Frisco Residents To File Exide Cleanup Lawsuit
FRISCO (CBS 11 News) - A group of Frisco residents are angry and say they intend to file a lawsuit.
The residents claim that city, state and federal officials have failed to do enough to clean up contamination caused by the Exide Technologies battery recycling plant.
The legal action the group is taking is called a "citizens lawsuit".
In a letter addressed to Exide executives, the group says waste created by the plant has created an imminent and substantial danger to people living in the area.
The company is scheduled to shut down the lead smelter at the end of the year.
Two citizen groups, Frisco Unleaded and Downwinders at Risk, say there have been decades of regulatory failure and the plant has not been fined nor have cleanup orders ever been issued.
The groups claim that there have been dozens of violations at the smelter - including dumping lead waste into Stewart Creek and burying waste without a permit.
While the Frisco residents filing the lawsuit say they're ecstatic the plant will be closing soon, they're still mailing their notice to the company to make sure the cleanup is done correctly.
Early Monday afternoon Exide sent the following statement to CBS 11 News regarding the latest information concerning the Frisco facility -
"Exide Technologies will continue to move forward with taking the steps agreed to between Exide and the City of Frisco at the end of May regarding the sale of land and the ultimate cessation of operations at the Frisco plant. We remain committed to meeting all guidelines as established by the appropriate regulatory and government agencies as we continue our day-to-day operations and move forward. -- Exide Technologies"
