Oregon reaches nearly $700M settlement with Monsanto over PCB contamination

[cbabe]

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/15/oregon-settlement-monsanto-pcb-contamination-attorney-general-ellen-rosenblum/

Oregon reaches nearly $700M settlement with Monsanto over PCB contamination

By Conrad Wilson (OPB) and Cassandra Profita (OPB)

Dec. 15, 2022 10:31 a.m. Updated: Dec. 15, 2022 5:39 p.m.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said compounds in Monsanto’s products continue to pollute Oregon’s land and waterways, many decades after the company knew they were highly toxic.

Oregon’s attorney general announced a nearly $700 million settlement Thursday with the biotech giant Monsanto for its alleged role in polluting the state over the course of decades with toxic compounds known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. It’s the largest pollution settlement in Oregon’s history and by far the largest Monsanto has paid out to address the forever chemicals that polluted wide swaths of the state.

Polychlorinated biphenyls have caused and continue to cause devastating impact on Oregon’s natural environment,” Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said during a news conference in Portland. “They threaten the health of the people that use and enjoy our state’s natural resources — our air, our water, our ground, our fish, practically everything in our habitat.”

Monsanto is known today for making the popular Roundup weed-killer, but from the 1930s to just before they were banned in 1979, Monsanto was the sole manufacturer of PCBs in the United States. Since at least 1937, the company knew they were harmful. The chemicals were distributed throughout Oregon in a variety of products, including paint, caulking and electrical equipment. Even when Monsanto had overwhelming evidence of the hazards that PCBs create, Monsanto continued to flood the country with these toxic materials,” according to the state’s complaint. “Monsanto’s own internal documents show that it was not interested in protecting people or the environment; rather, its only concern was in protecting its balance sheet.”

…more…