Washington sues agribusiness giant Monsanto over toxic PCBs in waterways

Canoes paddled by members of eight Puget Sound tribes approach the historic site of the Duwamish Tribe's longhouse. The Duwamish River, now a Superfund site, was the source of the tribe's sustenance. Canoes paddled by members of eight Puget Sound tribes approach the historic site of the Duwamish Tribe's longhouse. The Duwamish River, now a Superfund site, was the source of the tribe's sustenance. Photo: Paul Joseph Brown, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Photo: Paul Joseph Brown, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Washington sues agribusiness giant Monsanto over toxic PCBs in waterways 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

Washington state is suing Monsanto for damages and cleanup costs that could total hundreds of millions of dollars, over toxic PCBs that the agribusiness giant produced for decades while allegedly concealing its knowledge of the chemical's harm to human health and the environment.

"PCBs are in every waterway in the state," said Attorney General Bob Ferguson in announcing the suit. He described the coolant, banned by Congress in 1979, as "one of the most pervastive pollutants in history."

Gov. Jay Inslee, appearing with Ferguson, spoke of an "omnipresent and terrifically toxic material" and noted that concentrations of PCBs in the southern resident orca population are "one of the highest recorded for any place on Earth."

The state's suit, filed in King County Superior Court on Thursday, is a political signal as well.

With the incoming Trump administration tapping anti environmental and anti-consumer politicians for top positions -- e.g. climate skeptic Scott Pruitt at EPA -- Northeast and West Coast states are set to take the lead, particularly on environmental and climate policy.

Monsanto was the only U.S. company to produce PCBs from 1935 to 1979, when Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act. Ferguson quoted internal memos, from 1937 and 1969, to show the company's knowledge of hazards.

The alleged effort to conceal dangers is cited in the state's suit, which describes PCBs as a public nuisance "that is harmful to health and obstructs the free use of public resources and state waters."

PCBs are a major reason why the Duwamish River, Seattle's only river, is now an EPA Superfund cleanup site.

The Environmental Protection Agency has classified PCBs as a likely human carcinogen. Exposure to PCBs is associated with cancer as well as adverse impacts on human immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.

"PCB" stands for polychlorninated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound. Its environmental toxicity has long been recognized -- it was banned in 2001 by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants -- but it is a poison that does not go away.

PCBs build up in the tissues of fish and other animals. The state Department of Health currently has 13 fish consumption advisories related to PCBs, covering the Columbia River, all of Lake Washington, as well as 21 miles of the Wenatchee River.

"Monsanto is responsible for producing a chemical that is so widespread in our environment that it appears virtually everywhere we look -- in our waterways, in people and in fish -- at levels that can impact our health," said Inslee.

Monsanto "needs to be held accountable," the governor added.

Washington is the first state in the country to initiate litigation against Monsanto. Seattle and Spokane have lawsuits pending against Monsanto over PCB contamination in water treatment.

"We expect this to be a long, complex legal fight," said Ferguson.

Monsanto has resources. It poured $4.5 million into defeating a 2013 Washington initiative that would have required labeling of genetically modified food products and seeds sold in the Evergreen State.

The defendants in the lawsuit are Monsanto and two of its splinter companies, Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia LLC.

Ferguson quoted a 1937 internal Monsanto document, warning of "systemic toxic effects" from lengthy exposure to PCB vapors. He charged that the company had evidence of global PCB contamination by the 1960's, but withheld information from the public.

"There is no practical course of action that can so effectively police the uses of these products as to prevent environmental contamination," a Monsanto committee said in a 1969 internal report.

"There are, however, a number of actions which must be undertaken to prolong the manufacture, sale and use of these particular Aroclors (the brand name under which PCBs were marketed.)

A third smoking gun, quoted by Ferguson, was an internal report stating that "there is too much customer/market need and selfishly too much Monsanto profit to go out" to stop producing PCBs.

Washington has contracted with outside legal counsel, as did then-AG Christine Gregoire in states' multibillion lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

Ferguson has been a bold Attorney General.

He has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Comcast over allegedly deceptive consumer proactices. He has won a multimillion dollar judgment against the Grocery Manufacturers Association for laundering campaign contributions in the 2013 food labeling battle.

He has sued the U.S. Department of Energy over the exposure of Hanford workers to vapors. And Ferguson has established a Counsel for Environmental Protection in the Attorney General's office.

Ferguson was the state's leading vote getter in the November election.