'Cameron County has no will to fight'

Stanley N. Alpert is a former federal prosecutor who now heads the New York-based Alpert Firm, specializing in environmental and toxic tort cases for harm caused by pollution.

Last summer my assistant and I traveled to Emporium and met with some very fine people who were concerned about the impacts of Norfolk Southern's lye spill in the Sinnemahoning Portage Creek.

Sadly, my law firm, the Alpert Firm, was forced to write to people this week and inform them that this firm cannot file the case.

Any people in the community who wish to protect their legal rights should consult with competent Pennsylvania counsel immediately, and keep their eye on strict Pennsylvania statutes of limitations that limit the time within which one must start a lawsuit.

Some in the press last summer called the spill the greatest environmental disaster the county had ever seen. The investigations and prosecutions by several levels of government are proceeding, and they certainly seem to be assigning blame to Norfolk Southern, so there is a strong chance that Norfolk Southern's liability will be firmly established.

I am certainly appalled by the senseless damage thrust upon this stunningly beautiful community. In some communities, when an environmental disaster occurs, people react with outrage and form organizations to fight against the injustice.

Here, very few people approached this law firm for assistance. As an attorney, I can only respond to people who seek to have me fight for them; I cannot create in people the desire to fight injustice.

I have worked, for example, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, with Erin Brockovich, responding to the largest oil spill in American history that sits under people's homes. If the community seeks, as they did in Greenpoint, to organize and fight for your rights, I urge you to find competent Pennsylvania counsel to examine the case for you.

We have a great court system in the country, and it is capable, when used correctly, of providing some measure of justice to people whose lives have been disrupted by the wrongful acts of others.

I send my best wishes to the very fine people of Emporium and the county.