ST. LOUIS, Oct. 23, 2002 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a revised consent decree with the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama and requested that the court approve the revised decree.
The Consent decree between those agencies and Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOI) , if approved by the court, will lay the foundation for a permanent PCB cleanup solution in Anniston, Alabama.
"Solutia looks forward to implementing the revised Consent decree and continuing cleanup activities in Anniston, Alabama," said John C. Hunter, Solutia president and chief executive officer.
The consent decree, which includes modifications in response to community concerns, will help pave the way for the continued cleanup of PCBs in and around Anniston, Alabama.
It will build on investigation and cleanup work Solutia has done in Anniston and surrounding areas in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and EPA since the early 1990s at a cost of nearly $50 million. It will also rely upon the substantial investigation conducted in Anniston by EPA since 1999.
"Our sleeves are rolled up and we are ready to work with EPA and ADEM to continue the clean up," Hunter said. "We believe the consent decree is the best, quickest, and surest way to accomplish an effective, permanent cleanup. That is what the community says it wants and that is what Solutia is committed to seeing through."
The consent decree was revised to facilitate the expedited cleanup of residential properties containing PCBs at levels higher than the EPA's proposed cleanup standard. This work will take advantage of extensive sampling and analysis already done by Solutia and the EPA, and will complement residential cleanups already completed by Solutia.
The additional residential cleanup work will begin after Solutia prepares a report evaluating remedial alternatives for residential properties and EPA issues an action memorandum (following a public comment period) authorizing additional residential cleanups.
The consent decree continues to require a remedial investigation and feasibility study. The remedial investigation will ensure that all of the needed environmental information is gathered to assess potential risks to human health and the environment.
Since Solutia has already collected more than 5,000 samples of soil, water, sediment, and fish, much of the sampling data needed for the remedial investigation is already in hand.
The feasibility study will explore various ways to permanently address PCBs in Anniston and surrounding areas. Information from these studies will be used by the EPA to select an appropriate cleanup remedy.
The EPA will conduct a risk assessment that examines exposure and characterizes potential risks to human health, while Solutia will perform a risk assessment that examines exposure and characterizes potential ecological risks.
The consent decree calls for the establishment of a community advisory group to monitor the remedial investigation and feasibility study. Solutia will provide funding, meeting space, and a facilitator for the group.
Solutia will also pay up to $150,000 to qualified citizen groups to hire independent technical advisors to help interpret and comment on work done under the consent decree.
In addition, Solutia will spend $3.2 million over 12 years to establish an education foundation to help serve children in west Anniston.
"We understand that Anniston residents have concerns about the impact of PCBs in their community from Monsanto's former operations," Hunter said. "We can either spend years talking about a cleanup or move forward and get the job done. Solutia believes the clear choice is to complete the cleanup safely and responsibly so the community can put this issue behind them."
Corporate Profile:
Solutia ( www.solutia.com ) uses applied chemistry to create value-added solutions for customers, whose products are used by consumers every day. Solutia is a provider of performance films for laminated safety glass and after-market applications; resins and additives for high-value coatings; process development and scale-up services for pharmaceutical fine chemicals; specialties such as water treatment chemicals, heat transfer fluids and aviation hydraulic fluid and an integrated family of nylon products including high-performance polymers and fibers.
