Hawaiʻi secures up to $45M settlement with Monsanto over PCB contamination of natural resources

Attorney General Anne Lopez today announced a settlement with Monsanto Company and its affiliates, Solutia, Inc. and Pharmacia LLC, resolving Hawaiʻi’s claims against these companies for contamination caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Hawaiʻi’s waterways and natural resources.

The settlement guarantees an initial payment of $10 million to be paid to the state of Hawaiʻi on or before Oct. 31, 2026. The settlement could also provide the state with an additional $35 million. The additional amount will depend on the outcome of an indemnity action currently being pursued by Monsanto and its affiliates against various historic PCB purchasers. The contingency guarantees an additional payment between $11.55 million and $35 million to the state, depending on the outcome and timing of Monsanto’s related indemnity action.

“Monsanto manufactured and sold PCBs for decades and the negative environmental consequences of these chemicals continue long after their production ended,” said Attorney General Lopez. “This settlement holds Monsanto accountable for PCB contamination in Hawaiʻi and secures significant resources for our state. We will continue to use every tool available to protect Hawaiʻi’s environment and natural resources for future generations.”

PCBs are synthetic organic chemical compounds that were manufactured, marketed, sold and distributed by Monsanto and its affiliates in the United States from approximately 1929 to 1977. Monsanto Company was the sole manufacturer of PCBs in the United States from the 1930s through the 1970s. During that period, it became known that PCBs could not be effectively contained within the products in which they were used, but instead were released into the environment, including water, soil and air, where they can persist for decades and accumulate in plants and animals. 

Production and, with limited exceptions, use of PCBs was prohibited in the United States in 1979, under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”), enacted by the US Congress.

“Chemicals such as PCBs, that bioaccumulate and persist in the environment long after they have been released, impact our health and natural resources in ways that can be very difficult to remedy,” said Deputy Attorney General Wade H. Hargrove III, the lead attorney representing the state in this matter. “This settlement is part of an ongoing effort to undo that harm.”

Protecting Hawaiʻi’s environment and natural resources through enforcement of state law has been a priority for Attorney General Lopez. In 2023, the department filed a lawsuit against 25 manufacturers of products containing PFAS, seeking to hold the companies responsible for alleged contamination of Hawaiʻi’s groundwater and soil. This settlement with Monsanto and its affiliates continues the department’s efforts to hold companies accountable for environmental contamination affecting the state. The settlement was handled by the department’s Health Division and the law firms of Baron & Budd, and Cronin Fried Sekiya Kekina & Fairbanks.

Monsanto issued the following statement on its settlement agreement with the state of Hawaiʻi to resolve litigation over environmental impairment claims allegedly due to PCBs. 

“Monsanto has reached a settlement agreement with Hawaii to resolve all claims relating to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a legacy product the Company voluntarily ceased producing in 1977. The settlement contains no admission of liability or wrongdoing by the Company. Under the terms of the agreement, Monsanto will make an upfront payment of $10 million to Hawaii in 2026. The settlement includes an additional contingency payment within five years that is tied to Monsanto’s efforts to enforce its indemnity rights against its largest former PCB customers. Under these contracts, these sophisticated companies agreed to indemnify Monsanto for PCB-related litigation costs.

“The State agreed to cooperate with Monsanto in this action, having determined there is a substantial basis for the Company’s indemnity claims. Under the terms of the agreement, the State could be paid up to an additional $35 million in a contingency payment. The settlement also includes a smaller backstop payment if the indemnity enforcement efforts don’t result in the target recovery set forth in the agreement. Monsanto will record the up front payments as liabilities, and will increase its PCB litigation provision by $66.3 million to cover the minimum guaranteed backstop payments for this agreement as well as those with three other states.”

“We believe this resolution, along with others, helps substantially mitigate the Company’s exposure to state PCB litigation, and the contingent payments tied to our indemnity enforcement efforts in the last four resolutions should reduce the Company’s litigation exposure. Additionally, data reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about PCB impairments of waterways show that PCBs in the environment are generally declining nearly 50 years after production ceased. The Company will also continue to litigate these cases and settle only when it is strategically advantageous to do so.

“During the time of manufacture, Monsanto conducted hundreds of studies on PCB safety, provided appropriate warnings to its sophisticated industrial customers based on state-of-the science at the time and cooperated with the U.S. government’s 1972 interdepartmental study.”