Anniston Star
January 22. 2003

EPA-Solutia cleanup agreement challenged in court hearing

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
01-22-2003

The lead attorney in a prominent PCB lawsuit in state court challenged a proposed cleanup agreement between Solutia and the Environmental Protection Agency during a federal court hearing in Anniston Tuesday.

Anniston attorney Donald Stewart submitted thousands of pages of documents in support of his argument that the proposed cleanup agreement is the product of collusion between a long-time polluter and an unresponsive government.

"We just don't think they're doing what they should do for Anniston," Stewart said after the hearing. "(Solutia) has been avoiding the EPA since 1971. You think they're hugging them in now?"

During the hearing, Stewart handed out binders filled with documents and went over them with U.S. District Court Judge U.W. Clemon and attorneys for the EPA and Solutia.

Stewart recapped case history and called on high-level EPA officials to testify about how the agreement had been reached. He also called an official from a New York environmental organization to testify about differences between the proposed agreement and an EPA cleanup on the Hudson River. He told Clemon the proposed agreement is unfair, collusive and capricious.

EPA attorneys denied there was any collusion in reaching the agreement. Department of Justice Attorney Bill Weinischke, representing the EPA, told Clemon, "We're asking the court to approve this consent decree so we can start to restore this community to what it used to be." He said similar agreements have been used at "hundreds and hundreds of Superfund sites."

The proposed agreement was submitted to Clemon by attorneys for the EPA and Solutia in October. Clemon must decide whether to approve the deal.

The document replaced an agreement announced last March, just after a state court jury found Solutia, which used to be part of Monsanto, liable for contaminating people and properties in western Anniston with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

Until 1971, PCBs were produced at the former Monsanto plant and were in wide use as an insulator in electrical components. They are suspected to cause cancer.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Solutia would quickly begin cleaning up residences with relatively low levels of PCBs. It would hire EPA-approved contractors to determine the full extent of PCB pollution from the plant. The EPA would study the human health risk posed by the PCBs, would decide how the contamination is cleaned up, and would oversee all work.

The company also would establish a local $3.2 million education fund.

Among Stewart's objections are that the proposed consent decree allows the company to collect the data, does not provide money for a health study, and interferes with the lawsuit in state court. The standards are not high enough for the initial cleanup, and the long-term study is a stalling tactic, he said after the hearing.

"They have said that this is going to be an immediate panacea," Stewart said after the hearing. "That's not true."

Solutia, he said, has not been honest in the past, and intends to do as little cleanup as possible.

Last year, Solutia CEO John Hunter told investors that he did not expect Solutia's remediation costs would change over the next few years, Stewart said.

Company representatives said after the hearing that they are committed to a thorough cleanup.

"No matter what past has happened - and most of us were not here then - we're committed to reaching a complete cleanup as quickly as possible," Beth Rusert, a spokeswoman for Solutia, said after the hearing. "We'll spend what the EPA says we need to, to get the job done."

Frustrated EPA attorneys maintained that the agreement is the best and fastest way to fix the city.

"From the first week I was assigned to this site, I believed that the only way for Anniston to get a complete cleanup is through the Superfund program," said Rick Leahy, an EPA attorney.

Monsanto manufactured PCBs at its Anniston plant for decades. The chemicals washed, leaked and were dumped off site, and are still in people and the environment.

About 20,000 people are currently suing Solutia and Monsanto for tainting their bodies and their properties.

Stewart's lawsuit, with 3,500 plaintiffs, has been held up in the state Supreme Court since August.

Over the years, other lawsuits have been settled for tens of millions of dollars.