Editor’s note: Senior Assistant Attorney General Allen Brooks answered InDepthNH.org’s questions about outside counsel and which bodies of water were contaminated.
“In answer to your question earlier today, the outside firms were Seeger Weiss LLP and Grant and Eisenhofer. Outside counsel brought years of experience to the table specifically with PCBs and Monsanto. This case generally required and could have continued to require significant resources, and so the use of outside counsel was necessary to enable the State to litigate this case,” Brooks said.
See list of water bodies that were impaired here:
https://indepthnh.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/listwater.xlsx
CONCORD — Attorney General John M. Formella and Governor Chris Sununu announce that the State of New Hampshire has entered into a settlement agreement with the Monsanto Company, Solutia Inc., and Pharmacia, LLC (“Monsanto”) regarding Polychlorinated Bi-Phenyl (“PCB”) contamination of State waters and other State-owned property.
From 1929 to at least 1977, the old Monsanto Company marketed and sold numerous products containing PCBs knowing that PCBs caused harm to human health and the environment. As a result, 104 water bodies in the State have become impaired with respect to PCBs requiring the State to issue numerous fish advisories. With the assistance of outside counsel and under the direction of the Attorney General, the State sued the successors to the old Monsanto Company in October of 2020.
Monsanto has now agreed to pay $25,000,000 to resolve this case. The State will receive $20,000,000 after deductions for attorneys’ fees and costs.
In connection with the settlement, Governor Chris Sununu and Attorney General Formella released the following statements:
“New Hampshire has a long and proud tradition of protecting our precious natural resources,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “As an environmental engineer, I spent many years cleaning up PCB contamination, and I know firsthand the costs these efforts can place on individuals and communities. We are holding polluters accountable, and I would like to thank the New Hampshire Department of Justice for their tireless work in ensuring we have the financial resources necessary to remedy the harm that PCBs have caused to our environment.”
“We challenged Monsanto to step up and address the contamination that they caused in the 1970’s,” said Attorney General Formella. “We are pleased that we were able to efficiently resolve this case in a way that will provide tremendous benefits to the State. I thank Governor Sununu for his support in this effort and Senior Assistant Attorney General Allen Brooks for taking the lead in this litigation.”
A copy of the settlement agreement can be accessed here: https://www.doj.nh.gov/news/2022/20220222-monsanto.htm