SAN FRANCISCO, July 11, 2020 – Gross & Klein LLP filed a complaint, yesterday evening, on behalf of a concerned citizen, in the federal court of the Northern District of California, seeking the investigation and cleanup of contamination from a manufactured gas plant or “MGP” that PG&E formerly owned and operated in the current location of the Argonaut Hotel in the Ghirardelli Square area of Fisherman’s Wharf, in San Francisco.

As alleged in the complaint, the manufactured gas plant, known as the “Cannery MGP,” in the late 19th and 20th centuries, turned coal and crude oil into a gas that was piped to homes and businesses for heating and lighting. Despite internal documents that acknowledge its responsibility for the contamination caused by the Cannery MGP, PG&E has publically and falsely denied ever owning or operating the MGP and has repeatedly refused to even investigate the contamination caused by it.

A limited investigation conducted in the mid-1980s revealed dangerous levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs at the site of the Cannery MGP. PAHs are known human carcinogens and can have devastating effects on animals exposed to them, particularly fish exposed when they are in eggs or during their larval stage. The area offshore of the Cannery MGP, including Aquatic Park, is not only one of the few areas of the Bay where people regularly swim it is also a known spawning ground for Pacific herring, a keystone species for the Bay’s ecology that is known to be particularly sensitive to PAH exposure.

The complaint alleges that groundwater passing through the former Cannery MGP site is transporting dangerous PAHs and other chemicals into Aquatic Park and other areas of the Bay. It further alleges that sediment in Aquatic Park itself contains large amounts of contamination from the MGP and that PAHs and other dangerous chemicals are partitioning from that waste into the water column. Investigations of other MGPs for which PG&E is responsible along the northern waterfront of San Francisco have revealed extensive contamination, including large deposits of tar in the areas of Gas House Cove and Pier 39.

“PG&E's refusal to own up to its responsibility for this contamination is incredibly, but not surprisingly, cynical," said Stuart G. Gross of Gross & Klein. "Unfortunately, this company, since its founding in the 1800s, has consistently put profits ahead of people and the environment. They don't do the right thing unless forced to, and we are going to force them to."

The lawsuit brings claims under the federal Clean Water Act, the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and California state common law. It seeks the establishment of environmental remediation trust funded by PG&E that will be responsible for managing the investigation and remediation of the contamination.

Gross & Klein has successfully represented the plaintiff in this case, commercial herring fishermen, homeowners, and others in several other lawsuits regarding the other three MGPs along San Francisco’s waterfront. One such lawsuit resulted in a ten-year consent decree between PG&E and commercial herring fishermen that requires the investigation and cleanup of large portions of the waterfront. However, because of PG&E’s denial of responsibility for it, the consent decree does not address contamination caused by the Cannery MGP.

The lawsuit is titled, Clarke v. PG&E, No. 20-cv-04629 (N.D. Cal.).

A copy of the Complaint can be found here.