City of Beatrice adds KC Mo based gas supplier Aquila after EPA notifies city that it may have to pay clean up costs from coal tar contamination on property Aquila sold it. Omaha.Com The City of Beatrice has filed its second lawsuit in less than a week in an attempt to shield itself from liability in a hazardous-waste cleanup near the Big Blue River. The city sued Aquila Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, saying an Aquila subsidiary knew about coal tar contamination but didn't disclose it when it sold the land to Beatrice. A coal gasification plant had been situated there. The city bought the flood plain land in 1996 with federal grant money. In May, the federal Environmental Protection Agency notified the city that it would be one of the parties responsible for cleaning up the site at an estimated cost of $1 million. On Sept. 30, the city sued Kirkham, Michael and Associates, an Omaha-based engineering consulting firm that conducted an environmental review of the site.