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Aguirre Seeks Tens of Millions in Environmental Lawsuit

San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre has filed a civil complaint against an oil company for failing to clean up fuel leaking under Qualcomm Stadium. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Aguirre Seeks Tens of Millions in Environmental Lawsuit

San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre has filed a civil complaint against an oil company for failing to clean up fuel leaking under Qualcomm Stadium. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Cleanup operations around Kinder Morgan's gasoline Tank Farm on Friars road have been going on since 1992. At least 100,000 gallons of fuel have leaked into a mile-long plume under Qualcomm stadium and towards the San Diego River.

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The company says it is doing its best to fulfill an agreement to clean up the site by 2013. But San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre says his staff say the clean up could take another 38 years.

Aguirre : The remediation strategy relies on delay, obfuscation, and administrative inaction. They have acknowledged responsibility but then they have postponed remediation.

The lawsuit is filed with an outside law firm experienced in environmental litigation. The dollar amount the financial settlement seeks is not specified, but Aguirre says it would be in the tens of millions of dollars if the city wins the case.

Alison St John, KPBS News.