The owners of 100 contaminated properties in North Tiverton want the court to put a $12-million settlement offer into effect.

PROVIDENCE -- North Tiverton residents are expected to ask a federal court tomorrow to enforce the terms of a tentative $12- million settlement with the Texas-based utility Southern Union for the cleanup of toxic soil in about 100 properties.

According to U.S. District Court records, Southern Union agreed last April to pay $9 million in damages and $3 million for the cleanup of cyanide, lead, arsenic and other contaminants -- as long as the town and the state Department of Environmental Management signed off on any claims against the utility.

But a dispute has developed over details of the tentative agreement.

Since blue-tinged soil contaminated with cyanide was discovered by sewer construction workers under Bay Street in August 2002, residents have been unable to sell, refinance or improve their properties or enjoy their yards, not even to plant flowers or vegetables. About 150 residents in the working-class Bay Street neighborhood filed suit four years ago.

The resident plaintiffs say the contingencies spelled out in the deal have now been met.

But Southern Union says the talks put into the court record April 22 were an "outline of settlement terms."

"The outline was not a settlement agreement, but rather a road map or plan requiring a four-party settlement" involving not only the plaintiffs and Southern Union, but the town and the DEM, according written arguments submitted recently to the court by lawyers for the utility.

Former Senior Judge Ernest C. Torres, who oversaw the case until recusing himself in December, has said that he believes the homeowners will probably get the order to enforce the settlement.

Since last April, homeowners have said, they've received bids for the cleanup that meet the $3-million ceiling set by Southern Union.

The plan satisfied everyone involved -- the residents, the town and the DEM -- that the remediation would make the properties safe, they said.

Contaminated soil, which covers about 50 acres, would be removed to a depth of two feet, and residents would accept deed restrictions requiring property owners to refrain from disturbing the earth still containing toxins.

The DEM has said the toxic wastes resulted from the burning of coal to manufacture gas decades ago at the former Fall River Gas Co., acquired by Southern Union in 2000.

Once the soil is cleaned up, the DEM would drop a separate administrative case against Southern Union, and the town would lift a moratorium on excavation in the area that has been in place since the wastes were discovered.

But the plaintiffs say Southern Union has added conditions that were not part of the April deal.

In August, the utility demanded money from the town to settle the case, which plaintiffs' lawyers have characterized as a "calculated insistence" that "discouraged any serious negotiation efforts from developing."

In October, Torres acted as an intermediary to help Southern Union and the town resolve their differences, because the settlement depended on an agreement between the two.

In early November, the lawyer for the town was to report that Tiverton was prepared to release the utility from any claims the town might have. But on the eve of a conference scheduled with Torres, Southern Union demanded that the town not only release the utility from liability in the neighborhood affected by the lawsuit, but waive future claims that might arise from the discovery of contaminants anywhere in Tiverton, according to a chronology of the case prepared by the plaintiffs.

After Torres' mediation failed, he recused himself. Tomorrow's arguments will be heard by Judge William E. Smith.

A key element of the proposed deal, designed to keep the cost of the remediation within the $3 million set by Southern Union, is a tentative agreement by the town to accept contaminated soil removed from North Tiverton at its landfill.

Southern Union "has received exactly what it bargained for," the plaintiffs said in written arguments submitted to Smith.

The plaintiffs are asking the judge to order Southern Union to pay any costs beyond the $3 million caused by the delay since bids were obtained. gmacris@projo.com / (401) 277-7455

Originally published by Gina Macris, Journal Staff Writer.

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