Wednesday, April 07, 2004
By Associated Press

PENSACOLA, Florida — ConocoPhillips has agreed to a $70 million preliminary settlement with as many as 7,000 Florida Panhandle property owners who sued over pollution from a former fertilizer plant site the company owned.

The agreement, which has not been approved by a judge, would settle two lawsuits that contend an underground toxic plume has devalued property and may have caused health problems, said Mike Papantonio, a lawyer for the Pensacola, Florida, residents.

The proposal would divide $65 million in varying amounts among up to 7,000 people who owned or previously owned about 3,000 homes and other properties in Pensacola, Papantonio said this week. It also would allocate $3.6 million to medically monitor about 3,000 residents and $750,000 for administering the settlement.

A spokeswoman for Houston-based ConocoPhillips, Kristi DesJarlais, confirmed the preliminary settlement but declined to talk about the details.

Seven law firms representing the residents would receive as much as $25 million apart from the settlement, plus $2.9 million in costs.

The suits initially sought $500 million for 11,000 property owners, but a judge cut the number to 3,000 residents.

The fertilizer plant dates to 1889. Conoco Inc., which later merged to form ConocoPhillips, bought it in 1963. The plant was sold nine years later to Agrico Chemical Co., which closed it in 1975.

In 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency designated the plant as a Superfund site, contaminated with fluoride, lead, and other toxins. Cleanup of contaminated soil was completed in 1997.

Source: Associated Press