Press & Sun-Bulletin: Plaintiffs await word on IBM talks

ENDICOTT — As settlement talks between IBM and more than 600 residents claiming they have been hurt by pollution from the Endicott plant enter their third year, some said last week they are prepared to wait as long as it takes for a fair outcome.

There’s a good summary of the problem at the end of the article:

The pollution has been traced to IBM’s former microelectronic plant on North Street, now owned by Huron Real Estate Associates. IBM has been cleaning the pollution since shortly after it was discovered under Building 18 in 1979. In 2003, the company began installing vents to prevent the pollution from entering more than 430 properties south of the plant.

Over the years, IBM used and stored gross quantifies of TCE in its circuit board assembly process, but corporate leaders are unaware of spilling any, according to Martin. When asked the question Friday, he referred to previous statements.

“We know of no releases of TCE, yet I will tell you, as I have before, the chemical handling standards of the ’50s and ’60s are not what they are today,” Martin said in September 2003 — the year scientists began more fully to understand the lasting ramifications of pollution from long ago.

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