Trial begins in Muskego landfill vinyl chloride leak: Tiny amounts harmful, expert says; firm says it acted diligently

WAUKESHA, May 23, 2009 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- WMI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A lengthy jury trial on whether a carcinogen that reportedly has leaked from the closed Muskego Sanitary Landfill to private wells has begun, with testimony from an expert who said just one molecule of the chemical was poisonous enough to cause cancer.

Separate lawsuits were filed earlier this decade by Muskego homeowners and businesses against Waste Management Inc., owner of the closed landfill, and the firms believed to have dumped toxic waste there beginning in the mid-1950s. The site was closed in 1980, although toxic dumping reportedly had stopped before then.

The two lawsuits are now being heard by jury before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Kathryn Foster. Although an exact dollar amount of damages being sought is not public, those who brought the lawsuits reportedly are seeking millions.

The trial is focused solely on property damages that can be linked to the landfill, not illnesses the residents may have developed from exposure to vinyl chloride, the toxin detected in private wells to the east, southeast and south of the landfill.

The trial was launched with dramatic testimony on the dangers of vinyl chloride to people, followed by the account of a young mother unable to enjoy some time with her newborn because contaminated well water prevented her from bathing the baby at home.

A sticking point in the trial is that while plaintiffs' attorneys can convey to jurors the toxicity of vinyl chloride to the general population, lawyers cannot demonstrate how it endangered the health of those who filed the lawsuits.

It will be a tough guideline to follow. A PowerPoint presentation planned for jurors contains a skull and crossbones, a universal symbol warning of danger for serious harm. The symbol likely will be disputed among lawyers when presented later in the trial that's supposed to last for nearly two months.

Defense attorneys have objected when they deemed that plaintiffs' attorneys crossed the line when attempting to show how miserable life was for those who could no longer use their wells.

Cancer link

Vinyl chloride is used to make plastic, especially plastic sewage pipe. It has been linked to liver and brain cancers, according to the testimony of Jeffery Foran, a toxicologist and former director of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research Institute.

Vinyl chloride toxicity levels do not necessarily increase as more is absorbed into a body through the mouth, skin or by inhaling it, Foran said. The simple introduction of a single molecule into a cell can begin the creation of a tumor, he said.

The belief that "You're not going to get cancer unless exposed to a lot of it is wrong," Foran said.

Jurors then heard from Renee Lipett, who lived on Hillendale Drive with her former husband, Tom Vitrano, shortly after their daughter was born.

After receiving a notice that the well was contaminated with vinyl chloride, the family could only use the water for their toilet.

"I wasn't able to enjoy (with the baby) what other parents enjoy at home with their child," she said.

Lipett explained that she would have to take the baby to a friend's home to bathe her.

And after the home was connected to city water, Lipett didn't want to use the water for drinking and other personal uses.

State and federal officials have repeatedly claimed outside of the trial that the level of vinyl chloride detected in private wells is low, and none has been found in city drinking water.

Vinyl chloride concentrations were so low in the 1980s and 1990s that instruments were not sophisticated enough to detect the toxin, officials have said.

Larry Buechel, former Waste Management project director of Muskego landfill cleanup, testified that when he learned in 1997 of a private well to the south that was contaminated, he wasn't sure there was even a "clear pathway" for vinyl chloride to get there from the landfill.

He also told jurors that up until 2008, Waste Management's position was that it was unclear where well contamination was coming from.

Timing is a key point in the defense's argument, which is trying to show that Waste Management was responsive and did everything it could at the time to investigate and mitigate well contaminations, with the tools it had available at the time.

Those actions included supplying bottled water and ultimately bringing city water to the affected properties, although the company could not determine where the pollutants originated.

Much of the pollution was discovered by Waste Management's own engineers, a defense attorney told jurors.

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