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Stringfellow acid pits : the toxic and legal legacy / Brian Craig.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Craig, Brian, 1974- author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Hazardous waste sites--California.
- Hazardous waste sites.
- Hazardous waste site remediation--California.
- Hazardous waste site remediation.
- Hazardous wastes--Environmental aspects--California.
- Hazardous wastes.
- Groundwater--Pollution--California.
- Groundwater.
- Stringfellow Hazardous Waste Site (Calif.).
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (271 pages)
- Place of Publication:
- Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2020.
- Summary:
- Stringfellow Acid Pits describes one of the most contaminated places in the United States and the epic legal battle involving the hazardous waste site in Southern California. In 1955, California officials approached James Stringfellow about using his land in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, as a hazardous dump site. They said it was a natural waste disposal site because it was underlined by impermeable rocks, but they were gravely mistaken. Over 33 million gallons of industrial chemicals from more than a dozen of the nation's most prominent companies poured into unlined ponds. In the 1960s and 1970s, heavy rains forced surges of chemical-laden water into Pyrite Creek and the nearby town of Glen Avon. Some children played in the froth, making fake beards with the chemical foam. The liquid waste contaminated the groundwater, threatening the drinking water for hundreds of thousands of California residents. Penny Newman, a special education teacher and mother, led a grass-roots effort of so-called "hysterical housewives" who demanded answers and fought to clean up the toxic dump. The ensuing three-decade legal saga involved more than 1,000 lawyers, 4,000 plaintiffs, and nearly 200 defendants, and led to the longest civil trial in California history. The environmental and legal history surrounding the Stringfellow Acid Pits is unveiled through meticulous research based on personal interviews and a careful review of court records, EPA documents, and other documents. The contamination at the Stringfellow site will linger for hundreds of years and shaped many of the laws today surrounding environmental law, toxic torts, appellate procedure, takings law, and insurance coverage.
- Contents:
- Introduction
- The Birth of the Stringfellow Acid Pits
- The Problem at the Pits
- Superfund and Sewergate
- United States v. Stringfellow: The Litigation Begins
- The U.S. Supreme Court Chimes In
- Federal Judge and Jury Strike a Blow to the Golden State
- Grueling Jury Trial Held in a Custom-Built Courtroom
- California Considered "Grossly Negligent, if Not Reckless"
- Takings Claims Are Rejected
- The Insurance Battle
- Cleaning Up the Stringfellow Acid Pits
- The Legacy of Stringfellow and Lessons Learned.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on information from the publisher.
- ISBN:
- 9780472126491
- 0472126490
- 9780472907014
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