul odors from an underground fire that started more than three years ago. Judge Thomas Mummert approved the settlement Friday in U.S. District Court to conclude a lawsuit filed against landfill owner Republic Services last year on behalf of six Bridgeton residents.
After attorneys’ costs, the settlement equals $26,250 per household in the Spanish Village subdivision, $15,375 in the Terrisan Reste mobile home community and about $3,900 in the Carrollton Village condominiums, all in Bridgeton. The awards will go to 947 of 1,244 eligible residents who signed participation papers. Those who did not participate have until Friday to change their minds.
Anyone who accepts the settlement cannot file any further nuisance claims for property damage due to the landfill’s odor.
“Hopefully the landfill is being properly remediated and the underground reaction is being contained and controlled, and there won’t be any need for further litigation,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Ted Gianaris of the Simmons Law Firm in Alton.
Republic Services has spent more than $100 million on odor improvement projects, according to Russ Knocke, a company spokesman.
“Still, we are the first to acknowledge that odors have been a source of considerable concern and frustration for our neighbors, and we truly regret any inconvenience they have endured,” Knocke said in a statement. “We also wish to extend our sincere appreciation to our neighbors for their continued understanding and patience while we do everything within our power to rectify a complex and unfortunate situation; one which we did not create.”
There were 27 residents who filed objections to the settlement with the court. Most objected to the amount of the settlement and had questions regarding upcoming work on the landfill.
“The chemicals being released by the landfill have not been proven to my satisfaction that they are harmless,” wrote Mary Beth Sutterfield, a resident of the Carrollton condominiums, in a letter to the court. “I have experienced breathing issues since the beginning of the landfill odor issue and now cannot enjoy fair weather days and nights with my windows open.”
Mummert overruled the objections in his final approval of the settlement. According to the agreement, plaintiffs’ attorneys are entitled to 25 percent of the settlement, or about $1.2 million in fees and $250,000 in expenses.
The odors are expected to get worse when construction begins on a barrier between the Bridgeton Landfill and the adjacent West Lake Landfill, where nuclear waste was dumped in the 1970s. The work to keep the fire from reaching the radioactive waste, which was supposed to start in June, has been delayed as the location for the barrier is determined by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. A spokesman for the EPA said Monday that there are no updates on the construction schedule.
“All those people that just took that settlement can’t do anything about it,” said Tonya Mason, who has lived in Spanish Village since 2006. “I think the smell is going to be so hideous that we aren’t going to be able to live here.”
Some residents say they are holding out for a buyout of their homes. The EPA, which is responsible for the cleanup of West Lake under its Superfund toxic sites program, has said buyouts are not an option in part because the landfill does not pose a health risk to residents.
A lawsuit filed last year by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster against the waste management company for environmental violations related to the landfills is ongoing, and more class action suits from residents are expected.
Blythe Bernhard covers health and medicine for the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on twitter @blythebernhard