Freedom-Hating TX Prosecutors Go After Job Creators Over Accusations Of 45 Years Of Water Pollution [View all]

[hatrack]

Angered that a riverside industrial waste pit leached potent toxins into the San Jacinto River for almost half a century, the Harris County Attorney's Office is asking that those responsible be fined as much as the law allows - $25,000 a day - all the way back to the site's 1965 opening.

Named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Judge Caroline Baker's 295th state District Court are International Paper Co., McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corp., Waste Management of Texas, and Waste Management Inc.

"The day of reckoning is here," said Rock Owens, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan's lead lawyer on the case. "These penalties are there to punish, to send a message. … We're asking these companies to atone for what they've done."

Spokesmen for International Paper and Waste Management said Tuesday that they have not received the lawsuit and would not comment. At issue is an abandoned, partially submerged waste facility near the Interstate 10 crossing that has been an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site since 2008 and constitutes one of Texas' biggest pollution headaches.

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http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/County-sues-over-toxic-storage-on-river-2427715.php