Earlier this year (see, post dated February 3, 2012), we reported on the filing of class action claims in a lawsuit brought by residents of Madison, Wisconsin against the Madison-Kipp Corporation (“MKC”). The Pollution Lawyers originally filed this suit in October 2011 on behalf of seven families who live immediately adjacent to MKC’s manufacturing plant,… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Contamination
Subscribe to Contamination RSS FeedFamilies file class action claims against Madison-Kipp Corporation
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Pollution, RCRA, Vapor IntrusionPreviously on this Blog (see, posts dated May 9, 2011 and October 28, 2011), we reported on a serious vapor intrusion problem facing Madison, Wisconsin families who live near the Madison-Kipp Corporation (“MKC”) manufacturing plant. Since our last report, additional environmental testing was conducted in the area that revealed toxic PCE vapors were present on… Continue Reading
NEW STUDY: PCE EXPOSURE LINKED TO MENTAL ILLNESS
Posted in Contamination, Groundwater, Pollution, Uncategorized, Vapor IntrusionA study published in the journal Environmental Health on January 20, 2012 finds a scientific link between exposure to PCE in early childhood and the development of mental illness. The study was conducted by some of the most prominent and respected toxicologists and public health researchers in the nation. It studied a population on… Continue Reading
THE POLLUTION LAWYERS HELP CNN SPOTLIGHT THE DANGERS OF CONTAMINATED SCHOOLS
Posted in Contamination, Government, Pollution, Vapor IntrusionIn every case we have the same worry: “what is this contamination doing to the children?” Whether the contamination is TCE in drinking water coming out of the kitchen tap and shower head; PCE in “vapor” form in the air that the family breathes every moment in the home; or arsenic in the dirt in… Continue Reading
STUDY LINKS VAPOR INTRUSION TO BIRTH DEFECTS
Posted in Contamination, Government, Groundwater, Pollution, Vapor IntrusionFor decades, hundreds of homes in a section of Union, New York known as Endicott have been sitting above a plume of TCE and PCE contaminated groundwater. TCE and PCE are man-made solvents historically used by corporations to strip grease and grime off metal parts. Endicott is just south of a former IBM manufacturing facility… Continue Reading
STIFF-ARM CITY: Chancellor and Department of Education Break Promise to Families of Highly Contaminated Bronx New School
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Government, Pollution, Vapor IntrusionBefore we get to the broken promise, let’s first re-cap DOE’s disregard for the health of the children who have attended The Bronx New School for the last 20 years [feel free to visit my previous blogs on this subject dated: 8/30, 8/26, and 8/22. ] (1) In 1992, DOE signs a 20-year lease to… Continue Reading
STAND UP AND FIGHT… YOU CAN SHAME YOUR GOVERNMENT INTO DOING SOMETHING ABOUT CONTAMINATION IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Government, Groundwater, Pollution, RCRA, UncategorizedThis is a hopeful story. But it must first wind its way through some seemingly discouraging territory. Hang with me, though, and we’ll get to the hopeful part. I promise. Here’s the discouraging part: You cannot trust your government to tell you that your air or water is contaminated. Or to protect you against the… Continue Reading
IS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FOR SALE… OR DOES IT JUST LOOK THAT WAY?
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Government, PollutionYou may have heard that President Obama is trying to get himself re-elected. What you may not have heard is what US EPA Chief, Lisa Jackson, is doing to help him. Last month, the President sent out an invitation to attend his money-raising events in San Francisco. The invitation said that, by giving $5,000, contributors… Continue Reading
Suit Filed Against Madison, Wisconsin Polluter
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Groundwater, Pollution, RCRA, Vapor IntrusionBack in May of this year, Norm Berger posted an article in this Blog about a serious vapor intrusion problem in Madison, Wisconsin caused by the manufacturing company Madison-Kipp Corp. (“MKC”). As Norm reported, families living near the MKC plant had recently learned that the toxic chemicals PCE and TCE were present in vapor form… Continue Reading
AT LONG LAST EPA DECLARES TCE A HUMAN CARCINOGEN
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Groundwater, Pollution, RCRA, Vapor IntrusionAfter slow-walking the process consistent with its decades long standard operating procedure, the U.S. EPA finally recognized what credible scientists have been saying for many years: exposure to TCE causes cancer. The earth is not flat after all. On September 28, EPA released the final health assessment for trichloroethylene (TCE) to the Integrated Risk Information System… Continue Reading
The Politics of Pollution: Corporate Polluters Win Again
Posted in Contamination, Government, Groundwater, PollutionAfter a twenty-year wait, EPA was set to issue its updated hazard assessment for trichloroethylene (“TCE”) earlier this month. Unfortunately – – at least for everyday American citizens – – the deadline passed without a word from EPA. TCE is a man-made volatile organic compound used by corporations for decades to strip grease and grime… Continue Reading
PLAYING CHICKEN WITH CONTAMINATION: Bronx New School Officials Show How Not To Protect Children
Posted in Contamination, Government, Pollution, Vapor IntrusionBasin City, Washington got it right. Last Thursday, Basin City took tests of the system that feeds water into the local elementary school, and found E. coli bacteria. So, school officials immediately notified the parents of the children attending Basin City Elementary School. They also decided that the school would be closed right away (on… Continue Reading
OPEN WINDOWS, SHUT MOUTHS: Bronx New School Officials Keep Parents in the Dark About School’s Chemical Dangers
Posted in Contamination, Government, Pollution, Vapor IntrusionThe TCE contamination discovered earlier this year in the air that the kids breathe at the Bronx New School was so bad that the City’s environmental consultant instructed the New York City School Construction Authority (NYCSCA) to “immediate[ly]…open all windows in the first and second floor classrooms at the end of each school day….until the… Continue Reading
CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE? Did School Officials Send Kids to TCE-Contaminated Bronx School for 20 Years?
