
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994                   TAG: 9402270085
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Short

GROUP SUES TANK FARM AFTER LEAKS FOULED AREA

A $26.9 million lawsuit has been filed by neighbors of a tank farm that is blamed for an underground oil leak that has fouled the soil of a Fairfax County residential area.

The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria by 291 property owners who said their Mantua neighborhood now carries a stigma that makes it difficult to sell houses there. Even properties that are not near the 18-acre underground leak are difficult to sell, the property owners claim.

Star Enterprise, a Texaco affiliate that owns the tank farm, has stopped the oil from spreading and has agreed to a long-term cleanup under federal supervision.

Spokesman Joe Kelly said the company does not believe the property values of the plaintiffs have been affected by the contamination.

Star Enterprise already has settled legal claims with about 300 Mantua homeowners who lived over or next to the contamination. It has bought about 60 houses in the neighborhood.

by CNB