Port
of Houston settles contamination suit for $100 million
Associated
Press
HOUSTON - The Port of
Houston said Wednesday it has reached a $100 million
settlement in a lawsuit over massive contamination from
a nearby pesticide manufacturing plant.
The settlement of the
lawsuit was between the port and GB Biosciences, its
parent company and 11 other firms associated with the
east Houston plant, where the pesticides DDT and lindane
were formerly manufactured. The lawsuit was filed in
February 2001.
"The port
authority has been committed to resolving this matter
because we genuinely felt that it was the right thing to
do for the protection and preservation of the
environment and the quality of life," said Tom
Kornegay, the Port of Houston Authority's executive
director.
A Harris County flood
control ditch and a section of Greens Bayou that runs
near the plant were among contaminated areas. The
defendants, as part of the settlement, will purchase
more than 100 acres of the affected property from the
port.
About 500,000 cubic
yards of sediment from Greens Bayou will have to be
removed as part of the remediation. Sediment also will
be removed from the county ditch.
The GB Biosciences
facility and its disposal areas are adjacent to the port
authority's land, south of Interstate 10. Port officials
learned of the threat in 1998 and began an
investigation, determining the contamination was much
more extensive than initially believed.
Signed on Dec. 19, the
settlement calls for extensive remediation that alone
will cost a projected $45 million. The cleanup is
expected to begin this year and take five to seven years
to complete.
The port authority also
received $35 million in cash for attorneys fees, cost of
property sold, oversight of the remediation process for
the next 30 years and future protection for
environmental issues as well as $20 million for
protection against future claims or expenses.
Use of DDT was banned
in 1970 by the federal government and production of the
chemical ceased. Lindane production was halted in 1966.
Officials of
Syngenta, which bought GB Biosciences in 1998, did not
immediately return a telephone call seeking comment
Wednesday from The Associated Press.
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