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Government, PollutionSomething really wrong happened here. Bronx Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott just announced the closing of the Bronx New School. Walcott said that the soil at the school– and the air that the kids breathe at the school–are soaked with a carcinogen known as trichloroethylene, or TCE. And not just a little bit of TCE. Contamination… Continue Reading
Pollution Lawyers Team Recognized By Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Court Ruling, Government, Groundwater, Pollution, RCRA, Vapor IntrusionThe Pollution Lawyers were recently recognized in two articles published by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin for our work in pollution cases. One article discusses the joining of our two firms to create The Pollution Lawyers name, our history, including our obtaining many millions of dollars for our clients since 2000, as well as remedies… Continue Reading
NO COUNTRY FOR POOR PEOPLE: Polluter-Friendly Regulations Force Children in Chicago’s Pilsen Community To Breathe Brain-Damaging Lead…For Years
Posted in Contamination, Government, PollutionLet me ask you something: If the air breathed by children attending an American elementary school was contaminated by lead levels so high that it could damage their brains, and cause them life-long learning disabilities, how long would you say their parents should have to wait until that air was cleaned-up? How long would you… Continue Reading
GET YOUR WELL WATER TESTED!
Posted in Contamination, Government, Groundwater, Pollution, Vapor IntrusionThis is about the importance of getting your well water tested, immediately, when there is even the possibility that it is contaminated. North Stamford, Connecticut and Rockford, Illinois are half a country apart, and have many other things that would seem to distinguish them from one another. But they have one thing profoundly in common: … Continue Reading
Polluters Underestimating Their Pollution: Liars… or Just Idiots?
Posted in Contamination, PollutionMaddening, but not surprising. Business as usual, really. Earlier this week, Japan’s nuclear power industry announced that the amount of radioactivity which spewed out of the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor was more than twice the original estimate of just 3 months ago. More than twice. The same report also said that the Japanese people should… Continue Reading
Vapor Intrusion Class Action Settlement
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Court Ruling, PollutionThe Pollution Lawyers recently received final court approval of an $8.1 million settlement of one of its environmental contamination cases. In late 2008, families in the small town of Attica, Indiana learned that toxic chemical vapors were entering the air inside their homes. After getting the bad news, these families turned to The Pollution Lawyers… Continue Reading
Important Win For Families In Environmental Citizens’ Suit Case
Posted in Citizen Suit, Contamination, Court Ruling, Pollution, RCRAMost people are not aware they even exist, but Congress has enacted powerful laws that allow families to protect themselves when their homes are impacted by environmental contamination. These so-called federal “citizens’ suit” laws permit families to sue the polluter to force a cleanup of the contamination. Citizens’ suit claims are available not just when… Continue Reading
Five Things to Do if Your Water or Neighborhood Is (or Might Be) Polluted
Posted in Contamination(1) Get smart. Find out the names of the polluting chemicals. You will usually learn them, as most of our clients have, from a newspaper article or TV story, or from a letter or knock on the door from a government official. You need to know the chemicals’ names, so that you can learn about… Continue Reading
Why We Shouldn’t Trust What Polluters Say
Posted in Contamination, PollutionIt’s a heartbreaking spectacle. Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor spewing radioactive material into the air and ocean. Yet, even though it’s half a world away, this disaster offers a lesson to Americans that is much bigger than simply, “Let’s be careful about nuclear power.” The message really is: “We cannot afford to trust our health and… Continue Reading
Big Day for Polluters
Posted in Contamination, Court Ruling, PollutionLast week, the President and Congress shook hands on a deal that stripped more than $1.5 billion – 16% – from the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, specifically gutting funds for reducing pollution from coal mining and power plants. Why? Too much clean air in power plant neighborhoods? Or maybe this 16% cut is… Continue Reading
EPA Can No Longer Ignore Toxic Vapor Intrusion When Choosing The Sites Most In Need Of Cleanup
Posted in ContaminationAfter Congress passed the Superfund law in 1980, ostensibly to set up a system to clean up the most dangerous hazardous waste sites in the country, EPA created a system to evaluate the sites most deserving of attention in the form of government money for cleanup. That system, called the Hazard Ranking System (HRS), establishes… Continue Reading
Stay Connected
Subscribe via RSSPollution Law Watch Authors
Shawn M. Collins
Named a "Top 100 Trial Lawyer" by the American Trial Lawyers Association, Shawn has forced polluters to clean up homes and neighborhoods for thousands of families, and to compensate them (over $65 million recovered so far) for the injuries to their property and health caused by the polluters' toxic chemicals.
Edward J. Manzke
A gifted personal injury lawyer, Ed Manzke excels in understanding the facts and law concerning how a client was injured, and in developing a legal strategy to win just compensation.
Norman B. Berger
Norman Berger is a seasoned trial lawyer with a wide range of litigation and counseling experience. Concentrating primarily on business and environmental litigation, he has litigated extensively in state and federal courts nationwide.
Michael D. Hayes
Michael Hayes is recognized for his experience and results in environmental and class action litigation. For over a decade, he has successfully represented classes of residents in environmental property damage litigation, where he spearheads The Pollution Lawyers’ efforts on the important class certification and class settlement issues that arise in these cases.