Golden Eagle Restaurant in Battle over Toxic Chemicals Threat
A warning notice the couple has had to place on the restaurant's door. They filed suit against MassDOT, Cumberland Farms and the successor to the manufacturer of the gasoline tanker.
John and Lori Morris, owners of the landmark on the Hairpin Turn, have sued the state over toxic chemicals that are ruining their business and negatively affecting their health.
In 1982, a Cumberland Farms tanker truck crashed into the ledge along the Hairpin Turn and went up in flames, killing the driver of the truck and setting the Golden Eagle building on fire — as well as spilling 12,000 gallons of gasoline.
John Morris remembers that fateful night saying, they had to run to get out of the building and climb into the woods behind the premises.
"It happened to be my father's birthday, and I was giving him a birthday present, and I heard a rumbling, and then saw a big fireball go over the bank, and I immediately picked up the phone — it was dead," Morris said. "Then we looked out and there was fire, black smoke everywhere. We got a place to run. We had to run out the back door. We ran up, we had to bring my mother and my father. We had to bring them up in the woods."
To put out the blaze, firefighters used the standard aqueous film-forming foam (AFF), which contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The result was a well contaminated with gasoline that caused the state Department of Environmental Protection to order a new well that was put in in 1983.
This new well was monitored for gasoline for 15 years, ending in 2004. But in 2007, the Morrises said they had to switch to bottled water because road salt used by the state Department of Transportion raised the salinity of their well water.
Then, in 2022, Mass DEP required all public water supply to be tested for PFAS and found that the Morrises' well contained 812.6 nanograms per litre of PFAs in their sample — 40 times the maximum contaminant level established for Massachusetts at 20 ng/l.
The restaurant had to stop using the water for anything related to consumption and post a notice on the door informing customers.
"DEP sent me a technical form saying we could use the water to wash dishes, use the restrooms, no consumption of water, except, you know, bottled water. So we use bottled water for the kitchen. Everyone that dines here gets bottled water, same with the drinks, the ice I get off premises," Morris said.
He said the notice has hurt their business significantly.
"We're probably down more than half in yearly business because of it," Morris said. "We've had people come read the notice last summer, ask us about it, and decide not to dine here because of it."
Not only has the restaurant been negatively affected but the couple, who also live in the building, are suffering non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease which has been linked to those exposed to PFAS.
"We're spending all our life savings and our retirement on trying to be good stewards of the environment and do what we're supposed to do," he said.
The couple said they love the restaurant and want it to continue.
"When you do something you love, you never work a day in your life," Morris said. "We can't believe we're in our 60s, we started in our 20s, crazy, and we're still doing it now, even with this trouble we have, you know, long hours didn't bother us."
Morris' great-aunt Florence Canedy was married to Donald Canedy, who with his brother Lewis had operated the Hairpin Turn gift shop and Whitcomb Summit their parents had started. The brothers split the businesses, with Lewis taking the gift shop. John and Lynne Morris, John's parents, bought it from Lewis Canedy in 1980 and opened the restaurant.
Morris says he is hoping they can find a solution as the family business has been around 1914.
"It's sad. This place has been in my family since this road was built," he said.
He hopes it can still stay as it's a unique destination.
"This place is unique because, not just because it looks out over Berkshire County, and we could see three states from here, but nobody will ever be able to build a building like this hanging over a cliff," he said. "So if we could preserve it, you know, because it's one of a kind."
The lawsuit was filed on April 7 against MassDOT, MassDEP, Cumberland Farms, and the manufacturing company for the truck, Wabash National Corp.
Tags: contamination, lawsuit, PFOA / PFAS,
