FILE: Yellowstone National Park northeast entrance.
Last May, distraught parents Anthony and Emily Aiuppa filed alawsuitagainst Yellowstone National Park, alleging that their park employee housing gave their children lead poisoning. “The biggest regret of our lives was living in that house,” Emily Aiuppa told SFGATE.
No amount oflead exposureis safe for children, and those under 6 years old are especially vulnerable, according to the Mayo Clinic. Lead poisoning can hurt brain development and cause health problems with kidneys, the nervous system and more.
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Today, the Aiuppas’ oldest daughter’s bones are so brittle and weak that she needs to use a wheelchair. She was only 7 months old when the family moved into a historic home in Fort Yellowstone in October 2018; later tests of the home and the family’s children came back positive for lead.
Damage seen on employee housing at Fort Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park, Mammoth, Wyo., June 5, 2020.
The Aiuppas allege that the national park didn’t disclose the presence of lead-based paint, allowed them to live in a house with lead contamination, and didn’t properly assess for the hazard or remediate the risk.
Now, lawyers representing Yellowstone National Park are trying to dismiss the case, according to a motion to dismiss filed in mid-April.
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Attorneys representing the federal government are arguing that the court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the Aiuppas’ claims based on theFederal Tort Claims Act, which gives the federal government certain protections from being sued by its employees.
Source: Drudge Report
