Monsanto to pay $95 million to settle state's lawsuit over PCBs

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Monsanto will pay $95 million to resolve a lawsuit by the state Attorney General's Office over the company’s manufacturing, marketing and distribution of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Attorney General Bob Ferguson says it is the state's largest independent state environmental recovery against a single entity.

In 2016 Washington was the first state to file a lawsuit against Monsanto over its PCBs, asserting that the company produced PCBs for decades while hiding what they knew about the toxic chemicals’ harm to human health and the environment.

Monsanto was the only U.S. company to produce PCBs from 1935 until it was banned in 1977.

Monsanto fought the lawsuit and attempted to have the case dismissed and moved to federal court but ultimately agreed to pay $95 million as compensation for damages PCBs have inflicted on the state’s natural resources, including the economic impact to the state and its residents.

Monsanto knew the dangers of PCBs, but hid them from the public to protect their profits,” Ferguson said. “Washington has been shouldering the health and environmental costs of PCB contamination and clean up for decades. This record payment holds Monsanto accountable for the harm they inflicted on our state.

PCB exposure is associated with cancer, as well as adverse effects on human immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. In addition, PCBs harm populations of fish, birds and other animal life.

PCBs, marketed and sold under the Monsanto brand name Aroclor, were used in many industrial and commercial applications, from paint and caulking to transformers, capacitors and coolants, among other uses.

Ferguson said Monsanto knew about the toxic effects of PCBs as early as 1937, yet continued to manufacture the product, Ferguson said.

Under the terms of the settlement, Monsanto will pay $95 million within 60 days to resolve its manufacturing, marketing, and distribution liability related to PCBs in Washington state. The resolution does not impact any other pending or potential liability related to the direct discharge of PCBs in the state.

At least $60 million will go to the state General Fund.

“I urge the Legislature to use this historic recovery to help repair the damage PCBs have inflicted on our environment and public health in Washington state,” Ferguson said. “This recovery should be invested in our environment.”