PORTLAND — The Portland City Council voted unanimously to file a lawsuit against agrochemical giant Monsanto.
Portland plans to join six other West Coast cities — Seattle, Spokane, Berkley, Oakland, San Diego and San Jose — that have sued the company over toxic pollutants it produced.
Monsanto was the only company in the United States that made polychlorinated biphenals, or PCBs. The chemicals were once used as coolant fluids. Federal regulators banned PCBs in 1979 but the chemicals linger in the environment.
In Portland, PCBs still contaminate the Willamette River and the Columbia Slough. And they’re found in fish in the area.