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The recent discovery of a toxic plume of pollution in the ground water at the Raytheon Plant in the Azalea neighborhood of St. Petersburg, Florida is not the first time Raytheon has been a bad neighbor. In 1986 the Raytheon plant in Mountainview, California was the subject of an EPA order to clean up contaminated ground water around that plant. The contamination of the ground water at the Mountainview site was believed to be from leaking underground chemical storage tanks. In that case Raytheon installed three wells to pump and treat ground water to contain the contaminated plume.

Raytheon certainly had the knowledge about these types of chemical leaks over twenty years ago based upon this California case. Apparently, Raytheon chose not to spend the money in St. Petersburg to pump and treat the polluted water but rather decided that "natural attenuation" was the best choice and cheapest choice for them. By doing this Raytheon has caused substantial damage to the real estate values and likely the health of the residents in the Azalea neighborhood of St. Petersburg.

I have heard from three real estate agents in the last week who have called me to report sales contracts on homes in the Azalea area that have fallen through because the buyers backed out for fear of the pollution of the ground water. The class action lawsuits that have been filed in Pinellas County are seeking damages for the residents for their loss of the value of their homes.

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