(The Associated Press circulated the following on September 1.)
SOMERVILLE, Texas — A group of neighbors who suffer from some form of cancer have taken on the railroad tie plant that gave their small Central Texas town its name.
Linda Faust and her neighbors — 76 in all — say the chemicals used at the plant, once owned by Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., caused their illness. They are suing the railroad for failing to protect them from the health risks.
In their lawsuit, Faust and the others claim that the railroad did not contain toxic chemicals used to treat railroad ties, particularly those mixed with creosote. They also say they were sickened by emissions from the plant’s smokestacks. They are seeking at least $6 million in damages.
Faust’s case is one of about 200 filed in Tarrant and Burleson counties. Somerville is in Burleson County.
The Fausts’ case is scheduled to go to trial in January. Last week, State District Judge Jeff Walker declared a mistrial in the first trial when, despite his warnings, the other lawsuits against the railroad were mentioned.
Attorney for the railroad denied that the plant’s operation caused Faust’s cancer, arguing that Faust had pre-existing conditions that made her a prime candidate for cancer. Faust smoked half a pack of cigarettes a day for years and had previously been diagnosed with Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that increases the risks of cancer, said Douglas Poole, the railroad’s lead attorney.
The company said smokestack emissions posed no more danger than a backyard barbecue grill or a fireplace, and that the railroad’s own environmental tests indicated that there are no dangerous levels of contamination.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reviewed three cancer cluster studies from 2004 to 2006 conducted by the Texas Department of Health Services in Burleson County and nearby counties. The review a normal-to-expected rate of cancer among the residents.
Since the first cases against the railroad were filed about four years ago, the company has consistently denied that the plant’s operation was responsible for causing cancer. However, it has settled with one former employee who sued.
Somerville is named after Albert Somerville, the first president of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co., predecessor to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, which bought the tie plant in 1905. The plant, located on 115 acres on the edge of town, is still a major employer and produces more than 1 million ties a year.
Linda Faust’s husband, Donnie, 51, has worked at the tie plant since 1974. The couple live in a house about a mile from the plant. The Fausts said they often found their cars covered with a black oily residue from the smokestacks.
The Fausts’ lawyer, Jared Woodfill, maintains that workers were unsafely exposed to the coal-tar creosote and chlorinated pesticide compounds used at the plant, including pentachlorophenol, or PCP, a well-known carcinogen.
An expert hired by Woodfill contends that equipment was never intended to burn toxic waste and never retrofitted with the proper air-pollution controls. A study of attic dust in 14 homes in Somerville paid for by the Fausts’ legal team showed toxic chemicals.
BNSF sold the tie-making equipment at the Somerville plant to Koppers in 1995 but maintained control of the property.
Records at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality show that the plant still struggles to clean toxic waste in the groundwater. In addition, 17 odor complaints have been lodged against the facility since January 2002.