Lawyer Calls Spill 'A Theft'

Stanley Alpert, an environmental lawyer from New York City, gave a short presentation to the Bucktail Watershed Assn. Thursday evening, outlining the legal avenues private citizens can pursue relative to the toxic spill that occurred when a train crashed near the headwaters of the Portage Creek.

A former federal environmental prosecutor who is now a civil lawyer practicing in New York City, told Cameron County residents during a meeting here Thursday evening that they are victims of 'a theft' and that there are legal recourses for them to pursue.

Stanley Alpert of the Alpert Firm met with about 30 residents Thursday afternoon and then attended the monthly meeting of the Bucktail

Watershed Assn. to offer preliminary legal advice to residents and business owners who believe they have suffered loss as a result of a chemical spill that wiped out the living organism in the Portage-Sinnemahoning Creek.

"This is a theft. Something has been stolen from you," Alpert told the audience. "Your property values have been diminished. You've lost enjoyment of a stream. You have a legal right."

Alpert said he believes the railroad company responsible for the spill, Norfolk Southern, is being "reasonable" in its dealings with local and state officials, but he warned that the cooperation could be shortlived.

"All anybody can ask is that they do the right thing," Alpert said. "It's been my experience that large corporation view their selfinterests and what is doing the right thing very differently."

Also on hand were representatives of the Upper and Lower Susquehanna Riverkeepers, a non-profit environmental watchdog. Those men both warned that the community must be "vigilant" through the legal processes that lie ahead.

"Big corporations are creating environmental problems faster than they can be cleaned up," Paul Otruba, a riverkeeper with the Upper Susquehanna organization. "Many environmental problems can result from the way government functions."

Alperts firm is on the web at alpertfirm.com.