Michigan will receive as much as $240 million as part of a legal settlement with the chemical company Monsanto to help clean up PCB contamination across the state.
“Despite being banned for years in the United States, PCBs leave a toxic legacy that continues to threaten our health and environment,” Nessel said in a statement released Monday by her office. “This settlement directly supports our efforts to hold corporations accountable for the pollution caused by their products and ensures we have the resources needed to remove these chemicals from our state.”
PCBs are a class of chemicals linked to cancer, weakened immune systems and neurological disfunction, among other things. PCBs are particularly troublesome because they persist in the environment and build up in the food chain. For example, the state has had to issue advisories warning people not to eat certain types of fish. PCBs have been banned for production and sale in the U.S. since 1979.
Under the agreement, Monsanto will pay somewhere between $108 million and $240 million once the settlement is paid in full. As part of the deal, Monsanto, which is now owned by the multinational corporation Bayer, does not acknowledge any wrongdoing. The state also agreed to provide support to Monsanto as it tries to recover PCB-related damages in separate litigation against other companies.
Monsanto has been making big settlements to resolve PCB lawsuits filed by states across the country. A Bayer spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The first $32 million payment from Monsanto in the Michigan settlement will arrive next month.
The state’s cleanup plans will be developed by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Department of Natural Resources and will include grants to local and tribal governments for remediation projects.
