Judge rules against PPG in lawsuit over pollution

PPG Industries Inc. violated state and federal environmental laws by discharging pollutants and stormwater from a 150-acre dump site in Armstrong County without proper permits, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Mitchell found the company liable for the violations but reserved any determination of damages or other penalties for a later date.

PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club claimed in the lawsuit that PPG illegally discharged pollutants from covered waste lagoons near Ford City for decades and failed to follow a 2009 state order requiring it to monitor and collect seepage.

The highly corrosive slurry in the lagoons contains arsenic, lead, antimony and other metals, and is leaking through the surrounding rocks into the river, the lawsuit alleged.

“We won on each of the claims that we presented, so that's certainly a good outcome for us,” said Patrick Sheldon, an attorney for PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club.

The company is reviewing the judge's decision, spokesman Mark Silvey said. “PPG believes it has proactively and responsibly addressed conditions at the site.”

The site is owned by Ford City but sits in Cadogan and North Buffalo. PPG used the lagoons from 1950 to 1970 to hold waste from its Ford City manufacturing plant on the other side of the Allegheny River.

The lawsuit named PPG and Ford City as defendants, but the environmental groups are not seeking damages from the borough.

Brian Bowling is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at 412-325-4301 or bbowling@tribweb.com.