Powerful Florida family sold DeSantis administration toxic land, lawsuit alleges

In a federal lawsuit unsealed late last week, Sonja Eddings Brown — Collier’s former employee — says independent tests show that at least 8,000 acres of the land sold are likely contaminated with a wood treatment chemical called creosote related to a 1956 fire she claims the family never cleaned up.

Long-term exposure to creosote may cause birth defects and cancer, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Brown contends that Collier never disclosed the contamination to the state.