Power Rogers LLP will serve as Special Assistant Attorneys General in a newly filed civil lawsuit against Monsanto over the environmental and health effects associated with its production of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
As noted in a press release from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, attorneys from our firm will co-prosecute the case against Monsanto on behalf of the state of Illinois, and will work to prove that Monsanto’s decades-long production and distribution of hazardous chemicals have resulted in profound pollution in Illinois communities and natural resources.
Lawsuit Claims Monsanto’s Reckless Actions Contributed to Widescale Pollution
The lawsuit, which was filed by Attorney General Raoul on August 29th, aims to hold Monsanto and its affiliates accountable for widespread PCB contamination and for the company’s alleged deceit in publicly denying knowledge of its products’ dangers.
It claims that for decades, Monsanto discharged enormous amounts of hazardous waste from its plant in Sauget, IL into the surrounding environment, sewers that fed into the Mississippi River, and landfills that allowed the toxic waste to leach into soil, water, and air. It claims these practices have resulted in widespread contamination of Illinois’ natural resources, as well as overwhelming contamination of groundwater throughout the State of Illinois.
Sauget, which has borne the brunt of Monsanto’s reckless practices, is a small town in St. Clair County and the former home to Monsanto’s Krummrich plant, the nation’s largest producer of PCBs before the chemicals were banned by the EPA in 1979. The site has since been declared a Superfund site, a designation for highly contaminated areas that require longer-term remedial investigation and cleanup, and local ordinances passed in Sauget and surrounding communities prohibit the use of groundwater as a potable water supply due to its contamination.
PCBs are highly carcinogenic manmade compounds formerly used in industrial and commercial products such as paints, caulks, and lubricants. Monsanto manufactured many of these chemicals at its Sauget facility and sold nearly 50 million pounds of commercial PCB mixtures to Illinois customers from 1960 to the mid-1970s, according to the lawsuit. PCB exposure has been associated with cancer, birth defects, neuro-developmental and neurobehavioral changes, and liver, thyroid, skin, and eye damage.
Our attorneys at Power Rogers are honored to serve as Special Assistant Attorneys General in this important litigation. We value the trust placed in our team by Attorney General Raoul and the state of Illinois, and vow to work tirelessly in the fight to hold these companies accountable.
You can read the full press release from Illinois AG Kwame Raoul here.