Florida Landfill Faces Lawsuit

By Daniel Hawn

Published on August 24, 2006

The suit was filed Monday in Santa Rosa County County Circuit Court on behalf of 83 people who live near Coyote Landfill. It claims the landfill has been operated negligently and carelessly since its inception in 2001. As a result, the health of those living nearby has been jeopardized and the surrounding area’s air, groundwater, and soil has contaminated, the suit says.

In addition to seeking an unspecified amount of damages, the suit aims to prevent the landfill from accepting materials that could release pollution into the environment. The lawsuit is also designed to force the landfill’s owner to examine the amount of local pollution since 2001 and eliminate the cause of the pollution.

The landfill’s manager, John Warren, said he didn’t know how to respond to the lawsuit because he had yet to see the allegations.

An environmental health survey analyzed by the Santa Rosa County Health Department revealed that people residing within a mile of the landfill had higher rates of respiratory problems, dizziness, and nausea and other gastrointestinal problems than those living between one and two miles away.

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