[CPEO-BIF] Former Quonset Point (RI) naval base

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Pollution costs the Navy $1.4 million


Opinion by Michael A. Rice
Providence Journal (RI)
November 20, 2006

IN THE LAST couple of weeks, one year after a final legal settlement, 
$1.4 million in federal funds flowed into the coffers of the State of 
Rhode Island. In the little-publicized case, the state brought suit 
against the U.S. Navy for several decades of dumping of toxic wastes 
into a landfill near Allen Harbor in the former naval base at Quonset Point.

The settlement was a result of two years of legal wrangling in the 
Federal District Court in Providence, under the provisions of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act 
(CERCLA), commonly known as the Superfund Act of 1980. The case was led 
by the state's environmental advocate, attorney Tricia Jedele of the 
attorney general's office, and Gerald McAvoy, the former chief of the 
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Office of Legal 
Services.

At the heart of the case was a claim that the Navy was responsible for 
the contamination of groundwater resources at the Allen Harbor landfill, 
making those waters unfit for future drinking and other uses. The state 
further alleged that the Navy's activities contaminated the shellfish in 
Allen Harbor and vicinity, leading to its permanent closure to 
shellfishing in 1984.

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/projo_20061120_ctrice.31ed16f.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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