Sidley Secures Pro Bono Victory for Potomac Riverkeeper Network in Coal Tar Contamination Settlement

Sidley’s environmental litigation team represented Potomac Riverkeeper Network (PRKN) in its federal settlement with the City of Alexandria, Virginia to remediate coal tar contamination at the site of the former Alexandria Town Gas company, a city-owned manufactured gas plant on the waterfront near Founders Park, and to halt decades of discharges of coal tar, creosote, and other contaminants through a storm sewer into the Potomac River. This case is the seventh pro bono litigation matter Sidley has successfully handled for PRKN in the last 14 years.

The settlement, defined in a proposed consent decree filed jointly by the Potomac Riverkeeper Network and the City of Alexandria in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, details commitments by the City to remediate coal tar contamination at the site of the former Alexandria Town Gas company. The City’s efforts to eliminate the discharges over the years were proven inadequate, and the settlement agreement outlines an expanded remediation program to control the persistent contamination. As well, the City is required to provide US$300,000 to fund a mussel restoration project on the Potomac shoreline.

Sidley filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of PRKN in May 2022, detailing the City of Alexandria’s violations of the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The lawsuit further detailed Potomac Riverkeeper’s investigation, which revealed that the City had been illegally discharging coal tar and creosote wastes into the Potomac River on a continuous basis since at least 1975.

The team included Marshall R. Morales, Rose Quam-Wickham, Matthew C. Brewer, David T. Buente Jr., and Justin A. Savage, with support from paralegal Duan Pryor.