February 20, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor
Swiss biopharmaceutical behemoth Roche has a new set of legal troubles on its hands, after homeowners in Clifton, N.J., where the firm has its former Route 3 campus, said Friday that they intend to file a class action lawsuit claiming environmental damage caused by Roche, reported the Clifton Journal.
Roche vacated the campus in 2013 in preparation for a sale this year; its new facility opens in 2015 in a different location. At the height of its production, the 118-acre Roche site employed as many as 10,000 employees.
Ironically, the environmental impact report Roche commissioned in preparation for the sale of the campus, which sits in both Clifton and nearby Nutley, is the impetus for this latest lawsuit, because it found cracks in a sewer line near the northern end of Roche’s property. That may have contaminated groundwater, found the report.
“An inspection of the sewer last spring by engineering firm Paulus, Sokolowski & Sartor PC showed a substantial amount of underground chemical contaminants near the campus’ Route 3 entrance which TRC said likely originated in areas north of the drug company’s facility,” said today’s Clifton Journal article.
“The damaged sanitary sewer pipe beneath the Route 3 campus necessitated a multi-million dollar repair which the City plans to fund during its current budget season.”
The issue was discussed during a closed session of the Clifton City Council, because the City of Clifton will also be named in the lawsuit which alleges the two parties have affected property values. As many as 60 homeowners with property adjacent to the eastern side of Roche’s worksite may be plaintiffs.
Roche said this week that it knew of the lawsuit, saying that although it would not comment on pending litigation, it was in full compliance with environmental laws. Darien Wilson, Roche’s director of public affairs, issued the following statement.
“Since operations ceased on the Roche site at the end of 2013, the company has undertaken a comprehensive environmental investigation under the oversight of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs), licensed by the state of New Jersey,” according to the statement.
“Roche conducted investigations both on its site and in the surrounding area and remedial investigation reports were submitted to the NJDEP prior to May 2014 and accepted as complete,” said the company. “It should be noted, that Roche is in compliance with all state and federal regulatory guidelines and has already begun approved remediation on-site.”
The site has since been sold and will undergone a renaissance when it becomes New Jersey’s first private medical school under a deal struck between Hackensack University Medical Network and Seton Hall University. Roche continued paying taxes on the property until it began demolition, pouring about about $14 million in property taxes into the Nutley and Clifton coffers annually.
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