Eighteen families near Walnutport filed suit in Lehigh County Court to reclaim costs related to the clean-up after a soot-cloud blanketed the area in July 1985.

The cloud, which emanated from the 2-1/2-mile-long cinder bank of the New Jersey Zinc Company, Palmerton, rose up and over the Blue Mountain, covering everything in its path with a layer of grime. The cloud caused at least one auto accident, Lehigh Township police said at the time.

The incident happened when contractor Herman Bollinger was working on the bank. The Palmerton R.2 resident reclaims and sells the cinders for anti-skid material.