Hub City receives $3 million in settlement
The city of Hattiesburg will receive approximately $3 million in a settlement resolving certain legal claims relating to groundwater contamination from the former Hercules/Ashland plant on West Seventh Street.
It's the final resolution in a lawsuit filed three years ago by city officials in U.S. District Court, which claimed groundwater contamination from the closed factory may have leached into the city's water supply. The suit also alleged Hercules improperly disposed of harmful chemicals in the facility for decades.
"I feel like we're so fortunate that it's settled," Ward 4 Councilwoman Mary Dryden said Monday. "My understanding is that Hercules is responsible for doing whatever needs to be done to that site. It's one of those examples of how we can't just do something without thinking about how it affects the environment."
In late June, City Council voted to approve the settlement, the terms of which were kept confidential at the time. The settlement involves only the Hercules property and not outside residences that may have individual lawsuits pending.
"I wasn't focused that much on the fact that the city got a settlement — I was focused on the fact that we got some closure on a situation that has concerned a lot of people," Dryden said. "It's a good opportunity to stop, take stock, and look at the decisions we make every day and how they impact our environment."
Hattiesburg resolves suit against Hercules
Covington, Kentucky-based Ashland Inc. purchased Hercules Inc., including the Hattiesburg site, in 2008. The following year, operations ceased at the Hattiesburg plant, which opened in the early 1920s to harvest rosin from old pine stumps.
The 2013 suit against Hercules was part of a small handful of legal action plant officials have seen over the last few years, beginning with an early 2011 investigation that uncovered several harmful contaminants that were released into the environment after the facility closed.
In May of that year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued an order to Hercules, requiring the company to conduct on- and off-site monitoring, testing and reporting to determine the nature and extent of any environmental contamination at and from the Hattiesburg facility.
A look back — and ahead — at the Hercules plant
The EPA ordered the plant to submit a written Phase I Work Plan that included sampling and analysis of drinking water within a 4-mile radius of the facility, and surface and sediment data of any wetlands, creeks, lakes or ditches within a half-mile of the plant.
In December 2012, sludge cleanup began at the plant's impoundment basin, which is expected to last for several years.
"When I was a child, there was an awful odor when we would walk outside most days, Monday through Friday," Dryden said. "I mean, it was awful. Our parents would say, 'That's the smell of money,' but money is just not everything.
"So we're left with that closed facility, and we know now that when you work with chemicals you need to know the type of consequences there can be. So I'm glad that the lawsuit is over, and that we can get on with the business of what needs to be done to the site."