The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

March 26, 2008

Trinity says objections delaying site cleanup

By Monica Pryts

GREENVILLE — The cleanup of the former Trinity Industries site in Greenville is being delayed in part by objections to the company’s lawsuit against the property’s current owner, Trinity said.

Trinity made that claim in response to refusals from Commerce Park of Greenville Inc. and its president William E. Marsteller to turn over their financial records.

U.S. District Court Special Master Judge Donald E. Ziegler, Pittsburgh, ordered Feb. 29 that the park and Marsteller provide Trinity with copies of the records within 30 days.

Trinity filed a motion requesting the documents, which they hope will prove Marsteller combined his own funds and assets with the park’s, failing to make a clear distinction between the two, which Marsteller and the park have denied.

The park and Marsteller objected to the order, with Marsteller saying it’s too broad and requires the disclosure of information that’s inappropriate and unjustified.

Marsteller said he is a competitor of Trinity, so giving the company full access to his financial records “could lead to disastrous consequences” for him.

The park’s objections said the issue could have been resolved at a meeting with all parties involved and that the court should order Trinity to sign a confidentiality agreement the park sought as a condition of the sharing its records.

Trinity, which is suing the park and Marsteller for help in cleaning up Trinity’s former rail car plant in Greenville, filed their response March 20 in U.S. District Court.

The response said Trinity has no objection to entering a confidentiality agreement and would have already done so if attorneys for the park and Marsteller prepared one, which all three parties agreed to at a Nov. 26 meeting.

The park prepared an inadequate agreement that related to Commerce Park only, not including Marsteller as Trinity requested, the response said.

Also, there is no evidence to support Marsteller’s claim that he and Trinity are competitors and a confidentiality agreement would sufficiently protect his interests.

Since Trinity filed the lawsuit June 28, they have given the park and Marsteller 36,769 pages of documents and video and audio recordings. The park and Marsteller have provided Trinity with only 238 pages, the response said.

Trinity can’t properly conduct their investigation of the property without all necessary records and the objections are delaying that process by at least six months.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is overseeing Trinity’s investigation and cleanup of the site. DEP granted Trinity an extension to complete investigative work by July 31 and submit a cleanup plan by Dec. 20.

A committee of citizens concerned about the delay called Task Force Trinity North recently formed and is led by Greenville attorney Daniel P. Wallace.

In early 2006, Trinity was charged by the state Attorney General’s office with illegally dumping hazardous waste at the rail car site.

A plea agreement reached in December 2006 ordered Trinity 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.

The Task Force feels that by giving Trinity more time, DEP is failing to enforce the plea agreement, preventing development of the commercially-zoned property. The lawsuit is slowing things down even more, Wallace said.

Trinity sued the park and Marsteller, which bought Trinity’s north plant in 2004, saying they dumped hazardous materials when they demolished structures on the property.

Commerce Park has said the park and Marsteller aren’t liable for hazardous materials found at the site and not responsible for helping Trinity with the clean

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