Springdale residents file lawsuit seeking stop to Friday morning's plant implosion

An Allegheny County judge has ordered the company scheduled to implode the former Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale on Friday morning to hold off on placing explosive charges in the building until a ruling is issued for a lawsuit filed by residents seeking to halt the demolition.

The lawsuit is seeking to halt plans by Charah Solutions, Controlled Demolition Inc., Grant Mackay Co. and Civil and Environmental Consultants Inc. to implode the boiler house at the former power plant in Springdale.

It was filed Friday by attorney Janice Savinis on behalf of 16 residents.

The plaintiffs’ emergency motion for preliminary injunction will be heard at 1 p.m. Wednesday before Judge John T. McVay Jr. in Allegheny County Court.

In the event the implosion proceeds, Springdale Borough will open its gymnasium for residents who need a place to go for the duration, police chief Derek Dayoub announced during Tuesday’s borough council meeting.

The gym will open at 6:30 a.m. Friday, and public safety personnel will be on site, Dayoub said.

The announcement was made following a nine-minute closed session that was held after council heard from residents — some of them plaintiffs in the lawsuit — asked them to give residents a place to go during the implosion.

Mayor Joe Bertoline said after the meeting that the idea to open the borough’s gymnasium at 325 School St. had been discussed internally.

Residents who filed the lawsuit allege they were harmed by the June 2 smokestack implosion at the site. They maintain they will suffer even more if the upcoming implosion is allowed to proceed at 8 a.m. Friday.

A $50,000 bond was required by the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit. They are Thomas and Stacey Ansell; Travis and Brittni Bair; Daniel, Thomas and Patricia Garrigan; Kevin Keener; Suzanne Price; Joe and Caitlin Kern; Shawn Moore; Rose Paris; Linda Schaffer; Donald Vasil Jr.; and Victoria Christy.

The smokestacks were demolished June 2 with what the company said was a small amount of explosives so the chimneys would fall, similar to felling a tree, into a former coal yard that was cleared away.

CDI, Charah and Grant Mackay recommended that people close their windows, doors and air intakes as a precaution.

The lawsuit alleges that on May 19, representatives from the borough and Grant Mackay visited the Bairs and told them to evacuate their home between 5 and 10 a.m. on the day of the implosion.

The Bairs were told that housing accommodations would not be made and, later that day, filed a complaint with the Allegheny County Health Department raising concerns about the implosion’s effect on their family’s health and home.

Charah contacted the Bairs on May 31 and said the company would compensate them for housing from June 1 to 3, according to the lawsuit.

During the implosion, the shorter chimney stack fell in the direction of Porter Street, and the taller stack fell toward Pittsburgh Street, in the area where the plaintiffs live.

The blast caused pressures resulting in broken and blown-out windows and displaced door frames, the lawsuit said. A steel door from the chimney’s rain cap landed in Garrigan’s yard, the lawsuit said.

Dust and flying pieces from the chimney flew into the Bairs’ and Garrigans’ homes, the lawsuit said.

Power was lost and a cloud of dust lingered for a period of time following the implosion. Dust, fiberglass, flyrock and pieces of sheet metal landed on people’s yards, porches and cars, thereby creating a “nuisance” to the community.

“Due to the extensive damage to their homes and presence of toxic, hazardous and carcinogenic metals in their homes, neither Plaintiff Bairs nor Plaintiff Garrigan have been able to live in their homes since the implosion,” the lawsuit said.

Other plaintiffs allege that the implosion has created health issues and caused property damage.

There were no injuries.

The lawsuit also contends that the state Department of Environmental Protection found CDI was responsible for the private property damage and damage to the utility lines.

The plaintiffs allege the boiler house implosion will unreasonably interfere with the public’s right to clean air; the natural, scenic and aesthetic value of the environment; and the use and enjoyment of their property.

Officials with Grant Mackay and CEC did not immediately return messages seeking comment about the lawsuit.

A Charah official declined to comment. A spokeswoman for CDI said the company is only serving as a subcontractor for the project and that it would be inappropriate to comment on the lawsuit.

Airing grievances

Some residents who spoke at Tuesday’s borough council meeting aired their displeasure with how the first implosion went and asked borough officials to do something to prevent it from happening again.

“We, the residents of Springdale, are stakeholders in this,” said one of the plaintiffs, Stacy Ansell. “And I feel that nobody has listened or even gave us a second thought.”

Ansell, of Washington Street, said her home has property damage from the first implosion.

“This is infuriating. It is mentally damaging. My thought process, I think of nothing else all day long,” she said.

Brittni Bair, another plaintiff living on Pittsburgh Street, told council the injunction was filed “in an attempt to protect our community members, from the type of destruction that several of us … got to witness on June 2.”

Laura Veith, an attorney representing Charah, told council and residents the company cannot comment on pending litigation, but she said the company is listening to people’s concerns.

“I’m sorry that I can’t provide a substantive response,” she said. “But I did want to say we’re here, and we’re listening.”

Kyle Baicker-Mckee, an attorney representing Grant Mackay Co., declined to comment after the meeting.