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[MICHELE ROUNDS <MR.RB@worldnet.att.net>]

all:

from an enviro weekly
   
     
     *16  CALIFORNIA:  ROCKETDYNE CLASS ACTION SUIT DERAILED
          A federal lawsuit claiming that a rocket engine laboratory
     polluted soil and groundwater in Los Angeles was denied on 10/20
     the class-action status that would have expanded it to cover as
     many as 500,000 people.
          US District Judge Audrey Collins said the class-action claim
     against Rocketdyne was too broad and ill supported, but she gave
     plaintiffs' attorneys until 12/22 to amend their complaint and
     keep the suit alive.
     (AP/San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner online, 10/21).  
          The eight plaintiffs contend that Rocketdyne, a Boeing North
     American subsidiary, contaminated their property near the
     laboratory with toxic and radioactive materials through decades
     of rocket and atomic research (Greenwire, 3/12).  The suit seeks
     damages for property devaluation near the San Fernando Valley
     laboratory and also asks that Rocketdyne be required to monitor
     cancer and illnesses in nearby residents, reveal the public
     health risks of its research, stop discharging hazardous
     substances, and start cleaning up its pollution. 
          Collins said the plaintiffs had failed to offer proof of
     their claim that 230,000 gallons of solvents had migrated from
     the site through groundwater, affecting people living as far as
     10 miles away (Mack Reed, Los Angeles Times, 10/21).