[CPEO-BIF] AVX held responsible for Myrtle Beach (SC) TCE

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Judge rules AVX is responsible for pollution and cleanup in Myrtle Beach

By David Wren
Myrtle Beach Sun-News (SC)
May 13, 2011
A federal judge ruled today that AVX Corp. is 100 percent responsible  
for the groundwater contamination discovered on adjacent property and  
the manufacturer must pay all of the costs associated with cleaning  
that groundwater to safe environmental standards.

AVX, during a trial earlier this year, estimated the cleanup will  
cost about $6 million.

AVX -- which has a facility on 17th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach --  
had argued that at least some of the contamination came from the  
former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, which was located adjacent to the  
electronic components manufacturer. The manufacturer wanted a judge  
to force the military to pay for some of the cleanup.

Judge Terry Wooten, however, said in an order made public today that  
groundwater from the Air Force base and former military properties  
does not travel in the direction of property owned by Horry Land Co.,  
where contamination by an industrial degreaser called  
trichloroethylene -- or TCE -- was discovered.

Wooten said groundwater does flow from AVX toward Horry Land and,  
therefore, the manufacturer can be the only source of the pollution.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/05/13/2157102/judge-rules-avx-is- 
responsible.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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