Disability Law

Nuclear Toxic Soup! Not Just Japan - How about the Verizon Hicksville Property ?

By Troy Rosasco

Last week the United States Environmental Agency (EPA) announced the inclusion of the Hicksville Verizon property, which previously housed the Sylvania nuclear fuel rod manufacturing facility, on its list of Superfund toxic cleanup sites.  Does Japan seem so far away now?!

Drew Scott of News 12 knew that I, along with Mitchell Breit, am representing a group of workers in a class action lawsuit who were exposed to the cancer causing chemicals TCE and PCE on the Verizon site and stopped by my Ronkonkoma office for quick interview for the five o'clock broadcast. Unfortunately, I worked late last week and missed the news broadcast, but here is Drew's News 12 blog post and my comments on the "Toxic Soup" on the Hicksville Verizon site.

Toxic Soup?

By Drew Scott

'It's a toxic soup of contaminants!'

That's how attorney Troy Rosasco describes an area in Hicksville that, along with four other communities, has just been tapped as a new federal EPA superfund cleanup site.

The former Hicksville Sylvania plant that made nuclear fuel rods for power plants in the 50′s and 60′s was closed, but Rosasco says he's pursuing a federal class action lawsuit, representing dozens of neighbors and factory workers in the area.

Other areas designated for superfund cleanup status include New Cassel, Salisbury, Hempstead and Westbury. All these locations were being monitored by the New York State DEC and Army Corps of Engineers. The EPA says these areas are contaminated with either radioactive material or dangerous chemical solvents. Now the cleanup could get underway thanks to this new federal status. You can comment to the EPA with this link.

Meanwhile, we are still in federal district court on the class action case. In the interim, we are actively engaged in preparing Zadroga 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund claims  from an equally toxic site - Ground Zero.

Last year, a federal jury found Verizon liable and awarded my client Gerard Depascale and a co-worker $12 million for cancer and other illnesses contracted on the site.   Verizon had already reached an out-of-court settlement with neighbors in the surrounding area for $11 million. 

Full post as published by The New York Disability Law Blog on March 14, 2011 (boomark / email).