Houston Business Journal
June 2, 2003

Halliburton named in pollution suit

Halliburton Co., which on Friday said it was delaying the bankruptcies of two of its units due to its proposed asbestos settlement, has been accused in a federal lawsuit with 18 other companies of pollution in Alabama, according to an Associated Press report.

Chemical giants Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia claim in a federal lawsuit that 19 cast-iron companies are partly responsible for pollution in Anniston, Ala., and must share the costly cleanup.

Solutia and Pharmacia filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Birmingham against the iron manufacturers, saying the other companies should help with the cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

AP reported that PCBs, which have been linked to cancer, were commonly blended with casting wax at percentages as high as 30 percent and imported into the United States from Europe to make foundry molds for metal castings, a Solutia statement announcing the lawsuit says.

Solutia spun off from Monsanto in 1997; Pharmacia later bought Monsanto.

From the 1930s to the 1970s, Monsanto was the sole U.S. manufacturer of now-banned PCBs, which were used in everything from electrical insulators to lubricants to lipsticks.

The list of defendants in the lawsuit includes Halliburton, McWane Inc., Walter Industries, FMC Corp. and Huron Valley Steel. Some of the other defendants include MeadWestvaco Corp., Amcast Industrial Corp., Phelps Dodge Industries, The Walworth Co., Kilby Steel Co., Scientific Atlanta, Tull Chemical, Carrier Research Inc., Datron, Anchor Metals and Chalk Line Manufacturing.

According to AP, the firms own or owned facilities in Anniston -- mostly foundries, with PCB-contaminated wastes that ended up as fill material for many properties, Solutia officials said.

PCBs have been linked to a range of diseases, from learning disorders to cancer. Congress banned PCBs in the late 1970s.

Last December, Halliburton agreed to settle 200,000 asbestos lawsuits for about $4 billion in cash and stock. Part of that settlement calls for the Houston-based oilfield services giant to file prepackaged bankruptcies of the company's Dresser Industries and Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiaries, which are expected to pay for much of the settlement.