SAN FRANCISCO, March 18, 2020 – Gross & Klein LLP filed a complaint today in the Northern District of California, on behalf of Dan Clarke, to complete the cleanup of PG&E’s contamination of the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, PG&E owned and operated two manufactured gas plants or “MGPs" in the present-day Marina neighborhood. MGPs were refineries that turned coal, oil, and combinations thereof into gas that was pumped to residences in their vicinity. The process created large amounts of highly toxic waste, including waste that contained large concentrations of carcinogenic poly-aromatic hydrocarbons.
As alleged in the complaint, PG&E’s operation and demolition of the MGPs also resulted in extensive lead contamination of former sites of the MGPs, sites on which there are now numerous homes and backyards in which children live and play. PG&E has vigorously resisted even testing for lead, pointing the finger for the indisputably high levels lead at a shifting group of candidates, such as far off downwind industrial operations.
As also alleged, PG&E, in public information provided to Marina parents and other homeowners, has intentionally minimized the health risks presented by the contamination to dissuade them from demanding a cleanup of their homes and has taken no action to clean up its contamination in the many public areas of the Marina neighborhood.
“PG&E has repeatedly demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to put the health and safety of the public first,” said Stuart G. Gross of Gross & Klein LLP. “PG&E consistently puts shareholder profits over people’s welfare, and this situation is no different.”
The original action was filed in 2014 and has resulted in a series of agreements and orders that have forced PG&E to conduct investigations and cleanups that it vigorously refused to do. This new complaint asks the court to finally order PG&E to pay for an independent third party to take over the cleanup and ensure its completion in a manner that will protect the health of Marina residents, workers, and visitors.
The lawsuit is titled, Clarke v. PG&E, No. 14-4393 (N.D. Cal.).
A copy of the complaint is included herewith and can be found here: