Bayer Agrees to Pay $160 Million to Settle Seattle PCB Suit
- Accord resolves city claim over polluted river, drainage lines
- Bayer has already paid at least $650 million in PCB accords
Bayer AG agreed to pay $160 million to resolve a claim by the city of Seattle that the company’s Monsanto unit fouled the municipal storm-water-drainage system and a local river with banned chemicals in what the city says is the largest single settlement in the years-long litigation over the pollution claims.
Monsanto was accused by the city of creating a public nuisance by manufacturing and marketing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that contaminated the Duwamish River and drainage lines. The settlement, which Seattle announced Thursday, avoids a trial of the city’s lawsuit that was set to start in September in federal court in Seattle. Monsanto said in its court filings that the city sought more than $700 million in damages tied to the PCB contamination.