Los Angeles suing Monsanto over PCB contamination of waterways

The city of Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit against agrochemical giant Monsanto and two other companies over PCB contamination in city waterways. 

In a statement on Friday, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer (D) said the lawsuit, filed on Friday in the L.A. County Superior Court, seeks to force Monsanto to abate its PCB pollution and reimburse the city for costs it has already incurred to address the pollution.

“It’s time for Monsanto to clean up and pay up,” Feuer said in a statement. “The health and environmental impacts of PCBs — impacts the City has been working hard to reduce in waters throughout L.A. — are just jaw dropping. We allege Monsanto knew decades ago that PCBs are toxic and inevitably would cause widespread contamination. It’s infuriating that Monsanto continued to manufacture and sell them — and, we allege, deceive the public about them.”

PCBs, or Polychlorinated Biphenyls, are a group of human-made chemicals that were used for a wide range of commercial and industrial purposes before being banned in 1979 under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

According to Feuer’s lawsuit, Monsanto ​​manufactured 99 percent or more of all PCBs used or sold within the U.S. between 1929 and 1977, including chemical mixtures sold under numerous trade names in Los Angeles. 

The lawsuit also alleges that Monsanto never told the city or the public of the environmental hazards of PCBs, which contaminated the city’s stormwater and wastewater systems, surface waters, and other resources. 

PCBs were deployed for uses including hydraulic fluids, fireproofing, and paper products.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Bayer Co., which owns Monsanto, said it is reviewing the lawsuit, which it believes is without merit. 

“Monsanto voluntarily ceased its lawful manufacturing of PCBs more than 40 years ago, and never manufactured, used, or disposed of PCBs into Los Angeles’ waters, and therefore should not be held liable for the contamination alleged by the city,” Bayer said in its statement.

“Where it has been determined that those cleanups are necessary, federal, and state authorities employ an effective system to identify dischargers and allocate clean-up responsibilities,” Bayer added. “Litigation of the sort brought by the city risks undermining these efforts.”

The Hill has reached out to Bayer for comment.