Decades of industrial pollution left lasting damage in St. Croix. Discover how strategic litigation delivered the largest environmental recovery in U.S. Virgin Islands history.

For decades, industrial operations on the south shore of St. Croix left a legacy of environmental contamination. At the alumina facility, operators disposed of bauxite tailings—a caustic byproduct of alumina processing—into poorly maintained waste areas, resulting in massive piles of "red mud." The island’s largest productive aquifer was also contaminated by a range of pollutants—including petroleum hydrocarbons, lead, arsenic, mercury, and methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), threatening the health of local communities.

In 2005, Dema Law initiated litigation on behalf of the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to recover costs associated with the environmental damage caused by the owners and operators of the major oil and alumina refineries. Over a decade of legal efforts, the firm secured settlements valued at more than $126 million. These funds have been instrumental in environmental remediation projects, including the closure, stabilization, drainage, vegetation, and long-term monitoring of the site.