Judge dismisses couple's $36.7 million lawsuit against EPA, for now

A federal judge has dismissed without prejudice a $36.7 million suit filed by a Columbia Heights couple against the Environmental Protection Agency.

The suit was dismissed because Lucas and Leslie Sterling had not exhausted the administrative process against the EPA in claiming their home was contaminated by dioxins and other chemicals because it was built on a state Superfund site without their knowledge.

But on Oct. 15, U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen DeSoto dismissed the suit, noting the Sterlings needed to have a denial of their claim, in writing, by the EPA prior to filing their suit.

The Sterlings filed the initial suit on their own without using an attorney.

The EPA has offered to clean up the soils around their home, according to previous court filings. Since the suit was dismissed without prejudice, the Sterlings could refile their claim if they can’t reach terms with the EPA.

The EPA has previously acknowledged that the Sterlings’  home, which is located on the old Beaver Wood Products site, has dioxin contamination. It was a Montana Superfund site, but was treated  by the EPA from 2000 to 2007, as the EPA had expertise in that kind of cleanup, the EPA previously said.

Beaver Wood Products used a variety of toxic chemicals, including dioxins and furans from the 1940s to the 1990s. In 2000, the site was treated for pentachlorophenol, but only to industrial standards, the Sterlings claim, and should never have become residential property.

The treatment, according to a story in the Hungry Horse News in September, 2000, cost about $2 million, as the PCP, which is used to treat wood fenceposts to keep them from rotting, was rapidly sinking toward the groundwater supply at the time.

That treatment involved spreading contaminated dirt on the surface and then using fertilizers, fungus and bacteria to break down the PCP into inert substances. But the EPA at the time conceded the process might not work for dioxins, and dioxins, a known carcinogen and poison, still persist at the site today, according to soil test results by the EPA that have been done in the past few years. All told, the site is about 20 acres. Most of it is undeveloped, other than most of it being a junkyard. The God’s 10 Commandment Park also now sits where the Beaver Wood Products office used to be.

The Sterlings could not be reached for comment.

The couple’s home, according to court documents, now faces foreclosure by creditors Whitefish Credit Union and Ryan Purdy with a trustee sale scheduled for Nov. 20.

The Sterlings also filed a claim against the state Department of Environmental Quality. That was remanded to Flathead County District Court. The Sterlings sought a restraining order against the Whitefish Credit Union and Purdy to stop the foreclosure proceedings, but DeSoto found the court lacked jurisdiction in that matter.