Rows of citrus trees bundled with balls of sweet oranges, tangy lemons and ripe limes are part of the region’s bucolic past.
Perchlorate contamination Fertilizer shipped from the Atacama Desert of Chile in the 1930s and 1940s and mixed into the rich loam of Pomona’s fertile ground not only contained nitrates that pumped up production, but also perchlorate, a chemical that causes thyroid damage and wreaks havoc with crucial hormones at high doses.
In short, perchlorate contaminated the groundwater in Pomona, the city’s largest source of drinking water, closing eight to 14 wells and causing a crisis that cost the city close to $10 million for a cleanup plant and ongoing maintenance.
In short, the jury concluded the benefits of the fertilizer outweighed the eventual poisoning to the water supply and possible harm to public health.
That ruling doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” said Ken Manning, the executive director of the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority, the agency responsible for overseeing contamination and well water cleanup, and the former CEO of the Chino Basin Watermaster.
SQM attorney Bob Smith, with the San Diego-based law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, said the company’s product was not defective and the mining company did nothing wrong.
“SQM made millions of dollars from selling its product to Pomona’s citizens yet refuses to take responsibility for cleaning up the pollution caused by its product.
The city of Pomona built a treatment plant for $9 million and asked SQM to help defray the costs but the company refused, Poulsen said, so it sued.
“The benefit of the fertilizer exceeded any risk from its use,” he said during an interview Wednesday.
It creates an incentive for companies not to look into the risks of their products,” Leff said.