The environmental groups who are asking a judge to include them in a lawsuit between the District and Pepco say the city isn’t acting in the best interests of the citizens and the Anacostia River.
Natural Resources Defense Council, Anacostia Riverkeeper and the Anacostia Watershed Society plan to seek an injunction in U.S. Court for the District of Columbia, seeking what they say should be a stronger agreement for river cleanup of PCB contamination at the energy company’s Benning Road facility.
In the filing the group states “the District is balancing competing interests that include both environmental
remediation and possible commercial redevelopment of the Anacostia waterfront. By contrast, environmental plaintiffs’ only interests are in a thorough, robust cleanup of the Anacostia River and of the sites leaching pollution into the river, in order to protect the health of local communities and the environment.”
The injunction goes on to say “absent environmental plaintiffs’ participation, the District and the Pepco defendants could (and have currently proposed to) settle this case on terms that environmental plaintiffs believe will fail to protect public health and the environment.” The groups also note that unless a judge adds them as interested parties in the case, the city and Pepco are under no legal obligation to consider their concerns.
D.C. has said it will oppose the motion by the groups.
