Baker Hostetler Orlando partner William L. Pence was quoted in the article, “Canadian University to Help With Clearwater Cleanup,” which appeared in the St. Petersburg Times and tampabay.com on January 27, 2011.
The article describes the results of Pence’s effort to convince a leading Canadian university to participate in a joint venture with the City of Clearwater, Florida, to design and implement a remedy to address soil and groundwater contamination at a City-owned site. The University of Waterloo in Ontario pledged $848,000 of in kind services toward the project, while Clearwater Gas System will pay $368,050 for the five-year pilot study, which has been approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The City operated a manufactured gas plant at the site from 1923 through the 1950’s. The process yielded tar and oily wastes as by-products, which have ended up in the soil and groundwater underlying the site.
Pence, an environmental attorney who has represented the City for the past 20 years, had previously worked with the University on other projects in Florida and was aware of their interest in pursuing field research projects. He said the method that will be used for the cleanup—injecting sodium persulfate to chemically treat impacted soil and groundwater—is a better option than razing the site to dig up the contaminated soil. He said “It’s a much more efficient, much more environment-friendly approach.”