Federal government sues over toxic cleanup in Seminole County

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The federal government is suing to recover environmental cleanup costs on Seminole County industrial land that’s been polluted by companies for decades, according to a new lawsuit.

The 8.2 acres is located at 1222 N. U.S. Hwy. 17-92 in Longwood near the Big Tree Park.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “has determined that there may be an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or the environment because of a release of hazardous substances or a threatened release of hazardous substances at and from the Site,” according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court’s Orlando division.

The government is suing four companies: Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp., Michigan-based General Dynamics Land Systems, United Technologies Communications and Lexar Corp. The latter two don’t have corporate offices.

General Dynamics acquired the property in 1966 and manufactured circuit boards until 1979. Between 1979 to 1988, the other three companies used the property for telecommunications systems operations, the lawsuit said.

“The circuit board and/or telecommunications systems operations by Defendants employed solvents or vapor degreaser for parts cleaning, which included trichloroethylene (’TCE’),” the lawsuit said.

TCE is a chemical that causes cancer.

The EPA added the Longwood site onto a National Priorities List in 2010.

“For General Dynamics Longwood, we turned that property over to EPA because the responsible party was not responsive to us,” Tom Lubozynski, a state Department of Environmental Protection administrator, told the Orlando Sentinel at the time.

The federal government did say how much it has spent on cleanup efforts so far in the lawsuit or what it estimates the eventual cost to be in the lawsuit, and the EPA did not immediately respond to Florida Politics’ questions.

The lawsuit said the federal government should be reimbursed for the cleanup costs and the four companies are liable for the expenses plus interest. The government also asked the courts for any additional relief.

Florida Politics reached out to the corporations Friday but did not get a response for comment.