EPA, Companies Work Toward Alabama PCB Settlement

Date: March 14, 2002

Source: News Room

Three companies found liable for widespread PCB contamination in the Anniston, Alabama area have reached an agreement with the federal government on measures to develop a cleanup plan. After at least a year of talks, a consent decree with Solutia, Monsanto and Pharmacia and the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department could be signed soon. The agreement would force the companies to conduct a long-term Superfund evaluation of all the possible cancer-causing PCBs that leaked from the former Monsanto plant in western Anniston. The signing would keep the polluted site off the National Priorities List. In a state civil case filed by Anniston residents, Monsanto was found liable for property damage last month along with Solutia, a spin-off that now operates the plant, and Pharmacia, formed after Monsanto merged with Pharmacia & Upjohn in 2000. The amount they should pay the plaintiffs has not yet been determined. Under the consent decree, it could take several years for EPA to make a final decision on how much the companies must pay for a comprehensive cleanup.

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