The Village of Harriman in Orange County is suing past and present owners of the Nepera environmental remediation site to cover continuing costs of decontaminating the municipal water supply.
The village asked federal court in White Plains to hold Nepera Inc., Cambrex Corp. and ELT Harriman LLC responsible for all costs incurred by the village to protect its water wells for the next century, “to ensure a reliable supply of safe drinking water for its residents.”
The village says in the March 10 complaint that it has incurred substantial costs for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of treatment systems, “to purify the water of the toxic and carcinogenic chemicals.”
From 1942 to 2005, Nepera made pharmaceuticals, firefighting foam and other chemical products, according to the complaint, and PFOS and PFOAs were released into the environment. These types of synthetic substances are known as forever chemicals because they do not degrade easily, and they have been linked to cancers and other diseases in humans.
The Nepera site on Arden House Road includes 10 acres where waste was disposed in lagoons and 19 acres that once housed manufacturing structures. The practice at the time, according to the complaint, was to store hazardous wastes in drums and burn it in open pits.
The village operates several wells that supply potable water to about 5,000 people. One well, the complaint states, has been contaminated by toxic substances that the village believes migrated from the Nepera site through the groundwater.
Also, twice in the 1980s, Nepera sponsored live fire drills at Mary Harriman Park to teach local firefighters how to use foam to put out fires. Foam was discharged onto the ground during the training exercises, the complaint states, but no measures were taken to clean it up or stop it from seeping into the ground.
Last year, a site investigation commissioned by Nepera found that some of the highest concentrations of toxic chemicals were in Mary Harriman Park, near a contaminated village well.
The village argues that it has to investigate, monitor, test and treat the water, “to address the contamination of its property and its drinking water supply.”
It is asking the court to hold the Nepera site owners responsible for all costs incurred so far and in the future.
Nepera Inc., an affiliate of Cambrex Corp., of East Rutherford, New Jersey, did not reply to an email asking for its side of the story. ELT Harriman is an affiliate of Environmental Liability Transfer, of St. Louis, Missouri. Company executive Rebecca Lydon said an attorney who responds to such inquiries is on vacation.
