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Trial Commences Over Bus Depot Fuel Spill
State Senator Carl Kruger was besieged by angry residents in January 1999 when workers replacing a fuel tank that caused an underground leak seven years earlier, accidentally spilled an estimated 19,000 gallons that found its way into the local water supply and sewer system. Residents living on Cole-man Street, five blocks north of the bus depot, complained to Kruger's office when the distinctively unpleasant smell of the fuel permeated their homes. The homeowners hired a lawyer to seek compensation for purported declines in property values and other inconveniences. Meanwhile, the transit agency hired Kelley, Drye and Warren, a pricey Park Avenue law firm that managed to delay the trial until recently. At the time Kruger said, "This law firm, with over 175 lawyers, has been hired to defend the indefensible. Its $50-$100,000 taxpayer-funded retainer could have been put to better use." Kruger called the MTA's repeated attempts to disqualify the plaintiffs an example of "David vs. Goliath at its worst." The MTA has continuously refused to comment on the matter, pointing out that it can't make statements about pending litigation. As the trial began, Kruger, who was reelected in Tuesday's balloting, "Expert witnesses have said that the soil beneath the residents' homes can never be fully decontaminated." The state legislator, who represents constituents from several local communities, called the trial delays and tactics of the MTA's lawyers proof that the agency is "running scared" about the lawsuit. At trial, the defense has argued that the size of the plume has diminished since an estimated 40,000 gallons have been extracted from groundwater after clean-up efforts. Other estimates of the plume's size now reach 120,000 gallons, according to Kruger. "Tactics like these...only serve to highlight the merits of the actual case. The MTA cannot deny that they tried to deceive these unsuspecting homeowners by hiding harmful information from them and understating the severity of the fuel spill." At the time of the incident, the MTA did say it had taken sufficient measures to clean up the fuel spill, but residents contended that they were not doing it fast enough to satisfy them and relieve them of daily discomforts and potential health problems. Not long after the fuel spill, a TA spokesman disputed the claims of Kruger and a homeowner-hired inspector, stating that the Coleman Street residents' problems were unrelated to the Flatbush Bus Depot accident, but could not offer a response that explained the odor that residents maintained was "uniquely" fuel-related. Nevertheless, a city environmental agency spokes-person said that the contractor involved in the oil spill mishap, which had a permit to discharge cleaned water into the sewer system, was ordered to cease "discharging into the sewer until the fumes abated." "The lives of the homeowners and their property have been tainted forever by the negligence of the MTA," he said. "In the end, the truth will emerge victorious."
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