Contaminated Soil

Buffalo, NY: (Oct-17-07) Close to 220 current and former residents and their family members brought a lawsuit against the city, alleging personal injury and property damage. The suit claimed that the city developed the Hickory Woods subdivision in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a model of Brownfield's renewal, but later the residents discovered that their homes were built on contaminated ground, causing their home values to plummet. Home buyers received $20,000 subsidies to move into the south Buffalo neighborhood of about 60 homes adjacent to a site used for decades by the steel industry. When the contamination was discovered later, home values plummeted and residents reported a variety of health problems, including asthma, cancer and birth defects. As part of a settlement reached, the city agreed to pay out $7.2 million, which will be shared by the affected residents. If approved by the city's financial control board, the settlement would pay an average of $32,000 per claim. [NEWSDAY: CONTAMINATED SOIL]

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Published on Oct-18-07