Coal ash dumping suit filed in Delaware

ARROYO BARRIL, Dominican Republic, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A civil lawsuit has been filed in Delaware charging toxic levels of coal ash dumped at a rural port in the Dominican Republic made area residents sick.

The suit cites repeated miscarriages and children born without limbs and organs as evidence of harm caused by the coal ash dumped by AES Corp. of Virginia, the Miami Herald reported.

Law firms Levy Phillips & Konigsberg of New York and Bifferato of Wilmington, Del., filed the suit Wednesday seeking unspecified compensation for seven clients and medical monitoring for the entire neighborhood.

"We tested 42 people, and more than half of those tested had abnormal, unsafe levels of arsenic in their blood," Levy's Robert Vance said.

Some 50,000 tons of coal ash, generated by an AES plant in Puerto Rico, were dumped near the village of Arroyo Barril six years go.