County to Get $12 Million From 2 Ocean Polluters
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Two companies accused in a massive government pollution suit of contaminating Los Angeles County coastal waters have agreed to pay $12 million as part of a proposed legal settlement, it was announced Wednesday.
The agreement, filed in federal court, marks the first settlement with private defendants in the wide-ranging case, which concerns disposal of the pesticide DDT and PCB chemicals in local waters from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Simpson Paper Co. and Potlatch Corp. are among eight companies named in the litigation, filed in June, 1990, by the federal government and the state of California.
The others are Westinghouse Electric Corp., Montrose Chemical Corp. and Montrose’s parent companies--Atkemix Thirty-Seven, Stauffer Management Co., ICI American Holdings and Chris-Craft Industries.
State and federal officials charge that DDT and PCB waste generated by the defendants was dumped off the coast for decades, contaminating fish and birds, including the brown pelican and the peregrine falcon.
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