Connecticut’s Attorney General thinks Wal-Mart has been reckless and irresponsible. The AG announced last week that he is suing Wal-Mart for trying to expand its store in Stratford beyond the agreed upon dimensions of the store. According to the Hartford Courant, the store is being built on a Superfund toxic cleanup site. Federal and state taxpayers paid $85 million to clean up the site so that Wal-Mart could eventually build a store there. “Thankfully,” said AG Richard Blumenthal, “Wal-Mart’s reckless, irresponsible actions did not expose its workers and the citizens of Stratford to the lead, asbestos, PCBs and other hazardous materials buried at the site, but they very easily could have.” The state Dept. of Environmental Protection filed a suit in Hartford Superior Court last week, seeking an injunction to stop Wal-Mart from violating restrictions on the use of this parcel of land. The state is trying to protect the cap that covers the hazardous materials which were left from 70 years of manufacturing brake linings and auto parts at the site.
Wal-Mart’s reaction to the lawsuit? A spokesman said the company was surprised and disappointed. This is at least the second lawsuit that the AG has brought against Wal-Mart on environmental grounds. A suit brought earlier this year charged Wal-Mart with polluting at least 11 streams in Connecticut. The company was surprised and disappointed by that lawsuit as well.
