Sherwin Williams Site
The Environmental Litigation Group (ELG) is involved in litigation arising out of the decades-long contamination of the area located around a cluster of Sherwin-Williams paint manufacturing facilities in New Jersey. For more than 100 years, these facilities illegally dumped waste chemicals into the environment, causing severe contamination of groundwater, surface waters, wetlands, and habitats. ELG is working to recover funds to restore these precious resources for future generations.
Investigations of the site reveal that Sherwin-Williams and its predecessors used many hazardous substances and industrial chemicals — including lead, arsenic, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds — to make paints, varnishes, lacquers, resins, and colorants. For years, Sherwin-Williams stored, used, and disposed of these compounds in ways that released the chemicals into the water, soil, and air around the manufacturing plants.
Although the plants ceased operations, the contamination remains today. Many lakes and creeks, wetlands, residential neighborhoods, and commercial areas are contaminated with lead, arsenic, benzene, and other legacy pollutants dumped by Sherwin-Williams.
ELG’s efforts are directed at recovering funds for the cleanup and restoration of affected resources.
The case is New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. The Sherwin Williams Co., Docket No. CAM-L-5032-19 (N.J. Superior Court Camden Co.).
