Hazardous waste, contaminated ground water, and common law

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · Water Resour. Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6030651

Goldfarb, W

In recent years, courts have imposed increasingly severe common law judgments on companies that operate leaking hazardous waste facilities. The case of Sterling v. Velsicol Chemical Corp., decided by the US District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, is an example of this trend. Plaintiffs were a class of persons who owned property or lived within a three mile radius of the northernmost boundary line of a 242 acre chemical waste burial site in Hardeman County, Tennessee, owned and operated by Velsicol from late 1964 until it was closed as hazardous in 1973 by order of the State of Tennessee. The plaintiffs sought damages for personal injury and property damage allegedly suffered when water in their home wells became contaminated by hazardous chemicals that escaped from Velsicol's burial site. Chemical waste from Velsicol's Memphis manufacturing plant was placed in 55-gallon metal drums (some dry waste was placed in boxes or other containers), loaded on trucks, and hauled from the Memphis plant to the Hardeman County site. more than 300,000 drums filled with hazardous waste were buried at the site. This paper discusses the decision found in the case.

• Research Organization: Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey, New Brunswick
• OSTI ID: 6030651
• Journal Information: Water Resour. Bull.; (United States), Journal Name: Water Resour. Bull.; (United States) Vol. 23:2; ISSN WARBA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420900* -- Engineering-- Waste Processing Plants & Equipment-- (-1989)
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
CHEMICAL WASTES
GROUND WATER
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRY
LAWSUITS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER