Monsanto successor companies to pay $17.9M for landfill cleanup

Two successor companies of St. Louis-based Monsanto have agreed to complete the cleanup of four former landfills and waste lagoons in Sauget, Illinois.

Under a federal settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Solutia Inc. (acquired by Eastman Chemical Co. in 2012) and Pharmacia LLC (acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2003) are required to reimburse the EPA $700,000 in past costs spent at the sites and take responsibility for implementing the EPA’s cleanup plant, which is estimated to cost $17.9 million.

“This settlement is one in a series that requires the industry that polluted Sauget and Cahokia, Illinois, to clean up their mess,” says Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce S. Gelber of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This settlement demonstrates the Justice Department’s and EPA’s continuing efforts, together with our state partners, to ensure that polluters, not the American public, pay for the investigation and cleanup of Superfund sites.”

The selected sites—designated as Sauget Area 2 Sites O, Q, R and S—span more than 270 acres and were previously used by area industry to dispose of hazardous and other wastes throughout much of the 20^th century.

The hazardous waste includes toxic substances and known carcinogens, including PCBs, dioxin, lead, cadmium, benzene and chlorobenzene. According to the EPA, the industrial area is not readily accessible to the public, however; the remedial actions required under this settlement will prevent exposure to these harmful contaminants for workers, anglers or others who gain access to the sites.

The cleanup will require placing engineered caps over identified waste areas, conducting vapor intrusion mitigation and controlling access to the sites. This is only the latest in various lawsuits and settlements involving the cleanup of these former landfills dating back 15 years in which Solutia and Pharmacia have conducted extensive investigations, paid for the removal of hazardous wastes and installed a slurry wall to prevent contaminated groundwater from leaching into the nearby Mississippi River.

“For too long, residents in the Metro East area have been overburdened by legacy sources of pollution,” says Administrator Debra Shore of EPA’s Region 5. “[This] settlement is the result of years of EPA’s efforts to investigate the extent and sources of soil and surface water contamination in the four former landfills that make up Sauget Area 2 and to hold accountable those who placed it there.”