Lee Alleges Civil and Criminal Conspiracy in Dumping of PCBs
In March 2024, the Town of Lee filed an unprecedented lawsuit against General Electric (GE), the Monsanto Company, and Monsanto spin-offs Solutia and Pharmacia. Lee charges the companies with joint liability for the consequences of PCBs polluting the Housatonic River, despite agreeing in writing more than 50 years ago that PCBs are “forever” chemicals that pose harm to humans and the environment.
Background
Monsanto produced nearly all PCBs sold in the US from 1929 to 1979. During this time, GE, a major customer, used PCBs to manufacture electric transformers at its plant in Pittsfield, MA. During production, GE dumped industrial waste containing up to 600,000 pounds of PCBs into the Housatonic River.
Monsanto was aware early on of the hazards posed by PCBs to human health. In 1944, after observing reactions in workers exposed to PCBs, Monsanto advised its salespeople that PCBs were toxic and could cause liver damage. In the mid-1950s, Monsanto commissioned a study at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine that raised concerns about PCBs’ carcinogenicity. Between 1949 and the 1980s, Monsanto tracked 608 deaths from cancer of employees exposed to PCBs. In 1968, Monsanto discovered that PCBs would not be carried by river water to the Atlantic but instead remained permanently embedded in river sediment. Internal company memoranda discussed the legal risks associated with Monsanto’s PCB-containing products, including the release of massive amounts of PCBs into the environment.
Monsanto did not publicly release the mounting evidence of PCBs’ toxicity but instead downplayed or denied their risks. Company records show that in the 1960s and ‘70s, Monsanto redoubled its commitment to selling PCBs as long as the product was profitable and coached its sales teams on ways to minimize potential dangers. In 1976, finally fearing reputational damage, Monsanto began to phase out PCB production. Later that year, the Toxic Substances Control Act banned the production of PCBs in the US.
In 2016, after some 40 years of study and litigation, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a permit requiring GE to address the presence of hazardous substances it had dumped into a 100-mile stretch of the Housatonic River. A 2020 revised final permit, which GE negotiated with the Trump EPA, allows GE to bury less heavily contaminated material in an onsite dump in Lee rather than the more expensive option of shipping the waste to a licensed out-of- state facility as originally agreed.
In 2020, EPA, GE, the City of Pittsfield, and the towns of Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield conducted confidential negotiations on a settlement agreement detailing GE’s responsibilities for addressing the PCBs. Under the agreement, the towns will not appeal the terms of the revised final permit in exchange for a $55 million joint payment.
The agreement confirms GE’s permission to construct a dump to hold PCBs in Lee—a decision that remains controversial. Lee residents are adamantly opposed to hosting a toxic waste facility in their town. Many feel their rights were violated as the agreement was negotiated and signed by the Select Board without the knowledge or approval of town residents.
The dredge and dump project in Lee is estimated to take 13 years after an initial 3-year design period. PCBs that exist in the river at lower concentrations will be covered to restrict their mobility.
Lee Sues the Corporate Behemoths
In March 2023, under a new Select Board, the Town of Lee filed suit against Monsanto and Monsanto-affiliated companies in the US District Court
Monsanto, GE, and PCBs
in the Housatonic River
Timeline
Health Information
There is no safe level of exposure to PCBs
PCBs are a family of toxic chemicals that can cause a wide variety of severe health impacts, such as a compromised immune system, cancer, and ADHD.
If children who have high levels of PCBs in their bodies are vaccinated, the level of antibodies they raise is substantially lower than in children with no or low levels of PCBs.
Research makes clear that PCB exposure damages liver function leading to elevated levels of serum cholesterol and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
PCBs are fat soluble chemicals that the body stores in fatty tissues. Once they enter the body, they stay there for decades. There is currently no treatment for removal of PCBs from the human body and no treatment for the damage done to tissues and organs by PCBs.
Any PCBs found in the human body were put there by human activity. In the case of the people who live by the Housatonic, that means GE and Monsanto.
Consumption of fish contaminated with PCBs is the main route of human exposure. A river polluted with PCBs is a river where people can’t fish or recreate given the danger of exposure, where animals die of cancer or other disease, and plants absorb the toxins into their fibers.
Any PCBs found in nature were put there by human activity. They are a class of man-made chemicals. There is nothing naturally occurring about them.
PCBs have been known for decades to be toxic chemicals that are hazardous to human health. Once in the human body, there is no way to remove them. They can’t be removed by washing or cooking food.
Environmental justice communities are disproportionately impacted by PCB exposure. But everyone in the Housatonic community is at risk. No community is immune to potential exposure from PCB pollution.
PCB chemicals can also be aerosolized and breathed in if contaminated sludge falls off trucks or rail cars.
Dredging sludge with PCBs means that highly toxic materials will be transported through our community. That sludge is likely to contain dioxins and heavy metals as well.
Whether transported by truck or rail car, the risk is high that there will be spillage. So the transport will create a corridor of contamination along the highway or railroad tracks.
In the Hudson, when one of the dams was removed the PCBs spread much farther south, providing a cautionary tale about what can happen if the chemicals aren’t removed and destroyed.
Latest News
There’s an opportunity here for GE to work with the town of Lee to right a historic wrong. These corporations created this crisis. Now they need to fix it. Follow the story.
More Articles