Lawsuits all over the place for Confederate Park cleanup

[thelakelander]

I imagine going after the companies that once operated at the Jacksonville Shipyards site would also result in a similar fight:

Steps to clean up one of Jacksonville's oldest industrial pollution sites are dragging while regulators weigh options and attorneys posture over who will pay the bill.

Handling chemicals that seeped into soil and water around the park might cost up to $17 million, a consultant's report for the city said last year.

In 2012, the city sued Shoppes of Lakeside and Jacksonville Hospitality Holdings, companies that owned land around Main and Orange streets south of Hogans Creek, the waterway between downtown and Springfield at the south end of the park.

The city added a claim last fall against Continental Holdings Inc., a Wyoming company, the city said was a successor to the defunct Jacksonville Gas Company, which operated the Main Street manufactured gas plant.

Continental insisted it wasn't liable, and in turn sued JEA, which operates utility easements in the polluted area, as well as five companies that Continental said had some responsibility for expenses it faced because of the pollution.

That made the city's lawsuit a lot more complicated, so last week an attorney for the city asked a judge to split the case in two.

The city wants a decision first on whether Continental or any of the companies it's suing is liable for pollution costs, then a trial on everything else being disputed.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-09-13/story/steps-toward-cleaning-19th-century-pollution-jacksonvilles-confederate