By Monica Pryts
GREENVILLE — Trinity Industries Inc. wants to inspect its former railcar plant site in Greenville for hazardous materials, but the current property owner has refused to give its permission.
Trinity filed a motion Dec. 26 in U.S. District Court, Pittsburgh, for a judge to order no later than Feb. 1 that an environmental consultant be granted access to the property on their behalf.
Commerce Park of Greenville Inc., which owns the land and has been sued by Trinity, filed a response Wednesday asking the court to deny Trinity’s request.
In early 2006, Trinity was charged by the state Attorney General’s office for illegally dumping hazardous waste on the property at 60 Union St.
A plea agreement was reached in December 2006 and Trinity was ordered to clean up the site and pay $254,502 in fines and court costs and make a $50,000 contribution to nonprofit organizations in Mercer County, all of which have been paid.
In 2004, Commerce Park bought Trinity’s north plant and has since been demolishing buildings and structures on the property for future development.
In June, Trinity sued the park and William E. Marsteller, the park’s officer and director, claiming they are also responsible for helping with the cleanup because they released hazardous materials including asbestos during demolition.
The lawsuit also claims the park purchased the property from Trinity as is with all faults. The park’s response to the lawsuit said the park and Marsteller aren’t liable for hazardous materials found at the site and not responsible for helping Trinity with the cleanup.
The response also said the park agreed to be responsible for any problems on the surface of the property, not anything underground, such as contaminants.
During a Nov. 26 court proceeding, Commerce Park denied Trinity access to the property and U.S. District Court Judge Donald E. Ziegler directed Trinity to file a motion to enter and inspect the land.
That motion said Trinity wants an environmental consultant to be allowed on the property to inspect, measure, survey, photograph, test or sample for hazardous substances that are at the center of the lawsuit.
Commerce Park can have its own consultant present for inspection and testing at the same time Trinity is present and Trinity will cover the costs of its own tests, the motion said.
Commerce Park’s response to Trinity’s request said an inspection won’t resolve the lawsuit and Trinity’s motion was overly broad and didn’t show a specific need for the company to enter the property.
Like the lawsuit, Trinity’s inspection will interfere with the park’s plans to revitalize and market the property and Trinity officials should already know what is on the land and shouldn’t be entitled to further harm the park’s economic interests, the response said.
If Trinity wants access, the company should ask the state Department of Environmental Protection for permission as part of the plea agreement, Commerce Park’s response said.
DEP spokeswoman Freda Tarbell said Friday that under the plea agreement, Trinity has an obligation to investigate the property to determine how best to clean it up, but needs permission from Commerce Park or through a court order.
DEP has approved Trinity’s remedial investigation work plan and the next step is a cleanup plan, but Trinity will have trouble creating that plan if they’re not allowed on the property to find out exactly what needs to be cleaned up, she said.
“It benefits everyone to know,” Ms. Tarbell said.
The cleanup could have been delayed further because DEP officials in December were concerned that the agency’s funding to monitor statewide cleanups was going to run out, also leading to 130 layoffs of DEP employees.
The state Senate had opposed a House bill that provides funding for DEP to oversee hazardous-waste cleanups. On Dec. 19, Gov. Ed Rendell signed the bill, which will transfer $17 million from legislative accounts to the state’s Hazardous Site Cleanup Fund for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
The bill also allocates $40 million each year through 2010.
