(CN) — Seattle’s eight-year legal battle against Monsanto over contamination of the Lower Duwamish River ended Monday with a dismissal following a $160 million settlement with the chemical giant.
Seattle first sued the agrochemical giant in 2016 over its role in contaminating the river and area drainage systems with harmful toxins. The city accused Monsanto, now owned by Bayer AG, of using polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for decades despite knowing the danger they present to humans and wildlife.
On July 25, Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison announced the city and the company settled for $160 million, just two months before a jury trial was set to begin. The case was dismissed with prejudice Monday.
“We all play a role in protecting our environment and I am glad that Monsanto will contribute to this important environmental cleanup,” Davison said in a statement.
The money from the settlement will be put toward the city’s mitigation efforts to find and remove PCBs from the Lower Duwamish River, Davison said. Seattle originally sought over $700 million in damages, according to Monsanto's motion for summary judgment from August 2022. Federal officials estimated the full cleanup of the site would cost $342 million in 2014.
Under the terms of the settlement, Monsanto did not admit to any wrongdoing or liability.
Of the $160 million, $35 million will be used for PCB remediation and the rest will reimburse the city for its contribution to the cleanup of the river, Monsanto said in an email.
“Monsanto remains committed to defending cases at trial and will only consider settlements when it is in the company’s interest to do so,” the company said in an email.
A lawsuit remains pending against six former PCB customers who agreed to fully defend and indemnify Monsanto as a condition of continuing to provide them with bulk PCBs.
The company stopped manufacturing PCBs in 1977, two years before the chemicals were banned in the United States. The chemicals were used in a variety of products due to their non-flammability and chemical stability. Despite ceasing production, PCBs still existed in sealants, caulking and exterior paints, and continued to contaminate water runoff.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the Lower Duwamish River — which runs through the heart of the city and empties into Puget Sound — a Superfund Site in 2001. In 2014, the EPA required the city to construct a stormwater treatment plant to remove PCBs.
“These funds will allow Seattle Public Utilities to take further steps to protect the Duwamish,” Davison said. Those steps may include expanding the utilities’ source control program to find and address pollution sources, including buildings with lingering PCBs, before the contaminants end up in the water stream.
Davison said the settlement was reached through meditation sessions held in June and described the payout as unprecedented.
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