MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — A company being sued by neighbors for polluting groundwater around its plant here is asking a court to force those neighbors to help pay for testing and cleanup of contamination.
AVX Corp. says in a proposed complaint filed in federal court that federal laws require shared liability for environmental contamination. Cleanup of the property, which is contaminated with the chemical trichloroethylene, could cost millions of dollars.
Residents and a real estate firm that leased land to AVX for a parking lot have sued the company over the illegal dumping of the chemical.
''It's audacious that AVX would try to blame its pollution on the poor people who've worked all their lives for their homes,'' said Gene Connell, a lawyer representing property owners near AVX's headquarters in this resort town. ''These are innocent landowners.''
An attorney for AVX, Kevin Dunlap of Spartanburg, did not immediately return a telephone message left Sunday by The Associated Press.
According to documents at the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, the company dumped trichloroethylene into groundwater and the city's sewer system for at least 14 years, ending in 1995, and has known about contamination at its site for 20 years. AVX paid a $7,000 fine as part of a consent agreement with state agency, but admitted no wrongdoing.
The chemical, used as a degreaser by manufacturers in the 1970s and '80s, also can produce toxic fumes that can seep into homes and businesses. Drinking or breathing high levels of trichloroethylene may affect the nervous system and cause liver and lung damage, abnormal heartbeat, coma and possibly death, according to a Department of Health and Human Services Web site.
The chemical is not in the city's drinking water.
The state environmental agency has ordered AVX to pay for more tests to determine how much contamination there is and where it is. Agency spokesman Thom Berry says preliminary information about whether the chemical can be found in air samples has been collected and is in the process of being analyzed.
Area resident Mary Lou Nance, who is part of a lawsuit against the company, said she has noticed a foul stench in her neighborhood for years.
''I think it has been coming from the ground,'' she said. ''It's like the earth burped and out came this nasty smell.''
Nance said she doesn't understand why the company is trying to get residents to help pay for cleanup.
''I don't want a bunch of money (from the lawsuit) and I don't want to get sick,'' Nance said. ''I just want what's fair.''
AVX also has asked a federal judge to rule that the contamination has not damaged property near the company site because the chemical can be removed from the groundwater. The company also is asking the judge to rule that property owners aren't entitled to compensation for any possible damage resulting from the contamination.
To combat AVX's contention that neighboring property owners are liable for cleanup, Connell has filed papers with the court to move the class-action lawsuit to state court from federal court. A judge has not ruled on that request.
''It's ridiculous that you have a billion-dollar company trying to argue that these landowners are somehow responsible for the company's pollution,'' Connell said.
