Chemicals From Factories Caused Woman’s Cancer: Lawsuit

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — A woman who says she developed Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma after living near metal processing plants in Union filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking damages against the plant owners for “knowingly polluting the surrounding communities with cancer-causing chemicals for decades,” according to her attorneys. Dana Harper, 44, lived across the street from wire and alloy manufacturing plants for almost three decades.

During that time, a plant managed by Central Wire, Inc./Techalloy Company Inc., and another factory managed by Phibro-Tech and Southern California Chemical Company, was allegedly “emitting, and improperly disposing of, a blend of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including, but not limited to, the established carcinogens trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and ammonia into the surrounding air, soil and water,” according to the allegations.

These plants were also located near Evergreen Academy, a magnet school for 6th to 12th grade students.

TCE is used for a number of industrial tasks, such as degreasing metal parts, but has been shown to have such dangerous effects that the Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed a ban on the use of the chemical as a degreaser, as well as in industrial drycleaning facilities, according to a news release.

“The toxic nature of these chemicals is no secret to anyone. To release them into the world is to cause someone’s death sentence,” said Antonio Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, one of the attorneys representing Harper. “These companies need to be held responsible for their actions.”

The lawsuit details multiple tests conducted throughout the 1990s, which found unsafe levels of contaminants in groundwater beneath the plant, in soil, and in groundwater wells of nearby residential homes. In addition, TCE was federally recognized as an air pollutant as early as 1970, and added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s hazardous substance list in 1976.

“Central Wire put me into the direct zone of danger through improper handling of ultrahazardous material. The company should have exercised reasonable care to protect my health and the health of my community,” Harper said. “They can never give me back my health, but these dangerous actors must clean up their mess and to operate with human compassion and respect going forward.”

Several companies are named as defendants in the lawsuit including Phibro-Tech, Southern California Chemical Company, Inc, Central Wire, Inc., and Techalloy Company, Inc., who collectively ran two factories which did metal production work at 17415 Jefferson Street and 6509 Olson Road in Union, both down the street from the residence where Harper lived for 26 years. “

All defendants have faced investigation from the EPA for their conduct, including Southern California Chemical Company, Inc. who had a facility shut down by the EPA.

Facilities operated by Techalloy and Central Wire, Inc. have also been placed under a consent decree due to reckless management of toxic chemicals, according to the news release.