In a recent conversation, Rupp Pfalzgraf environmental attorney, John Kolaga, and Paul Marzello, the president and CEO of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park shared insights with The Buffalo News regarding a lawsuit against Water Quality Insurance Syndicate (WQIS). The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park is suing for 3.5 million dollars they believe they are entitled to due to WQIS not covering the full costs of cleaning an oil spill that occurred when the USS The Sullivans started sinking. WQIS allegedly stopped covering those cleaning efforts because the “emergency” phase of the oil spill decontamination had ended.
John Kolaga is representing The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park in this lawsuit. Addressing the lawsuit with The Buffalo News, Kolaga illuminated the significance of this legal challenge, noting,
“That’s obviously a very significant loss for the client, which is a nonprofit, and relies heavily on donations from one source or another to stay afloat – no pun intended there. (This) could have a very significant impact on the client if we can’t get this resolved, so we really felt we had no options but to proceed on this claim.”
Kolaga further emphasized the perplexity surrounding the denial of coverage, expressing,
“We really don’t understand the denial of coverage based on the language in the policy that we’ve referenced in our complaint.”
The USS The Sullivans, which had long been plagued by holes in its aging hull, started leaking oil into the Buffalo River the day it started to sink, according to the lawsuit. The park had commissioned temporary repair work that year. Faced with an obligation under the Clean Water Act, the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park embarked on a comprehensive oil spill cleanup mission to avert potential fines that could have amounted to substantial financial penalties. Cleanup crews employed diverse techniques, including absorbent booms, specialized solutions, vacuum technologies, and absorbent pads to remove nearly 10.5 tons of oil debris and more than 117,000 gallons of oily water from the ship’s interior.
Read the full article including future plans for the USS The Sullivans on the Buffalo News website.