This commentary is by Deborah Messing, a resident of Montpelier.
In October 2020, I wrote a commentary to VTDigger around the issue of PCBs in Vermont schools. At the end, I suggested that Vermont join New Hampshire in its suit against Monsanto/Bayer. I wrote:
“New Hampshire filed suit on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020, against Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, asking for damages to pay for a sampling program for PCB contamination in soil, water, fish, wildlife and public buildings. Assistant Attorney General Allan Brooks said, ‘The state is working with new evidence, including some recently uncovered in similar suits, that shows Monsanto covered up the toxic effects of PCBs on humans and wildlife.’
Given the huge expense predicted for testing and possible remediation in Vermont schools built during the time PCBs were used in construction, joining N.H. in this lawsuit could provide the funds to pursue these projects.”
Subsequently, I have contacted legislators and the Vermont Attorney General’s office to promote this idea, to little avail. Meanwhile, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh has filed suit against Monsanto for “long-lasting harm from PCBs to Maryland’s natural resources.”
According to Frosh, “As the complaint alleges, Monsanto knew that PCBs were toxic and harmful to the environment, wildlife and humans. Monsanto not only continued to manufacture and sell PCBs but increased production even when the harm to the environment was undeniable. Monsanto’s toxic legacy lives on. Until today, Marylanders have borne the cost of cleaning up these poisons. It is time for Monsanto to take full responsibility.”
A report from November 2021: “Jury awards millions to 8 people harmed by chemicals at Monroe (Washington) school”:
MONROE, Wash. — A jury in King County Superior Court awarded millions in damages to people harmed by chemical poisoning at Sky Valley Education Center in the Monroe School District. The 12-person jury agreed that Bayer, the German company that absorbed Monsanto, didn’t do enough to warn the public about a once-common chemical and ordered them to pay more than $60 million in damages to eight people from King and Snohomish counties. …
The lawsuit brought forth by those eight people connected to Sky Valley Education Center alleges that exposure to this chemical led to a myriad of health problems, including cancer. Those people include children, their parents and spouses, and Monroe School District staff. This is one of many nationwide lawsuits brought forth against the manufacturer. In 2016, Washington state became the first to sue the company.”
In 2018, nearly 40 families sued over the highly toxic chemicals found in classrooms at Sky Valley Education Center:
“‘For too long the company escaped the enormous cost of the cleanup of this material — for the counties, the cities and private entities,’ said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee when the state’s lawsuit was first introduced. In 2020, the state settled for $95 million — money they say will go to upgrading old buildings and to the victims impacted by the dangerous chemicals.”
And on Feb. 23, WCAX reported:
“New Hampshire has reached a $25 million settlement with Monsanto over what the state says has been widespread PCB pollution. The state alleged that Monsanto and spinoff companies Solutia and Pharmacia are responsible for contamination of public property, water and other natural resources. It also alleges that the PCB contamination is much more widespread than previously thought and that the companies knew of the dangers but failed to warn the public.”
It is laudable that Vermont has a plan to test 300 schools for PCBs and that Gov. Scott allotted $4 million for this, but everyone seems to be scratching their heads over how to pay for the potentially enormous amounts of money needed for remediating any contamination found in these schools that were built in the decades that PCBs were used in the construction of schools.
Suing those responsible for the contamination seems to not only potentially finance testing and possible remediation, as well as retroactive expenses incurred by the discovery at Burlington High School of catastrophic levels of PCBs, but also to send a message to any company that knowingly fails to warn the public of the hazards of its products.
