CLARKSBURG — Forty-three years later, John Morris still remembers hearing a thunderous boom and watching a fireball roll through the parking lot of his family home and business, prompting him and his parents to escape up a wooded hillside.
It was 1982, and a Cumberland Farms truck carrying 12,000 gallons of gasoline had crashed into a guardrail on the hairpin turn outside the Golden Eagle gift shop and restaurant on the Mohawk Trail.
“I’m still terrified of fire to this day. I’ll never even get cremated,” said John Morris, who owns the iconic restaurant on the line between North Adams and Clarksburg with his wife, Lori.
Morris and his parents escaped unharmed, but the driver of the truck died and the family business all but burned to the ground. After two years, the family was able to resurrect the gift shop-turned restaurant from the ashes.
Morris recalls turning on faucets at his home and being hit by an overwhelming smell of gas. A well on the site that was contaminated with gasoline was replaced on another side of the property.
A view inside the Golden Eagle, whose owners, John and Lori Morris, and fighting to be compensated for environmental damage they say their restaurant continues to suffer after a 1982 crash spilled thousands of gallons of gasoline and led to the use of firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Though the fire is a distant memory, a tragedy lives on. A chemical called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS, was used in the foam retardant sprayed to fight the 1982 fire.
The chemical has infiltrated the restaurant’s water supply and is threatening to shutter the eatery and lounge.
The Morrises filed a lawsuit April 7 in Berkshire Superior Court against the state Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Cumberland Farms and a truck manufacturing company over the matter.
The claim includes allegations of negligence and trespassing against Cumberland Farms and seeks a declaratory judgment against the DEP. The plaintiffs are asking the court to override the state agency’s insistence that the Morrises themselves are the “responsible party.”
The DOT first spread sodium into the restaurant’s water supply by salting the roads, the complaint says, and the DEP has set the family up for failure with no offers of relief. Lawyers for Cumberland Farms argue their tanker spilled gasoline, not PFAS, onto the road, so the company is not at fault.
In 1982, on the hairpin turn on Route 2 where the Golden Eagle restaurant is located, a tanker truck carrying gas crashed and caught fire. The fire department used aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) to combat the fire. The foam contained PFAS that leached into the area’s soil and have caused both John and Lori Morris health concerns. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
A water survey conducted by the DEP in 2022 touched off a series of events the Morrises fear is driving them to the brink of bankruptcy and may leave them without a livelihood in their 60s.
“Who’s going to hire us if we don’t have this?” John Morris asked during an interview at the restaurant. The business has a strong local following and also draws tourists from many nations. “I cry about this every day.”
The 2022 analysis of the Golden Eagle’s water supply detected 812.6 nanograms of PFAS6 per liter in the sample. Massachusetts has established a maximum contaminant level for PFAS6 of 20 nanograms per liter.
Spokespersons for all the named defendants in the complaint declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Morris says the PFAS crisis has cost him and his wife dearly. For one, publicity around the issue and mandatory warnings he is required to post on the restaurant’s front door, restrooms and other prominent places have cost him business. Lots and lots of business.
He said that for decades, the business pulled in $1 million in gross sales annually, and that has plummeted to about a quarter-million a year. Since the state mandated the restaurant use bottled water exclusively for cooking, the business spends an extra $23,000 a year on that, John Morris said. Adding to that expense is nearly another $200,000 in fees for attorneys and environmental engineers, he added.
In 1982, a tanker truck carrying gasoline crashed and caught fire on the hairpin turn of the Mohawk Trail in Clarksburg in Berkshire County, where the Golden Eagle restaurant is located. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
The lounge downstairs is vintage New England, with an old-time jukebox featuring artists like Buddy Holly, Bobby Darren and Jerry Lee Lewis. The upstairs dining room is tidy and rustic.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released data indicating that 158 million Americans have been exposed to PFAS and other “forever chemicals.”
A multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFS), which includes firefighting agents, is ongoing. Payouts to those who have been determined to suffer serious health problems due to exposure to PFAS have been as high as $500,000, according to coverage of the lawsuit.
Gov. Maura Healey is requiring the state to remove PFAS chemicals entirely from firefighters’ gear by 2027.
That year is also the deadline state officials have set for the Morris family to remediate the chemical issues in their water supply. Their lawyer said no such chemical treatment exists.
According to their lawsuit, the Morrises also suffer from non-alcohol related fatty liver disease. The ailment has previously been connected to PFAS exposure in water supplies.
Plaintiff’s attorney Elizabeth S. Zuckerman said her clients have been confronted with a mess that seems nearly impossible to fix. “You have two people who have worked hard literally their whole lives and they’ve been handed this terrible problem,” said Zuckerman, of Bulkley Richardson in Springfield.
Of the timing of the lawsuit, Zuckerman said they were facing statute of limitation concerns. The deadline is relative to the state’s 2022 water survey, and entails a three-year lookback.
“It was now or never,” she said.
John Morris said when he initially hired an environmental engineering expert, he was hopeful someone from the state would offer the couple relief. The expert called the case a “slam dunk,” given the photos of the fiery crash more than four decades ago. Typically, many people who learned they had PFAS exposure had no idea where it had come from, the expert said.
The expert’s prediction has turned out not to be the case.
The owners have paid to explore sinking a different well, but the topography that surrounds the restaurant — craggy ledges and steeply wooded areas — made it a non-starter. The state awarded the business $50,000 for the initiative.
The fact that the couple also lives in a two-story apartment attached to the restaurant presents another gut shot.
“Our lawyer said we won’t be able to have the business here, and we won’t be able to live here,” John Morris said. “Lori and I have no children and have had a thriving business before this all happened. We’ve had the best life here.”
John and Lori Morris, owners of the Golden Eagle, say they spend $23,000 extra per year on bottled water due to the fact that water coming out of their taps is contaminated with “forever chemicals.” Some PFAS are linked to potential health effects, including cancer, reproductive harm, and developmental problems. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Zuckerman said while the lawsuit does not ask for a specific dollar amount, the Morrises are looking for any help they can get as innocent parties.
“They just want to be made whole, in some way. Perhaps the state can help them find a new water supply,” Zuckerman said.
The lounge is still hopping on weekend nights, and the outside seating on the restaurant’s patio will draw patrons as the weather warms. But the business is down to four employees including John and Lori Morris, compared to 14 during flush times.
The manager of the restaurant was hired as a dishwasher at 17, and remains there at age 43 as he supports six children, John Morris said. Their other employee is a waitress in her 60s.
The couple said when they were able to withstand the dark times of COVID-19 on hospitality businesses, they thought the future of their restaurant was secure.
The Morrises are determined to keep the Golden Eagle going.
“We came back from the fire when nobody thought we could. We came back from COVID. We’ll come back from this,” he said.
